Zurvival Saturday (94) Review: Zombie Tales from Dead Worlds by Rhiannon Frater


This week I'll be reviewing one of my most anticipated Zombie books of the year, Zombie Tales from Dead Worlds by Rhiannon Frater. I've been looking forward to another Rhiannon Frater novel for quite some time and this one surely didn't disappoint once I had the chance to read it!! Not that I ever doubted it would of course...

Author: Rhiannon Frater
Genre: Zombies, Horror, Anthology
Published: May 22, 2014


…ZOMBIES, INFECTED, DEADERS, BLIGHTERS…

Zombie Tales from Undead Worlds contains three exhilarating short stories and three white-knuckle novelettes set in alternate versions of an Earth inhabited with frightening variants of zombies to haunt your waking hours and fill your nightmares. 

In The Blanket, a little boy hides as the end of the world enters his home…
In The Scavengers, two unique survivors struggle to carve out a life for themselves while being threatened by the most frightful beings of all: humanity…
In The Building, a teenage girl lives in a walled-in neighborhood and hopes to escape to the luxury of the high-rise apartment building that towers over it. But to reach it, she must risk the Deaders that roam the streets…
In The Necromancer, a Cleric must deal with hordes of the destructive undead as they threaten a settlement in a futuristic world…
In The Race, seven friends scramble to reach the safe zone while evading the dangers of the murderous Blighters and each other…
In The False Start, a young couple is torn apart as the undead plague begins to take hold of Austin, Texas…

Award-winning author Rhiannon Frater creates vivid new stories set in alternate worlds where people face nightmarish creatures that only desire one thing: to destroy the living.



Review
Zombie Tales from Dead Worlds is a book that I went into reading with much excitement and anticipation. Not only was the author returning to the Zombie genre that I love but also the book was anthology so that meant plenty of Zombie goodness to read about and that's just the way I like it!

One of the things I noticed right off the bat when reading this anthology was how perfectly paced the stories were. None felt too long nor too short. I never felt rushed and the buildup to the big climaxes in each while not always surprising were at least satisfyingly done.

So how did I like the stories individually? Well read on to find out!

The Blanket – This story was short but packed quite a punch in the gut. It reminded me of the scene with those ten tiny fingers all those years ago and I wasn't expecting that. Very well written but a sad story indeed.

The Scavengers – Now this was a story I think would make a great full length novel. Not only were the characters very unique but also the idea of family units forming amongst the dead while bizarre was kinda cool to see. Plus that ending, I must know more!

The Building - Out of all the stories this was probably the one I struggled with the most. Don't get me wrong it was well written and all but I just found it to be a bit too predictable and that did lessen the enjoyability factor a touch for me.

The Necromancer – I haven't read many stories with necromancers so it was hard for me to sort of grasp all the goings on in the story. Once I did get a foothold however whew boy was this a good story. I won't give away the ending but the character deserved it is all I'm saying.

The Race – If any story had me rooting for the deaths of the characters this was the one. Survival is the name of the game and Laurie surely wanted to win at all costs. However, even in a Zombie apocalypse one should remember not to be selfish as the term what goes around, comes around applies heavily here. Great story though, especially the end.

The False Start – This story felt probably the closest to a full length novel and I believe this was the longest story in the anthology as well. The build up was fantastic, the middle action packed and thrilling, even the ending was great (for some of the characters anyway...).

Final Thoughts
Overall, I really have no complaints with this anthology. The stories as mentioned above were properly paced. I never felt like I was reading something incomplete. Plus, the writing and the quality of the stories were what I'd come to expect from this author. I highly recommend checking out this anthology once you get the chance.

With that being said, I'll be rating Zombie Tales from Dead Worlds by Rhiannon Frater ★★★★.


*Copy purchased. All opinions are my own and I was not compensated in any which way for providing them. 

Author Bio & Follow Links
Rhiannon Frater is the award-winning author of the As the World Dies trilogy (The First Days, Fighting to Survive, Siege,) and the author of three other books: the vampire novels Pretty When She Dies and The Tale of the Vampire Bride and the young-adult zombie novel The Living Dead Boy and the Zombie Hunters. Inspired to independently produce her work from the urging of her fans, she published The First Days in late 2008 and quickly gathered a cult following. She won the Dead Letter Award back-to-back for both The First Days and Fighting to Survive, the former of which the Harrisburg Book Examiner called ‘one of the best zombie books of the decade.’ Rhiannon is currently represented by Hannah Gordon of the Foundry + Literary Media agency. You may contact her by sending an email to rhiannonfrater@gmail.com.

Follow Rhiannon: rhiannonfrater.com / FacebookTwitter / Blog / Pinterest /Goodreads

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Out of curiosity, Have you read this yet? 
If yes, Which story has been your favorite thus far?

 Leave me your answers in the comments below or feel free to tweet me them @Hermyoni  

Well that about wraps up this weeks Zurvival Saturday. Like what you see? Please share! I thank you if you do.  Want to check out past Zurvival Saturday's? Click Here

Comments

  1. Fantastic review, Kristin! I'll be reading this very soon. Like, probably tomorrow. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, and I may just have to start participating in Zurvival Saturday at some point in the near future!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I hope you enjoy it when you do!!

    ReplyDelete

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