Double Dead by Chuck Wendig

Coburn’s been dead now for close to a century, but seeing as how he’s a vampire and all, it doesn’t much bother him. Or at least it didn’t, not until he awoke from a forced five year slumber to discover that most of human civilisation was now dead - but not dead like, oh no..

I wanted to read DD as soon as I got wind of the concept: a vampire in waking up during the zombie apocalypse and discovering that his food is now an endangered species. Coburn is the vampire in question, and it’s immediately clear that he’s not someone used to being denied.

DD opens with Coburn’s awakening, an unexpected trickle of blood reaching his withered, blood-starved body. It’s a peach of an opening chapter and does a fine job of hooking you and setting the tone for what’s to come.

It’s a fair assumption that most people will be familiar with the parameters of a post zompocalyptic world, particularly in the wake of The Walking Dead, and Wendig doesn’t waste any words setting up the basics, letting him get on with fleshing out Coburn. By turns violent, arrogant and sarcastic, Coburn is nonetheless a witty and likeable character, which is quite an accomplishment. Later on, when pieces of the story of his life before his enforced slumber start to emerge, it rounds off his character quite neatly.

It’s not an easy transition for Coburn, going from a supremely confident and borderline smug predator to having to shepherd his food to somewhere safe and secure, while being inexorably dragged into the messy personal histories and interactions of the living.. and the unpleasant realisation that in order to survive he’s going to have to think about more than his appetite. Particularly when the zombies who’ve mutated after coming into contact with his blood finally close in. It's handled very well, and while Coburn is changed by what's he's experiencing, it's a gradual and believably messy process in keeping with the rest of the story, rather than any kind of sudden, fairy godmother like epiphany.

Fast and bloody good fun, Double Dead delivers everything you’re expecting it to and then some. I finished it in a day, and enjoyed it thoroughly (particularly the cannibal barbecue- brilliant!). It’s a fresh perspective on a favourite theme with lashings of dark humour and a charismatic main character I’d really like to see more of.



You can visit Chuck's website here.

Viking Dead by Toby Venables

Northern Europe, 976 AD. Bjólf and the viking crew of the ship Hrafn flee up an unknown river after a bitter battle, only to find themselves in a bleak land of pestilence. The dead don’t lie down, but become draugr – the undead – returning to feed on the flesh of their kin. Terrible stories are told of a dark castle in a hidden fjord, and of black ships that come raiding with invincible draugr berserkers. And no sooner has Bjólf resolved to leave, than the black ships appear... Now stranded, his men cursed by the contagion of walking death, Bjólf has one choice: fight his way through a forest teeming with zombies, invade the castle and find the secret of the horrific condition – or submit to an eternity of shambling, soulless undeath!

Viking Dead opens with a young boy named Atli reluctantly making his way home, knowing that all he has to look forward to is a lecture and a beating from his abusive and small minded father. But then the mist rolls up the river, and through this veil emerges a dragon. And so we meet Bjolf and his crew as they prepare for what should be just another raid on a small village.

But the raid doesn't go to plan as they're ambushed by their bitter rival Grimmsson, and they're chased out into a storm wracked estuary, where they escape Grimmsson and find Atli stowed away. Fog follows the storm, and they gratefully head towards the first land sighted, however gloomy and unwelcoming its appearance. It’s here that they encounter the first of the walking dead that plague these lands, and they quickly flee the madness of that shore, but what lays before them is far darker and stranger than they could imagine.

The imagery in Viking Dead is strong, and builds a convincing and claustrophobic world around Bjolf and his men, who are likeable, normal guys (by Viking standards) who’re just out there trying to make a living. They aren’t out to be heroes, but as they begin to realise their predicament and are pushed to the brink by the horrors they are forced to confront, their uncertainty and fear turns to anger. Rather than find a way to escape the horror, they turn to confront it, to cut their way to the source of the taint. It’s a hard fight right to the end, a struggle that sees them coming up against several diehard zombie favourites as well as several new twists on these, including a truly diabolical use of zombie ants- a stroke of macabre genius I would love to see translated to the big screen one day.

Viking Dead was as much fun as I expected it to be. Come on, its Vikings and zombies! What makes it work once the initial novelty wears off is that their world has a very normal, Viking -era feel to it (no doubt a product of decent research) and a firmly grounded cast of characters which keeps it from straying into the realms of silliness. Bjolf is a great character, and the switches between his and Atli's perspectives work to create a nice picture of life as a warrior in his crew. The villain gets some attention too, though not as lavish, but it helps to provide some background.

The pace is good and while there's plenty of chaotic action, it's gritty and real rather than an over the top gore-fest. The ending might divide opinion, it worked for me.

The Clockwork King of Orl, Mike Wild

“The words of her mentor inspire Kali Hooper to explore the lost places of Twilight, unearth the secrets of its past and discover the fate of the vanished Old Races. So far, so good. But when an unexpected encounter in the deadly Spiral of Kos brings Kali head to head with Twilight's all-consuming Final Faith, she finds herself in a race for the keys to the 'Old Races' most terrifying secret yet ­ the mysterious construct known as the Clockwork King of Orl.”

The Clockwork King of Orl takes place across the breadth of Kerberos, a land littered with the discarded and forgotten remnants of the long-vanished and enigmatic dwarven and elven races.

It across these lands that Kali Hooper ranges, plying her trade as a proponent of ‘athletic archaeology’. Driven by an insatiable curiosity, Kali doggedly seeks out remote pockets of the old races civilisation, selling the trinkets and sharing the true discoveries with Moon, her mentor.

The story begins as Kali explores a particularly inhospitable forest, and stumbles across a seemingly untouched old world structure, the Spiral of Kos. However, she and her enigmatic steed ‘Horse’ are not the first ones there.. the ensuing encounter with the ruthless Munch -an oddly fluffy name in the context of his man’s homicidal leanings- sets the wheels of a certifiable Adventure in motion (and yes, it needs a capital).

Kali is an intelligent, tough, outspoken and likeable character; the leather-clad lovechild of Lara Croft and Rick O’Connell. She has an intriguing story of her own, part of which is revealed to her during the race for the Clockwork King, and something which I hope Mike Wild will explore in later novels. As a setting, Kerberos is certainly fertile enough to support a wide range of further adventures.

As it is, Clockwork is the second book in Abaddon’s ‘Twilight of Kerberos’ series and I’m quite tempted to go pick up a copy of the first book, Shadowmage, so I can match up some of the references.

But the fact that I could pick up Clockwork as a standalone read and enjoy it as much as I did speaks volumes; I’ll definitely be adding any of Kali’s subsequent adventures to my ‘get this, read this’ list!

Monday Book A Day Give Away

Today's first giveaway is published by Abaddon Publishers and it is I, Zombie by Al Ewing.

The second book we're throwing into the pot for today is Superpowers by David J Schwartz.

The Rules:

Choose ONE book only (this is not an either/or competition) pop your preferred title in the subject line and email us at myfavouritebooksatblogspot(@)googlemail.com. If you've won, we'll contact you back and ask you for your postal address.

UK entrants only.

Duplicate entries will be disqualified.

Entries with no subject line will be deleted/seen as spam.

The competition will run on till 1st January 2009. This means that even if you don't enter this on Saturday, 20thDecember you have time to do so for the rest of the month, till 1st January 09.

About I, Zombie - read a review here by our good mate, Graeme.

About Superpowers - read my review here.

Good Luck!

School's Out, Scott Andrews

"It's never easy being fifteen, but when your teachers are killing each other, the prefect who loves to bully you is experimenting with crucifixion, and the rival gang from across town have decided that ritualistic cannibalism is the way to go, spots and BO don't seem like such big problems after all.

These are the final days of St Marks School For Boys, and the punishment for disobedience is death!"


School’s Out is part of Abaddon’s ‘The Afterblight Chronicles’, a series set in the aftermath of an apocalyptic plague that has wiped out everyone without a specific blood group.

School’s Out is told from the perspective of Lee Keegan, a teenage schoolboy who’s thrown into the chaos and uncertainty of this dark and dangerous new world.

Abaddon has certainly lived up to their tagline of Extreme Action! Aggressive excitement! Excessive adventure! There’s an abundance of action from the start as Lee is forced to fight to survive, to kill or be killed. He’s no Rambo though; I really felt for what he was going through, as he tries to hold on to the basic tenets of decency while the world curdles around him and he’s forced to face up to the new reality and make some hard choices.

School’s Out was out and out fun to read. It does what it says on the box, delivering a chunky dose of action, adventure and violence, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that there was a really likeable character and solid premise under all the blood and fury. If the rest of the series is as good we’re in for a treat!