As an avowed lover of zombies from an age that would be considered unhealthy by most child psychologists, I was greatly looking forward to this novel and was mostly not disappointed! The characters felt instantly alive (pun not intended) as they were all introduced, story by story; and as such, actual concern was created that necessitated reading onwards. The ending was a bit disappointing though. More like an ellipsis rather than a conclusion. Though it did grow on me as an appropriate ending the more I ruminated on it, as a definitive finale could only come about with an even bigger deus ex machina than was already shoehorned in. If I could, I'd give 5 stars to the first section and 3 to the final one. The middle section was tantalizingly brief and remains fertile territory for more stories that could be written at some point

October and zombies are synonymous and I could not wait to read this book. It starts in a Medical examiners office where a dead body comes to life. This is written in a way that the words jump off the pages and I can fully envision this scene on the big screen.
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In fact, this entire book I can easily see making the leap from the pages to the big screen (or in 2020, the safety of our homes) This book is a true zombie horror, and quite frankly in 2020, remove the zombie aspect it mirrors the sweeping nature of a pandemic. I always love an origin story. I love to see where the zombie outbreak story started, as it shows in this book. I love seeing how a group of survivors meet and fight and live and die together so quickly they become family. #georgeromero created the zombie horror and when he died #danielkrause picked up the baton and ran with it continuing to bring zombies to the next generation.
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Thank you #netgalley and #torbooks for an arc in exchange for an honest review

Thank you to Netgalley and Tor Books for a review copy of this book. All thought and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

The Living Dead was started by George A. Romero and then finished by Daniel Kraus after his passing. I'm unsure where George's writing ends and Daniel's begins. The two parts are blended perfectly.

If you've read many of my reviews before then you probably know I am not a fan of slow burns. Sometimes, however, I find one that is so well written and engaging that I just get lost within the story. The Living Dead by George A. Romero and Daniel Kraus is one of the most enjoyable slow burns I've ever read. It did still have an occasional part or two that dragged but overall I really enjoyed it.

This book was everything I needed to give my love of zombies a boost. I am so satisfied with how the whole story played out. I loved the ending. It was just great all around.

So I have to admit zombies are my favorite so I may be a little biased. However, if you're a zombie lover I recommend checking this one out. It's long so it is a bit of a commitment but it's so good!

It would probably be 3.5 stars, but I rounded up. This is a book that frequently shifts time and POV characters, but it always does it in an interesting way that wants you to keep reading. There are some great, well-defined characters who you really start to root for and get invested in (always a bad idea in a book like this). “The Living Dead” does a lot of what you’d expect in a zombie book and does it in a good way. The only drawbacks may be a little more personal to me. No spoilers here, so I’ll just say there was a sub-plot and some characterizations that just didn’t work for me. It’s a long book, which doesn’t bother me, but at a certain point, it really started to feel like a long book. I simultaneously wanted it to wrap up but then when it did, I felt a little left in the lurch. All minor stuff. If you’re looking for an entertaining zombie book, you’ll definitely find it here. And Daniel Kraus did a great job of picking up on the work of George Romero and building on it. I’ll just say I wanted to like it a little bit more than I actually did. I’m extremely grateful that I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

About what I expected. Well written, nothing that really surprised me except how well the characters were written. I expected more action but was pleasantly surprised by the character development.

The Living Dead by George A. Romero and Daniel Kraus is the War and Peace of the zombie genre and not what an average zombie fan might expect. The novel does indeed include a few great scenes of zombie violence. However, it is more of a character study focusing on how society might respond to a massive zombie apocalypse.

While the namesake movie takes place in a random, deserted building, over a limited time, the novel employs divergent settings populated by distinctive archetypical characters over an extended time frame. The settings range from a trailer park, to a television station, and even a naval vessel at sea. The authors engage in extensive backstory for each of the main characters. Readers more interested in the traditional zombie tropes might find the protracted backstories so extensive and detailed that they might opt out of the read before they realize the big picture. Patience is a prerequisite. Readers who revere authors such as Tolstoy will stay the course and immerse themselves in the details.

The zombies appear suddenly with no fanfare and no raison d’être. Two morgue employees, executing their mundane responsibilities, are shocked when a corpse awakes and attacks them. They begin calling the walking dead--ghouls. Before long, they leave the morgue and head out into the fray in search of a family member.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the human characters is how they view the ghouls. Their opinions somehow reflect the various social chatter of the current era. There are those who want to destroy the ghouls, and those who see them as a quasi-minority, almost deserving normalization and even admiration. One group even wonders if the ghouls were caused by a virus sent to purify the planet. In any case, there is no cure.

The dead simply begin to rise, lusting for human flesh. All of it, not just brains. The human characters realize they will likely all become ghouls upon their death, including those humans who were never even bitten. This element demands complex plotting.

The authors take a divergent view of the zombie genre. Considering the fact that this plot was put forth by the creator of the genre, it could be said that zombie fans should give this novel a read, thus completing their journey through the zombie universe.

A zombie book that was started out by the king of zombies, George Romero. It was a great read. I enjoyed the action and cared about the characters. Each character was followed for a few chapters and the main story rotated between them. It was interesting the way some of the characters intersected.
There was the occasional slow-down where the author philosophized about the zombies' place in the Grand Scheme of the Universe but the story never came to a complete stop.
The afterword about how the story came to be was also interesting.

What a timely book! I was scared to read it at first, to be honest, with all that's going on and I feel like it will be a turn off for some for that very reason, however I feel like some people will want to read it FOR THAT REASON! It was perfect. It was the perfect Horror and just gory enough. Loved it. Will recommend!

Did someone say zombies and George Romero?! When I first heard about the release of The Living Dead, I couldn't get my hands on a copy fast enough. That being said, this one didn't quite live up to the expectations that I had.

Don't get me wrong, this book is not for the faint of heart with all of the gore and gruesome details. There were several scenes that were literally something out of nightmares. However, I found that the chapters read more like disjointed short stories rather than one fluid storyline, which made it a bit difficult to follow. And since this book packs a punch at over 600 pages, I didn't think that was a good thing.

As a lifelong fan of the film, THE LIVING DEAD is a terrific companion piece to Romero's classic. I loved the expansive reach of the narrative and the way the novel feels like a work of nonfiction (it put me in the mind of the narrative approach of Randy Schilts' AND THE BAND PLAYED ON). Compelling characters, great writing, sharply drawn scenes. It really delivers something special.

I lam a fan of George A. Romeros movies but this book feel flat for me. The characters seem to be the same stereotypical characters in most zombie movies. This story was confusing at time and it became very boring as some of the chapters just dragged on.

As a Pittsburgher I couldn't pass up the chance to read <i>The Living Dead</i> when it became available on NetGalley. Be prepared - this 600+ page book is not a quick read (at least it wasn't for me). It has the gore you expect from a zombie novel, but it isn't over the top sickening. More than anything else it's a story of humanity, and survival. Through it's large cast of characters you will see all aspects of life as we know it fall apart, and the ways people react. It also looks at what we as humans are doing to the world, and how it might be possible to fix the damage that we have wrought. The social commentary really hits home at this moment, but will probably be just as impactful in the future.

It is important to note that the book was completed after Romero's death by Daniel Kraus, but that doesn't cause any problems. The flow of the story continues throughout, and one would be hard pressed to pinpoint where exactly the switch over in authorship is. After completing the book it is clear that Kraus clearly understood Romero, and did justice to the story.

I really dug this book. Mixed with the gore that we know and love from Romero, there were very human stories intertwined with believable emotions and reactions to various situations. The only complaint I have is that the character that takes on the task of collecting and cataloguing survivor stories. She is essentially written as a stereotypical antisocial librarian archetype, which I strongly dislike.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love zombies and I love George A. Romero, so I had to have this book. George Romero created my favourite type of zombie. The slow moving, but terrifying zombies.

I loved all the different storylines and all the different characters.

I was starting to get tired of zombie books, but this book has renewed my love for the genre. Can’t wait to read through this a second time.

The dead won’t stay dead, they will wake up, and bite the living hell out of the still living and turn them into their own. The living are not left with many places to run to, not only do they have to fight off the “living dead”, but their own kind too.

This was such a good read, so very well-written, and gripping. I was kinda intimidated by the 700+ pages but I legit finished it within a week. Like any other chunker, there were a few lulls, but nothing that made me want to put the book down, and that’s what I loved about it. I mean, with all the books and movies about Zombies, you’d expect nothing new or gripping enough to keep you going for so many pages, but it was legit a page-turner till the very end.

I don't think I can do justice to a 700+ page book in a review like this, but it was super good. Loved the descriptions, so full on gore and yet so captivating, just perfect! What I especially loved about this book is how there wasn't a midget of bias of any sort against any race, religion, gender, or identity, in fact, the ones that generally take the hate, even in today's age, were the ones that were put in a better, higher place in this epic story. Much appreciated!

Full marks for creativity, and originality (yes you read that right - originality) but what started as something very compelling (which imo is the real deal in scary sh!t) it became a little too unbelievable and too quick. The idea that Zombies are more than what they appear, while it was a delight to read on an emotional level, the two schools of thought on it didn’t make much sense, but I still appreciate the genius of it. And the end, idk what to say about it, it was insane, in a very good way, and I loved it. If Zombies are your jam, be sure to give it a read.

Thanks to Netgalley, authors, and publishers for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Completely unexpected and instant classic into the world and works of a legend. Highest recommendation for horror nerds like myself.

While I was thrilled to learn a while back the late great George Romero was going to have a novel released (with help from co-author Daniel Kraus), this reader had more than OD’d on zombie novels sometime around 2010-2012. For those not in the know, zombie novels began to saturate the genre around 2004, particularly in the small press, and there were some of us who had been reading them as far back as 1979, when authors like Hugh B. Cave were still writing books dealing with old school, voodoo-spawned zombies. But, being a life long Romero fan, I knew I had to read this, and was confident the man who made zombies famous would surely deliver something new. While the novel has its moments, I regret to say fans won’t find much here they haven’t read before.

THE LIVING DEAD is a complete reboot (if you will) set in modern day and taking us to the very first confirmed case of a body coming back to life. This grim opening section will have zombie fans thrilled, then the authors spend much time setting up a few different scenarios in a trailer park, at a cable news station, and aboard an aircraft carrier, where eventually the book’s most exciting scene takes place. I say eventually, as there is much set up and at times large sections become a chore to get through. Like an epic fantasy novel, there are plenty of characters here, at times making things tough to follow, but they do come together nicely toward the middle and a couple are quite memorable.

Like most of Romero’s work, there’s plenty of social, political, and religious commentary, and a religious cult that grows aboard the aforementioned aircraft carrier kept my interest wherever they appeared. In light of our current political climate, much will hit home with readers, and fans will delight seeing nods to most of Romero’s DEAD films (and there’s even a brief tip to KNIGHTRIDERS). Whether Romero or Kraus wrote these parts is anyone’s guess, but the prose seems uniform enough that anyone will have a hard time figuring out who wrote what. Gorehounds take note: this one doesn’t skimp on the sauce. There’s plenty of lurid descriptions, some that should make even seasoned splatter vets wince.

There are scenes from the zombies’ point of view, although they don’t reach the depth Phil Nutman managed to pull off in his grossly underrated 1993 novel WET WORK, and while THE LIVING DEAD features animals becoming part of the undead, they’re not used here as much (or as fun) as Brian Keene did in his 2003 novel THE RISING and its sequels.

I'm glad a dream project of Romero’s has finally seen the light of day, and it’s great to see his novel was completed by a super fan like Kraus (who also has an impressive list of novels to his credit). Kraus’ lengthy post-novel author’s note is well worth sticking around for, too. But THE LIVIND DEAD will feel a bit too familiar to fans of zombie fiction, hence making much of this lengthy read a bit of a slog. I’m assuming Romero film fans who aren’t familiar with zombie fiction may find this a bit more entertaining.

This book started out a little slow for me but it held my attention and I couldn't put it down. I'm not a big fan of zombies but this is definitely one that I like.

DNFR.

I found this book really hard to get into and to keep track of so I had to DNFR it around 45% unfortunately.

I've given 3 stars as I was enjoying it, I love zombie books and this one was so well written I just felt it was too much like walking through treacle at points.

‘The path was a desolate on a normal day; today, […] a loose dog trailing a bloody leash, a station wagon drilled with bullet holes, the scoreboard at the fairgrounds baseball park flashing only one word: RUN.’

I’m a huge fan of the Zombie Apocalypse trope, so when I was approved to read THE LIVING DEAD by George A. Romero & Daniel Kraus, I couldn’t wait!

Has the Zombie trope been done to death (forgive the pun)? I’m going to say yes, to a point.

In this reader's opinion, what makes one Zombie story, be it by way of a book or film adaption, different from the rest are the characters and how they handle the newfound Hell they’ve been thrust into, like it or not.

The main characters I latched onto in THE LIVING DEAD are the women; many take center stage throughout the book—Love It! My favorites are Greer, Jenny, and Charlie.

I applaud Kraus for having the courage to take on such a project, never knowing for sure if his vision aligns with Romero’s intent in regards to the direction of the novel. Will fans of THE LIVING DEAD films like the book?

You will have to read the book and decide for yourself. ;)

I hate to admit that THE LIVING DEAD is the only Romero movie that I have watched so far, and having read the book, I look forward to a free weekend when I can sit back, relax and binge-watch the films in the order Kraus recommends in the back of the book—which is not based on the production year of each movie.

What didn't I care for in the book? I would have to say the length; it's too long. Certain scenes dragged on longer than they needed to, pulling me out of the book a few times.

What did I love about the book? As I mentioned before, it all comes down to the characters, those you love and those you love to hate, and this is where the authors excel, in my opinion.

There are some heartbreaking moments in this book, and I won’t spoil them for you. I will say that the final scene—My Heart!

Thank you, NetGalley and Tor Publishing, for loaning an eBook of THE LIVING DEAD in exchange for an honest review.