If you're going to stick the word 'Zombie' into a title, and then leave it up to the (let's face it, confused and unfortunate) masses to save themselves, don't make the endings wimptastic.

The basic endings breakdown in this:
30 Bad Ends: meaning you either die or become a zombie
10 Good Ends: You somehow manage to live relatively content
8 Questionable Ends: You survive, possibly, but the future looks bad
1 The End: The 'True' ending to the book

This book is gruesome, a little horrifying and almost stomach turning. But if you're reading this to begin with I'm assuming you're not looking for gilded flowery writing. Brallier writes tongue-in-cheek. A few of the questionable endings are him berating you for making the 'stupid' choice (leaving the kids to die, telling the hottest girl ever to go away) to save yourself. Personally I think it would make more sense not to trust a situation you have no control over. My sister and I were discussing some of the decisions and consequences Brallier has in his book and were doubted the wisdom more often than not.

Interesting things can occur--you have a chance to join the Hell's Angels New York Chapter at one point in fact, but its very easy to let these things suddenly distract you. There is only one path to take to reach the 'true' ending and navigating the treacherous waters of the choices isn't as easy as it may sound. It took me twenty tries to finally nail down how to puzzle out the path to the end, though it was worth it. If you are serious about finding it I suggest taking notes. Make a note for each decision you make and the choice you could have made.

Sounds like a lot of work, but heck those old Choose Your Own Adventure novels were a lot of work too!

Inside jokes abound, especially when our lead character runs into a crowd dressed for the 'Undead Walk'. Their bad luck that their Zombie Walk was pre-empted by the undead. There's several arguments about this or that zombie mythos versus each other. Standard trivia things, but still amusing for a Zombie Enthusiast.

Is this a book for everyone? Heck no. Those with weak stomachs when watching horror films should never touch this book. Kids under the age of 14 should not touch this book. This does seem like something that would be a fun party game or dinner discussion--pop out the book and then discuss with friends and loved ones whether preemptively killing your friend is a wise choice or will ultimately lead to your death. ( )

Read this as part of the 2019 Pop Sugar Challenge as one of the prompts is choose your own adventure. A fun read but I didn't survive the apocalypse! ( )

What a ride! While I don't see it winning any fancy-schmancy writing awards, this adult-focused, choose-your-own-adventure book was a blast.

Told from the first-person perspective (how else would you "choose your own adventure? duh!), you have to make your way out of Manhattan which has been overrun with zombies. What do you do? In my case, I often wind up a part of the zombie horde, but, I still enjoyed it. Full of laughs, plenty of action and just the right amount of zombie gore.


This was a First-Reads selection.
( )

It was quite fun, it's a choose your own adventure type of book about the zombie apocalypse. Every decision you make has consequences, most of which ended in painful and gruesome death, but some endings were fun. ( )

A neat idea that isn't pulled off to any worthwhile extent. The very nature of multiple plotlines means that each individual plotline lacks depth in character and setting and plot twists. I counted seven major plotlines to follow, and in less than 400 pages there is no time or room for any of these to be truly dominant and interesting. None are truly compelling (and only the Hell's Angels one really rises above average) and don't advance beyond the escape from New York in the immediate aftermath of the zombie outbreak. There's no hard decisions to be made about what to do when society has broken down, only 'turn to page x' to decide whether to run or fight or hole up in any given scenario.

This problem is compounded by the fact that Max Brallier, the author, often makes the choice for you. Most 'choices' have a clear 'right' and 'wrong' outcome and if you choose the 'wrong' one you immediately get an 'oops, you're dead now' passage and so you flick back through the pages and choose the 'right' one. There are no massively diverging plotlines based on your approaches to moral dilemmas. There's no butterfly effect in effect here.

No one will be coming to this book for sophistication, so I feel a little guilty about my next criticism. Which is: it's all rather juvenile. I didn't expect ringing prose or social commentary, but Brallier's writing is functional in the extreme and his characters (even the 'You' protagonist) are one-note clichés. It's more Resident Evil/Dead Rising video-game, let's-use-chainsaws-and-samurai-swords, rock-and-roll zombies than the slightly more nuanced 'what-does-it-mean-to-be-human' Walking Dead or World War Z zombies. It's tiresome after one or two of the plotlines have been experienced.

But the choose-your-own-adventure take on the zombie genre is an interesting one and the short, back-and-forth nature allows you to breeze through the various plotlines. It's unashamedly just trying to have a bit of fun, and I like that. I like that I didn't have to think, and could read through a 400-page book in just a few hours. It also raised a flicker of nostalgia about the Choose Your Own Adventure books I read as a kid. I just wish it had a bit more craft and invention to the writing, a bit more emotional engagement and ambition. There's great potential in this approach, for everyone thinks: "Aw yeah, I'd survive in something like that. Everyone in these films/games/shows is so stupid. I'd be much better." But if you want an unnerving, emotionally engaging, well-crafted story about surviving in a zombie apocalypse and being forced to make hard decisions about characters you care about, I can't really recommend Brallier's book. I can, however, recommend instead the Telltale Games interactive series based on The Walking Dead, as an example of how choice-based zombie stories can work (devastatingly) well. ( )