Book Review: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, by Max Brooks

Reviewer: Mathilde Madden

The Zombie war was won, but at what cost? As we follow a United Nations researcher across the globe interviewing survivors, a series of small tragedies unfold into a global horror.

Building on possibilities hinted at in his first book, The Zombie Survival Guide, Max Brooks' World War Z delivers a harrowing story only slightly tempered by the book's setting some years after the Zombie war has been won, and its style - a series of interview scripts collected for a researcher's UN report. Brooks casts himself as the researcher and relates in his introduction that the book came about when he realised much of his data was to be omitted from the final - official - report.

The best fantasy fiction holds a mirror to reality. Here, in a frighteningly near future, we cross the world seeing how each country reacted to the Zombie crisis and how that reaction was dictated by its past and present. South Africa had a plan for dealing with mass invasions formulated during apartheid, while the USA was too weary to fight another war. China was secretive, Russia brutal. Above all, we see a world too divided by conflicting national interests to unite to fight a common and apocalyptic threat. With too much apathy and suspicion and the UN moving like a dinosaur, nothing effective is done until people are having to fight the risen dead on their own doorsteps.

People react like people. The greedy and self-serving remain greedy and self-serving even when such greed becomes pointless. In one typical case, a man makes a fortune from a useless drug; in another, celebrities and media darlings set themselves up in a secure compound and broadcast their reactions to the crisis around the world - ending in a predictable and believable tragedy.

The book's multi-cultural, multi-viewpoint structure is its high point. Each country reacts in a different way to the threat, and yet core values are the same the world over. Stripped down to our survivalist bones, we all care about the same things. This is not a new message, but it is artfully delivered.

However, this globalistic viewpoint is also, in the end, the book's weakness. Travel sickness sets in long before the story is over. As we flit from person to person, country to country, in the company of our unobtrusive - almost absent - researcher, we are left with nothing to latch on to. No sooner have we started to care about one victim's plight than we move on. Brooks' picture of a truly global horror story is admirable and refreshing, but missed the close focus and emotional investment on one person's fight that is so familiar to the genre.

With no protagonist, World War Z leaves us with a sense that the world itself is the central player here, giving the book's title an unexpected resonance. This is an accomplished and literary addition to the survival horror canon. Its ambition and scope are remarkable and it only falls very slightly short of the goals it sets for itself.

To buy a copy of this book, click: here.

If you liked this book, check out:

The War of the Worlds, by H. G. Wells (illustrated by Edward Gorey)

The Anita Blake Series, by Laurell K. Hamilton

Lost Souls, by Poppy Z Brite

Monster Island: A Zombie Novel, by David Wellington

...and the films of George A. Romero

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© Mathilde Madden

Mathilde Madden is an author, a journalist, and a lover of genre fiction. Her latest novel is Equal Opportunities, from Black Lace/Virgin Books. To read more of her work on-line, visit www.mathildemadden.co.uk, or read her past contributions to Reflection's Edge here.