Scan barcode
stumpsv's review against another edition
3.0
Started out as one of the best zombie books I've read in a while, I really enjoyed the beginning, but then went downhill quickly. There are numerous forgettable characters, even many of the main protagonists and antagonists don't seem outstanding. I liked the zombies but even they received more attention and building than most of the living beings. By the end of the book there were still characters I wasn't "familiar" with, with nothing more than their names setting them apart.
I liked how the author doesn't pull any punches in regards to the plot, it reminds me of the walking dead in that way, but I really couldn't get past the characters all feeling flat. Lucy started the book with tons of character and appeal but then takes a backseat to Gus who is not only difficult to identify with, being a prodigy and all, but doesn't seem to have any emotions. No one stands a foil to Gus so it's hard to fall into the book like it was earlier on with Lucy and Knock-out.
One of the better zombie books out there but not as good a book, in general, as it started out.
I liked how the author doesn't pull any punches in regards to the plot, it reminds me of the walking dead in that way, but I really couldn't get past the characters all feeling flat. Lucy started the book with tons of character and appeal but then takes a backseat to Gus who is not only difficult to identify with, being a prodigy and all, but doesn't seem to have any emotions. No one stands a foil to Gus so it's hard to fall into the book like it was earlier on with Lucy and Knock-out.
One of the better zombie books out there but not as good a book, in general, as it started out.
colorfulleo92's review against another edition
4.0
Been in such an horror mood lately. This was a good audiobook to listen to, not that scary but more horror adventure kind of things with intruiging elements. I had hoped this was a series but I don't think it is.
leann0330's review
2.0
I really wanted to like this book. And I don't like giving harsh reviews because writing is a very personal thing and there's no sense in being overly critical. I'll just list some of my observations and the things I did not like about this book.
The book was set in Arkansas, which I was very excited about because I am from Arkansas. That being said, some of the geography was inaccurate (I-40 is not anywhere near White Hall or Arkadelphia). I know that may be a nit-picky thing to get distracted from, but it distracted me. I feel like this could have been caught in editing/reviewing. And the author is also from Arkansas, so I'm not sure why that was not correct.
I just didn't like the characters. I sort of liked Knock-Out, but that was about it.
I did not feel like the third chapter/account (Cass's story) furthered the plot much. I feel like it could have been left out and rewritten a bit to get where the story was meant to be without her account.
Some of the chapters/accounts were written in first-person and some in third. I could not figure out a pattern, if it was intentional. If it wasn't intentional, I feel like an editor should have caught it.
There were not really any new zombie ideas in this book. Which is fine, I suppose. I was just really looking forward to reading this and it didn't meet my expectations. The writing was fine, I just didn't care for the story. It wasn't a complete waste of time, as I actually finished it (I have been known to just stop reading books when I didn't like them). If there were half-stars, I'd give it a 2.5.
The book was set in Arkansas, which I was very excited about because I am from Arkansas. That being said, some of the geography was inaccurate (I-40 is not anywhere near White Hall or Arkadelphia). I know that may be a nit-picky thing to get distracted from, but it distracted me. I feel like this could have been caught in editing/reviewing. And the author is also from Arkansas, so I'm not sure why that was not correct.
I just didn't like the characters. I sort of liked Knock-Out, but that was about it.
I did not feel like the third chapter/account (Cass's story) furthered the plot much. I feel like it could have been left out and rewritten a bit to get where the story was meant to be without her account.
Some of the chapters/accounts were written in first-person and some in third. I could not figure out a pattern, if it was intentional. If it wasn't intentional, I feel like an editor should have caught it.
There were not really any new zombie ideas in this book. Which is fine, I suppose. I was just really looking forward to reading this and it didn't meet my expectations. The writing was fine, I just didn't care for the story. It wasn't a complete waste of time, as I actually finished it (I have been known to just stop reading books when I didn't like them). If there were half-stars, I'd give it a 2.5.
trudilibrarian's review against another edition
3.0
Liked it overall, but I did have my problems with it.
The Good:
1. The zombies (aka zeds, shamblers, revs (short for revenants)) -- there is nothing unique about Jacobs' zombies: they are slow, and gooshy, and stink. They are dangerous in hordes and are attracted to sound. All this we've seen before; nevertheless, the descriptions are remarkably vivid -- skulls shattering, teeth splintering, intestines bursting, and always the terrible, gag-inducing smell of rot.
2. The first 121 pages are a complete adrenaline rush. Action begins on page 1 and does not relent for a moment. We meet Dr. Lucy Ingersoll on the afternoon her hospital succumbs to chaos. An inexplicable virus is causing people to seizure, auto-cannibalize, attack, die and re-animate. Lucy is our entry point into the start of the end of the world. She assesses her situation and realizes she must abandon the hospital if she is to rescue her son, Gus, at home with his father. In her attempt to get to her family, Lucy crosses paths with Knock-Out, a giant of a man with a gentle and kind way about him. These 121 pages are strong enough to stand on their own as a rip-roaring novella of zombie insanity, replete with nuclear detonations.
The Bad:
The shifting character POV did not work for me. The first 121 pages grabbed me by my short hairs. I loved the brutal immediacy of the story. Everything feels so *urgent* and *perilous*. I loved Lucy and Knock-Out. Then the book shifts gears and we are getting Tessa's story. Okay, I'll keep following you. Tessa's story is sad and icky. But intense. I found her very sympathetic. Just as I was getting emotionally invested, the story shifts again. Now it's three years later and Lucy's 14-year-old son Gus takes over narrating. Then the POV shifts *again* and we have some chick Barbara sharing the minutes from the various committee meetings of the Bridge City survivors enclave. And there will be one more POV change before the novel concludes.
So many shifts in narration, from first to third person, lost me by the end of the book. It was hard to sustain emotional involvement with any of the major characters. The book ends up reading like a collection of interconnected short stories, and on their own, each of the chapters are actually quite strong. It's when you force them to act as a novel where things fall apart. That's when huge problems with pacing and characterization appear, along with a natural momentum towards a meaningful and satisfactory climax (of which there isn't one).
Despite these issues, there's something about this book that recommends itself. It's got that gritty, western kind of vibe going, a little Mad Max, a little The Road and of course Kirkman's The Walking Dead (it's just not possible to read about the slavers and Captain Konstantin and not be reminded of the Governor).
If you're craving zombies, and a bleak and desperate post-apocalyptic landscape, you could do a lot worse than This Dark Earth.
The Good:
1. The zombies (aka zeds, shamblers, revs (short for revenants)) -- there is nothing unique about Jacobs' zombies: they are slow, and gooshy, and stink. They are dangerous in hordes and are attracted to sound. All this we've seen before; nevertheless, the descriptions are remarkably vivid -- skulls shattering, teeth splintering, intestines bursting, and always the terrible, gag-inducing smell of rot.
2. The first 121 pages are a complete adrenaline rush. Action begins on page 1 and does not relent for a moment. We meet Dr. Lucy Ingersoll on the afternoon her hospital succumbs to chaos. An inexplicable virus is causing people to seizure, auto-cannibalize, attack, die and re-animate. Lucy is our entry point into the start of the end of the world. She assesses her situation and realizes she must abandon the hospital if she is to rescue her son, Gus, at home with his father. In her attempt to get to her family, Lucy crosses paths with Knock-Out, a giant of a man with a gentle and kind way about him. These 121 pages are strong enough to stand on their own as a rip-roaring novella of zombie insanity, replete with nuclear detonations.
The Bad:
The shifting character POV did not work for me. The first 121 pages grabbed me by my short hairs. I loved the brutal immediacy of the story. Everything feels so *urgent* and *perilous*. I loved Lucy and Knock-Out. Then the book shifts gears and we are getting Tessa's story. Okay, I'll keep following you. Tessa's story is sad and icky. But intense. I found her very sympathetic. Just as I was getting emotionally invested, the story shifts again. Now it's three years later and Lucy's 14-year-old son Gus takes over narrating. Then the POV shifts *again* and we have some chick Barbara sharing the minutes from the various committee meetings of the Bridge City survivors enclave. And there will be one more POV change before the novel concludes.
So many shifts in narration, from first to third person, lost me by the end of the book. It was hard to sustain emotional involvement with any of the major characters. The book ends up reading like a collection of interconnected short stories, and on their own, each of the chapters are actually quite strong. It's when you force them to act as a novel where things fall apart. That's when huge problems with pacing and characterization appear, along with a natural momentum towards a meaningful and satisfactory climax (of which there isn't one).
Despite these issues, there's something about this book that recommends itself. It's got that gritty, western kind of vibe going, a little Mad Max, a little The Road and of course Kirkman's The Walking Dead (it's just not possible to read about the slavers and Captain Konstantin and not be reminded of the Governor).
If you're craving zombies, and a bleak and desperate post-apocalyptic landscape, you could do a lot worse than This Dark Earth.
jefffrane's review against another edition
3.0
Some of Jacobs earlier work, and it gets a little shaky after the halfway mark. Some of his experiments in point of view are awkward but as zombie stories go it's pretty decent.
litwrite's review against another edition
3.0
The reviews on this book wax poetic on how fantastic this was so I think this kind of skewed my expectations somewhat which may have dropped my eventual rating. The plot of this is very much typical of any book in the zombie genre - people escaping during the intitial chaos, and then rebuilding and fighting off potential disaster in the form of both zombies and evil humans.
Jacobs has a good ear and the book is well written for the genre but it wasn't ground breaking or anything new or particularly interesting. I did admire his lack of squeamishness for putting important characters in harm's way and damaging them regardless of the readers' expectations. The advertising blurb is somewhat misleading in that the book isn't all about a young messiah who is set to lead the survivors into the future at all and in fact a good amount of the novel is based around other characters and the Point of View is switched a lot between these different characters which I actually found a bit jarring, and occasionally (as in the case of Knock-out) a little bit annoying and 'fake'.
Perhaps I've just read too many zombie books and my expectations are quite high if you've got one that's preaching originality. I'm still interested in reading Jacobs' first book which got really high reviews, but this one was just okay for me. 3 stars.
Jacobs has a good ear and the book is well written for the genre but it wasn't ground breaking or anything new or particularly interesting. I did admire his lack of squeamishness for putting important characters in harm's way and damaging them regardless of the readers' expectations. The advertising blurb is somewhat misleading in that the book isn't all about a young messiah who is set to lead the survivors into the future at all and in fact a good amount of the novel is based around other characters and the Point of View is switched a lot between these different characters which I actually found a bit jarring, and occasionally (as in the case of Knock-out) a little bit annoying and 'fake'.
Perhaps I've just read too many zombie books and my expectations are quite high if you've got one that's preaching originality. I'm still interested in reading Jacobs' first book which got really high reviews, but this one was just okay for me. 3 stars.
catladylover94's review against another edition
5.0
awesome book was sucked right into the book at the first chapters
seak's review against another edition
4.0
I picked this book up not because I'm a fan of a good zombie book (even though I am), but solely on the strength of the reviews of his debut novel Southern Gods.
No, I haven't read it, but I will now.
This Dark Earth takes us from the beginning of the zombie apocalypse through the early development of a new civilization. Not treading a whole lot of new ground here are we?
And I think that's what's blowing me a way with this book is that it's nothing new, but at the same time it felt fresh and vibrant and I COULD NOT put it down. I guess that shows what kind of writing chops this author has.
We start out following Doc Lucy Ingersol's point of view as the first of the outbreak begins to show up in the hospital in which she works. The waiting room breaks out in what I can only compare to Draculas. All hell breaks loose.
She gets away, barely, and luckily gets picked up by a trucker who goes by the name of Knock Out...just as the world is being blown to smithereens, or just well-placed nukes in every major city.
While this isn't a whole lot different from the normal zombie fair, I can say he does a few things differently, at least in my limited experience. The first, is the entire set up of the novel. It's only made up of 7 chapters, each, for the most part, is a different character and in first person. They're all interconnected somehow and thus, you're able to get really close to each of the main characters.
The second thing is that you can't trust what will happen with these characters. Obviously, this is a zombie novel and of course no one's really safe...but then, The Walking Dead still has most of the main characters, even Carl...wait...where's Carl!?!?!
Speaking of The Walking Dead, if you're a fan of the show, I think you'll really connect with this book. Some of the same themes show up here, such as the need to avoid cities with their huge populations.
The back cover of the book has a quote from S.G. Browne that says this book is The Road meets World War Z. While I haven't read WWZ, I have read The Road and I can kind of see where he's coming from. The people who have survived at 3 years out are some of the nastiest around. There are good people granted, but where would the fun be if only those existed.
While this book is much more on the pulp end of things, I can definitely see that this comparison makes sense. There are some truly poignant events that occur that had my emotions running high. I can also say that I don't think I've read anything more brutal than what happens to one of the characters and the whole time it felt like I was going through it.
On that note, this book definitely isn't for the faint of heart. Lots of blood and guts fill the pages, not to mention some other uncomely acts.
All in all, if you're going to read a zombie book, I'd recommend you read This Dark Earth. Once you start, you won't be able to put it down anyway, so start now.
4 out of 5 Stars (Highly Recommended)
No, I haven't read it, but I will now.
This Dark Earth takes us from the beginning of the zombie apocalypse through the early development of a new civilization. Not treading a whole lot of new ground here are we?
And I think that's what's blowing me a way with this book is that it's nothing new, but at the same time it felt fresh and vibrant and I COULD NOT put it down. I guess that shows what kind of writing chops this author has.
We start out following Doc Lucy Ingersol's point of view as the first of the outbreak begins to show up in the hospital in which she works. The waiting room breaks out in what I can only compare to Draculas. All hell breaks loose.
She gets away, barely, and luckily gets picked up by a trucker who goes by the name of Knock Out...just as the world is being blown to smithereens, or just well-placed nukes in every major city.
While this isn't a whole lot different from the normal zombie fair, I can say he does a few things differently, at least in my limited experience. The first, is the entire set up of the novel. It's only made up of 7 chapters, each, for the most part, is a different character and in first person. They're all interconnected somehow and thus, you're able to get really close to each of the main characters.
The second thing is that you can't trust what will happen with these characters. Obviously, this is a zombie novel and of course no one's really safe...but then, The Walking Dead still has most of the main characters, even Carl...wait...where's Carl!?!?!
Speaking of The Walking Dead, if you're a fan of the show, I think you'll really connect with this book. Some of the same themes show up here, such as the need to avoid cities with their huge populations.
The back cover of the book has a quote from S.G. Browne that says this book is The Road meets World War Z. While I haven't read WWZ, I have read The Road and I can kind of see where he's coming from. The people who have survived at 3 years out are some of the nastiest around. There are good people granted, but where would the fun be if only those existed.
While this book is much more on the pulp end of things, I can definitely see that this comparison makes sense. There are some truly poignant events that occur that had my emotions running high. I can also say that I don't think I've read anything more brutal than what happens to one of the characters and the whole time it felt like I was going through it.
On that note, this book definitely isn't for the faint of heart. Lots of blood and guts fill the pages, not to mention some other uncomely acts.
All in all, if you're going to read a zombie book, I'd recommend you read This Dark Earth. Once you start, you won't be able to put it down anyway, so start now.
4 out of 5 Stars (Highly Recommended)
danguajars's review against another edition
3.0
Zombis. El primer tercio, entretenido y fresco. El segundo tercio, casi que lo dejo, demasiado lugar común grim dark. El tercer tercio mejoró. Si te gusta la literatura zombi, dale.