This is what I expect from all zombie books. A rollicking good adventure with death and destruction and chaos and hilarity.

I loved this book. I loved how a sympathetic character - Weissman - turned out to be the rapist. I love that Death was an actual character. I love that the survivors didn't all survive.

I love that Death adopts a little girl, sort of. That, I've discovered, is one of my fiction kinks. Give me Death adopting a human, and I will fall in love with your book.

I love that there are regular people and crazy people and different kinds of zombies and I love that it seems like this is just one book in a bigger story.

Of course, it had its problems. POV shifts weren't all that clearly marked, so it'd take a paragraph or two to figure out that there was a shift. There were some scenes that made me cringe at the phrasing in them, and some scenes that needed to be elaborated more.

But overall, this was a superb zombie novel, so awesome that I finished it in a day and I'd read the fuck out of it again. ( )

This was a disappointing novel. The premise is unique with Death coming to Earth to fight against the undead. However, that's not necessarily what happened. 90% of the book follows a group of human survivors, none of whom I cared about since not a lot of background was given to them. With Death finally does make more than a 2-page appearance, he's not really Death anymore.

If this were more than a two-book series, I would quit right now, but since there is only one more novel, I will finish it. My recommendation for others is to avoid it. ( )

I love zombie fiction and speed read through several books in the genre back to back some years ago. Usually that means details in the stories get mixed up with each other. Rarely does it mean I totally forget what happens in a book. Let's just say this book is so unmemorable I forgot I read it. Do yourself a favor and do a re-read of World War Z or Day By Day Armageddon instead. ( )

I think this book would have been greatly improved with some EDITING! Transitions from character and/or storyline were rough, abrupt and made the thread of the story falter every time until I realized what was going on. Also I felt quite a few of the characters were cliche cutouts and I never really found one to connect with. Supposedly this was a new tiwst on zombie novels, but I found nothing really unusual - except for there being 2 ways the "afterdead" came into being. Some parts were OK, but they lost impact due to the overall sub-par-ness (ok, I am making up a word :P) of the book itself. There are MUCH better zombie novels out there - try WORLD WAR Z by MAX BROOKS - you'll be glad you did. ( )

100 years after the dead start to rise the military is abandoning Jefferson Harbor to consolidate their forces inland, leaving the few remaining residents to take care of themselves in a city that is almost completely out of resources. The story follows a police officer as he tries to protect the residents, a female singer who has been left behind, a holy woman as she tries to maintain a shelter, an undead as he hunts through the city with his trusty shovel, a madman who is trying to form the dead up into his own personal servants, and Death himself as he tries to deal with an anomoly that is making his job most frustrating.

David Dunwoody's novel isn't your typical zombie story. First, there is the variety of zombies. As they feed they become stronger and faster so there are zombies ranging from the Romero type of lumbering idiot to the fast and deadly variety. Also, there are two distinct types of zombies. One who is risen by the powers of the universe itself, and another type who is infected and can infect others. Another thing that separates this novel from others is the appearance of Death. He is almost like batman in the city of Gotham, a legend come to life. His frustration is obvious and his unique perspective on the situation separates this novel from other zombie works even more. The zombies aren't the only evil within the book. There are also callous men who are only looking out for themselves, a rapist among the few survivors and the Baron's civilized evil gives the book a nice twist.

If you are looking for something new and refreshing in the zombie horror genre then Empire is certainly it. ( )