15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?"
I Zombie, By Hugh Howey (who, mind you, is quickly becoming my favorite Sci-fi author) is a very unique tale told from the perspective of a zombie, (yes you read that right). In this book he covers the range of several unfortunate souls who one way or another have become zombies, So I won't focus on any one character for this one. This being said his characters (except for one or two that were just blah) had Great development and some you even felt very sorry for.
There is plenty of mindless killing etc. to keep you gore enthusiasts mildly entertained, but the book its self hints at a dark and hidden part of man, and that this "curse" maybe our deserved punishment.
Now for the characters, you arn't just a zombie, you are yourself in your mind, watching through your eyes, hearing with your ears, smelling your own rotting flesh, tasting your victims as you gnaw mindlessly at their flesh. Sound grotesque? Or does it sound fair? Hugh makes you question this through the whole book. When you start to feel a small part of you saying "Why? Why do they deserve this?" he hits you with the character having a flashback of some of the horrible things they've done. One such instance is when Michael Lane (who is a drug addict) is talking about how he hated his mother and how he would beat her senseless (she was in a catatonic state, feeding tubes etc. never moved or did anything on her own), and all the hate he would feel for her. Then you come to his story and he is a zombie getting his knees blown out by a survivor and feeling all that torment he inflicted on his mother, (in his mind he came to rationalize how his mother must have felt if she was able to think, trapped in her mind like he was in his.)
Towards the end of the book we witness the story of Darnell Lippman a very unfortunate woman who in regards is innocent and really doesn't deserve being a zombie, but she was use to the abuse of her husband, physical, emotional, verbal, sexual, so on and so forth. She gets captured by the government and is taken to a research lab where they are doing tests on the zombies. Come to find out her mind started to break through the disease and the doctors begin trying to cure her.
JUSTICE, is what I took away as the theme to the book. And though it was oddly unique, I found it exciting and enjoyable. I know this isn't a really comprehensive review but for the sake of keeping the bulk of the content mysterious and intriguing I am keeping it as is.
Now for my scoring.
Originality: 10 (never seen one like it before)
Quality: 8 (some parts were dry and tedious but for the most part it captivated me)
Grammar: 9 (90% spot on, almost unnoticeable punctuation issues very sparingly throughout)
Character Dev.: 10 (think Justice when reading, though we spend a short time with each character realize why we do so and it's a perfect score)
Replay Value: 3 (though I enjoyed it i may only pick it up once again to see if I missed anything)
Overall: 40/45 88% B+
Note: this is his only "Zombie" Novel and is a far stretch from the WOOL and Molly Fyde series' he is known for.
Note note: The quote is what he ends the book with (at the top of this review)