Review: All Together Now by Robert Kent

Author: Robert Kent
Genre: Zombies, Horror
Publisher: Middle Grade Ninja Press
Publication Date: September 2013

Yea though we perish, yea though we die, we'll all be together in the sweet by and by...

Fifteen-year-old Ricky Genero is writing a journal of the zombie apocalypse. His high school has burned to the ground, his friends are all either dead or shambling corpses roaming the earth in search of human flesh, and his best friend died saving his six-year-old brother Chuck from a zombie horde. When Chuck is bitten and infected with the zombie virus, Ricky must travel among the walking dead in search of a cure.

Review All Together Now starts at the beginning of a Zombie Apocalypse and through a series of journal entries tells how the main character survives through it all. All Together Now is a book that  is fast paced, well written and thought provoking while still filling its pages with plenty of action, suspense and of course Zombie carnage. One of the things I really liked about the story was the creative way the Zombie Apocalypse started. With all the chemicals in Energy Drinks it isn't so unbelievable that the wrong combination of ingredients could essentially turn everyone into mindless, shambling, corpses. Energy Drinks are addicting and the mass consumption of them by so many was a great way to get the virus into a lot of people in such a short amount of time.  Another thing I really liked was the way Ricky let us know about Chuck's demise. It's obvious he's bitten but we don't learn how until near the end. Believe me when I say I never saw it coming and it is quite heartbreaking because the character didn't either. It was a very chilling scene to say the least. However, knowing that I still don't believe Chuck should've stuck around. I get it, I do. He's your little brother and you love him but they had no way of knowing if a cure really existed and so much suffering could've been avoided if he just accepted that his brother was dead. I guess it just bugged me that he couldn't let go and it's frustrating seeing so many other characters fall by the wayside because of it.  Lastly, I liked the fact that the characters seemed real. They were selfish, annoying, ate way to much food, didn't deal with confrontations well and left me wondering how any of them would survive to not only the next chapter but the next page as well. In short they behaved exactly how I'd expect teenagers with very little real world experience to react in that sort of situation. Now even though I really liked All Together Now it did have a few small faults that kept me from rating it a bit higher.  First, I hated Zombie Chuck. If I was with Ricky I'd have put the poor kid out of his misery while Ricky slept. It was selfish and foolhardy to keep him around. If he really wanted to keep Chuck safe until a cure was found he'd have left him locked up somewhere not led him around on a collar like some lost puppy. As mentioned above so much stuff happens because Ricky is so focused on keeping his Zombified brother safe. It was both frustrating and annoying to read about.  Second, I really wish we had seen a bit more carnage. I don't care if a mythical cure will exist 2 days or even 2 months down the road. The fact they left so many Zombies alive just in hopes of a cure made me angry. Again, so much stuff could've been avoided if they just put a bullet in the brains of those they came across. I think it speaks volumes to the mentality of Ricky though. He still saw them as people whereas his partner saw them as the corpses they were.  Lastly, I hated the second ending.  I knew when Ricky gave the option to stop reading that nothing good would be coming round the bend and I was right. I won't spoil it but it was so depressing and almost ruined the entire story for me. I much prefer the first ending as it leaves things on a much more positive note. Final Thoughts All Together Now is a Zombie story with guts and is a book that I'm glad to have had the chance to read. If you like Zombie Action combined with dark humor and a twinge of romance than All Together Now is definitely for you. With that being said, I will be rating All Together Now by Robert Kent ★★★★.    *Copy reviewed provided by Author. All opinions are my own and I was not compensated in an which way  for providing them.

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