Wednesday 28 April 2010

Soulless by Christopher Golden - Book Review

Soulless by Christopher Golden

What is it about:
Times Square, New York City: The first ever mass séance is broadcasting live on the Sunrise morning show. If it works, the spirits of the departed on the other side will have a brief window -- just a few minutes -- to send a final message to their grieving loved ones.

Clasping hands in an impenetrable grip, three mediums call to their spirit guides as the audience looks on in breathless anticipation. The mediums slump over, slackjawed -- catatonic. And in cemeteries surrounding Manhattan, fragments of old corpses dig themselves out of the ground....
The spirits have returned. The dead are walking. They will seek out those who loved them in life, those they left behind...but they are savage and they are hungry. They are no longer your mother or father, your brother or sister, your best friend or lover.

The horror spreads quickly, droves of the ravenous dead seeking out the living -- shredding flesh from bone, feeding. But a disparate group of unlikely heroes -- two headstrong college rivals, a troubled gang member, a teenage pop star and her bodyguard -- is making its way to the center of the nightmare, fighting to protect their loved ones, fighting for their lives, and fighting to end the madness.


What did I think of it:
This is what a good zombie story should be! No teens falling in love with zombies, but zombies hungry for human flesh, a country in chaos and a hand full of unlikely heroes who try to save the day.

It's suspenseful, has plenty of zombie mayhem, likeable characters and also characters you'd gladly push in front of a herd of hungry zombies. Apart from the really cool zombie mayhem Golden put a lot of work in the way people react to everything that's happening and in doing so he gives a very believable insight in the workings of the human mind during a catastrophic happening like a zombie outbreak.

One big negative thing: The cover!
What's up with that? Does it say zombie in any way?
If I hadn't known this book was about zombies I'd never would have guessed just from looking at this cover and possibly could have missed out on a great book.

Why should you read it:
Zombie Mayhem!

5 comments:

Little Willow said...

I really love this book! I call Soulless the best zombie movie I've ever read. ;)

titania86 said...

I love both Soulless books! The cover on this one is really weird and has nothing to do with the actual novel. Glad you liked it too!

Sullivan McPig said...

@Little Willow: You know, that actually makes sense ;-)

@Titania86: I was so disappointed with the cover as I had seen the cover you posted and at the website I ordered the book they also showed that cover. Thanks for your review btw as it pointed me towards the book!

Anonymous said...

Yeah, that cover makes it look literary.

vvb32 reads said...

i remember reading titania's review on this last year. i must definitely read this one.