28 Days Later – DaneCobain.com

Title: Nowhere Train

Author: Allie Burke

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 114

Rating: 8/10

Allie Burke – Nowhere Train

Disclaimer: Whilst I bought this book out of my own money, Allie is published and represented by Booktrope, the same publisher which is releasing my debut novella, No Rest for the Wicked.

Oh, sheeeit – it’s only the SocialBookshelves.com most anticipated book of 2015! It’s a bit like 28 Days Later mixed with Underworld, only it’s a book and it’s a hell of a lot better. Also, there are f-bombs in the book, and they sound really fucking natural. My only complaint? It’s too short, and the first part of a trilogy – it should’ve just been one book!

Allie Burke

Click here to buy Nowhere Train.

M. R. Carey – The Girl With All the Gifts | Review

July 31, 2014 danecobain

Authors A-E (By Surname)Fiction

Title: The Girl With All the Gifts

Author: M. R. Carey

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 407

Rating: 10/10

M. R. Carey – The Girl With All the Gifts

My god, I wasn’t expecting this book to be as good as it was – it’s the type of book that you can hardly put down, extremely well-written with exquisite characterisation and a story-line to die for. First, though, I have to thank Francesca from Fashion Dough for launching her blogger book club – this is the first book to be assigned to the book club, and if this is a sign of things to come then I can’t wait to keep on going.

See, The Girl With All the Gifts is essentially a zombie story with a difference, written by “an established British writer of prose fiction and comic books”, who’s written for DC and Marvel, as well as for a Hollywood movie. Loosely speaking, it follows the story of an infected child, who’s kept under lock and key at an army base with dozens of other children – I don’t want to say too much more because I don’t want to give away any of the major plot twists, but I can promise you that it’s an interesting take on the standard format of the zombie novel.

Melanie herself, as the infected child and one of the protagonists, is vaguely reminiscent of Clementine from the Walking Dead games, with a sort of wild-eyed innocence that accentuates the inevitable depravity that the world has sunk in to. Meanwhile, the whole vibe of the novel is more like the eerie stillness of 28 Days Later than the full-on zombie action of one of the Resident Evil movies, and I like that.

M. R. Carey

Plus there’s the epic twist at the end, which I kind of saw coming but still enjoyed immensely, but I don’t want to tell you about that. Instead, I should tell you about how much of a bad-ass Sergeant Parks is, or how the hungries start to take on human traits despite the obvious spread of the infection. There’s so much going on between the pages of the book that there’s something in there for everyone, even if you’re not normally in to zombie reads – I highly, highly encourage you to go out and purchase a copy and give it a read.

Besides, who knows? When the zombie apocalypse finally strikes, this book might just save your life. Thank me then, folks.