CW: All of them

Book 7 of my zombie-a-thon!

Well I honestly don't know why I kept reading this and why I have moved on to book 2.

It's not bad. I think it feels flat and emotionless. Maybe it's the narration? The previous zombie series I read is filled with all kinds of emotions on every page (even if there were also heaps comments about emotions being a threat to masculinity). The characters in this novel feel a bit wooden and as a result I am not emotionally invested. I have moved on to book 2 because I am trying to hit my Zomvember target. Hopefully it becomes more realistic and less 'and then this happened, and then we did this, then we went here...' ( )

I enjoyed "White Flag of the Dead" as it had a different flavor compared to most books in this genre. Sure, it starts out like most others, everything in chaos and pandemonium, characters "learning" about the infected and how to deal with them. The main character, John, is a school principal, who had planned for something like this; having taken survival training classes and establishing a cache of supplies and weapons in his basement over the years. The supplies are sufficient to sustain his family for several months. Unfortunately, John's wife, a nurse in the local hospital, is bitten while at work during the onset, leaving John and their four-month old son, Jake, to fend for themselves.

The setting is in a suburb of Chicago and John fortifies his home in hopes of riding out this Pandemic. However, it is soon evident that the hoards of undead are growing in size as they move out of the city and into surrounding suburbs - going house-to-house looking for living nourishment. John soon decides to bug out, leaving many of his supplies and weapons behind, intent on locating other survivors and a safer place to defend.

During this trek, John learns that the Z's have extraordinary hearing and a sense of smell, making it more difficult for survivors to hide. In the coming days, survivors begin following John and his son, the group continuous to grow as the people believe in him to get them through this mess. But instead of hiding, John takes the offensive to rid the area of z's - more intent to live than survive. He makes the rules, has a vision of rebuilding and being self-sufficient, and insists that everyone is properly trained in both self-defense and weapons before moving out. How many will follow him? Do they succeed in his quest or was it all a pipe dream? Read it to find out!

Kudos to the author for writing this story / series! As an author myself, I understand the sacrifice and amount of hours it takes to undertake a project such as this. My only criticism is the amount of typos, added or missing words throughout the tome - investing in an editor would have made a big difference. Never the less, I have already purchased the next book in the series and look forward to the further adventures of John and his group.

John Podlaski, author
Cherries - A Vietnam War Novel ( )

This was very hard to read for the first quarter of the book. The horror of possibilities because of a man and a baby. I struggled to be through it at first because of that on my. It terrified me.

When more folks entered into the equationthings started getting more B movie-ish. the story ... it was not plausible or even enjoyable. I kept expecting Thunder Dome! (Which I sort of got at the end «eye rolling»)…

The middle was dry and all tell tell tell. I got pretty sick of the constant explanation of weapons carried and Rambo-like ninja black ops training he seemed to have. John was believable at the beginning and I like him but it just got the point of me going "really?? Come on!! Give me a break!!" What kept me reading we're these pockets of good story telling. Maybe the need to have the story end with the baby OK. It was No consistent. But I slogged through so something worthwhile was there.

It needed a good edit. There were parts which I would have rated a four. The story grabbed me. I had nightmares so obviously if doesn't suck. It was OK. 2.5 smack average in the middle. I probably won't bother with the rest of this series. The only thing tempting me is to finding out more about the intelligent fast paced zombies. Meh. Who knows.

I've owned the book for over a year. I.can't remember if I bought it or got it as freebie on a KDP day. I needed some zombie goodness. As you can see it took me awhile to slog through. Would I recommend it. Not to buy an only of you were bored. I don't know. I'm struggling. This just had really good part and others which made me feel like I was on an acid trip. an others whet I wanted to scream and a few times a sigh of relief. 50/50 on a ya or nay ( )

White Flag of the Dead: Zombie Survival Series by Joseph Talluto is pretty standard zombie apocalypse fare. John Talon and his infant son are trying to survive in a world overcome by zombies. What makes it more interesting than many other books on the same theme is that the character is driven not just to survive, but to take the world back from the zombies. However, this fails to elevate the story above average - the main character is a super hero, and the rest of the characters are pretty flat. ( )