Z by Michael Thomas Ford

Z Reviews

• 
  Josiah

  Zombie stories are their own subgenre of science fiction; we're fascinated by the human body reanimating after death. Every storyteller's version of a world infiltrated by zombies has a different explanation for how it got that way, and these details are much of what determines if a work of zombie fiction is excellent or uninspired. In Michael Thomas Ford's Z, the year is 2032 and the zombie apocalypse is over. It arose from a mutated flu strain that deadened higher cognitive function in affected humans, enslaving them to their amygdalae and compelling them to eat people. Nothing remained of their ability to discriminate between right and wrong, and the only way to contain the infection was to torch these "meatbags" with flamethrowers. The threat ended years ago, but memories of the trauma live on in massive multiplayer online games that offer the chance to exterminate virtual-reality z's for entertainment. Despite his parents' disapproval, Josh, the adolescent main character in this novel, plays his favorite version of the game for hours each day.
  
  For Josh, hunting zombies in virtual blood-soaked warehouses and prisons with his best friend Firecracker is fun. Josh is an excellent Torcher, but he's surprised one day to receive a message from Charlie, renowned as a top player in the local gaming community. It turns out an underground network of players exists who do a live version of the online game, coordinated by a guy who calls himself Clatter. Funded by gamblers, Clatter takes his zombie hunters to a professionally designed arena, sets loose an assortment of "zombies", and releases the hunters to pursue them. Is Josh interested in earning big money by participating? His mother is opposed to any game that portrays the slaughtering of z's—Josh's aunt Lucy turned into one in the original epidemic and had to be torched—but Josh likes Charlie and would love to experience the rush of being a Torcher in real life. He accepts Clatter's offer, and prepares to take his hunting of z's to the next level.
  
  Charlie helps Josh invent plausible reasons why he's not spending much time with his family these days, but his nine-year-old sister Emily is suspicious and so is Josh's friend Firecracker when Josh stops hunting zombies online and avoids Firecracker at school. Josh isn't permitted to tell anyone about the live game; if too many people find out about it, the gamblers will be scared away and Clatter's source of revenue will dry up. Hunting z's is a thrill, but Josh senses something wrong with the game. When his teammates are "bitten" by zombies, they're carted off and Josh never sees them again. The z's can't be real, of course; all sufferers of the zombie flu were eradicated years ago. Josh suppresses his unease by popping pills that Charlie gives him called "Z", a drug that lightly simulates being a zombie for a few hours, sharpening the user's visceral sensitivities. The hunting game is even more intense when played while on Z. Josh remains willingly ignorant of the darkest side of Clatter's game until the day Firecracker vanishes. To save his friend, Josh must confront Clatter and his powerful network of gamblers. Is hunting z's in real life as innocent as Josh has chosen to believe, or is Clatter putting humanity at risk for a second zombie apocalypse?
  
  Z had potential to be a fast-paced, surprising, philosophically potent novel, but doesn't dig deep enough into its themes to rise above average. A full treatment of these themes could have made for a marvelous story. It's easy for society to "other" z's as meatbags who deserve to be torched, but every real zombie was once a human with hopes, dreams, and people they loved and who loved them. How would you feel if someone who means the world to you were executed because they contracted a virus? Z doesn't delve into the humanity of z's much beyond a single conversation between Josh and his mother, but the idea was ready and waiting to be carried a lot further. Controversial gaming is another topic in this book. Is it okay to simulate violence against onscreen enemies? Does it cheapen human life in the eyes of players, incentivizing entrepreneurs like Clatter to cross ethical boundaries to create even more realistic versions of the experience? This debate could have been built upon in a hundred different ways, but Z leaves most of that value on the table.
  
  Then there's the drug known as Z. "If that's what being a zombie felt like, (Josh) was surprised. He'd always thought of them as being stupid, mindless things that didn't know what they were doing and didn't feel anything. But he felt so much. All he did was feel. Every sensation was intense beyond words. And he didn't need words because there was no reason to think about anything." It circles back to the idea of "othering", assuming that those different from yourself experience life to a lesser degree. The drug Z is a window into the mind of z's to demonstrate that though they act subhuman, in some ways they're almost more human than you or I. Do they deserve to be torched for that? The passage quoted above also serves as commentary on mind-altering drugs. They may damage the brain, but the sensory deluge is such ecstasy that users go back for hit after hit. It feels like a higher plane of existence; why deny yourself that even if the cost is loss of brain tissue? Is it better to live a short life feeling gloriously alive, or more years that are dull and drab by comparison? Your answer hinges on what you believe makes life worthwhile. A zombie is slave to its base functions, the pursuit of pleasure, but living for sensual gratification seems hollow and meaningless. Humans have the option to live by principle and reason, treating others and themselves according to what they think is right. Our actions can be arrived at by deliberate decision, not slavery to biological urges. I'd rather live that way than indulge in pleasure without any deeper meaning to my existence. Once again, Z teases at this underlying theme but delivers little besides the lines I quoted earlier. The story doesn't have much of an ending, either; it stops in the middle of the action rather than finding a satisfying conclusion. I enjoyed the read, though, and would gladly pick up another book by Michael Thomas Ford. Z didn't totally win me over, but the author has talent.
• 
  Jason Bradley

  DNF. I'm not sure how to rate this. I was loving it. It has stuff I love. Video games, a very interesting take on the future, and zombies! But I just got to a point where I was angry at the characters and didn't want to read more. It may have been me and not the book so I am going to refrain from rating.
  
  It's well written and obviously got me invested enough to feel anger at fictional characters.
• 
  Tina

  Original post at
  One More Page
  
  One of our favorite past times/stress busters at work is zombie killing. No, seriously. Whenever we (namely
  Grace and I) find ourselves extremely stressed at work, and we have some money left, we'd troop over to Timezone (the nearest arcade at work) and start hogging the House of the Dead 4 machine and start blasting zombies away. There's something really therapeutic about gunning down zombies and killing monsters, even if we never get past the third level.
  
  Z by Michael Thomas Ford reminds me exactly of House of the Dead 4. Not with the story, but with how the book has a general zombie video game feel. Z immediately drops us into action as we follow Josh go through what seemed to be an abandoned hospital, looking for z's to torch and humans to rescue. It seems very realistic at first, but we are surprised later by an interruption, where we find out that Josh is really just playing a video game, and one he wasn't supposed to play.
  
  But of course, Josh keeps on playing, and his skills were noticed by Charlie, one of the best players in the game. Josh gets invited to a secret gaming community that brings zombie torching into another level: a face to face game with real torches with seemingly real zombies and seemingly real blood. Josh is both horrified and fascinated, but since it's not real, there's no harm in playing, right?
  
  Z has a pretty interesting take into zombies, different from what I have read so far. Zombies, according to Josh's world, are not reanimated dead but people who contracted a mutant flu strain that enlarges the R-complex, or the reptilian part of the brain, removing all sentient thoughts of the person. This virus reduced the person's ability to feel pain and thickened the blood, making the zombies hard to kill save for setting them on fire. The human being doesn't exactly die but their humanity does, making them pretty much dead, anyway. It's an interesting idea that doesn't really lessens the horror of zombies. In fact, it may make things even scarier, since the virus takes living people and turns them into the undead right in front of you.
  
  I like how the author managed to put in the game feel in the story. The descriptions were sharp and vivid, and the zombie hunting scene carried enough tension to make me gasp in surprise whenever some z's show up. The author was able to put some kind of "face" for the zombies by their little gory descriptions -- hair and scalp pulled out, milky eyes, rotting mouth, etc. The zombies here are not just one mob of undead shuffling towards the living but individual horrifying people that used to be the characters' friends. This is the very strong point of Z in my opinion, and it gives the book an overall gaming feel, a-la Resident Evil or House of the Dead.
  
  However, that's where the strength ends. I felt the plot of the book a bit lacking. While there was an element of surprise in the zombie hunts, the overall story arc is pretty typical as far as zombie novels are concerned. It's pretty straightforward, really, and while there was one twist that was kind of unexpected, the rest were pretty predictable. I feel like there's really nothing new that Z could offer as far as zombie stories are concerned. It's not shallow, but it just doesn't have the depth that other zombie novels managed to capture.
  
  I would recommend Z as a sort of fluffy reading for zombie aficionados and gamers. Like with other reviewers, I think this book is written more for the younger audiences, particularly boys. It's fun, it's gory, but it's not really the zombie novel that changed my life.
• 
  Aaron Vincent

  Originally Posted on
  Guy Gone Geek
  
  Following the commercial success of several zombie fictions presented in different mediums such as Carrie Ryan’s Forest of Hands and Teeths series, Charlie Higson’s The Enemy series, Robert Kirkman’s graphic novel-turned-tv series Walking Dead, and movies like 28 Days Later and Shaun of the Dead, it is no doubt that zombies are now popular more than ever. But once a genre like this gains popularity, one can always expect that there will be the occasional(an understatement) duds that will worm its way to the market. Michael Thomas Ford’s Z, I’m afraid to say, is one of those that falls under that dud category.
  
  When zombie-torching video game fanatic Josh was invited to participate in a secret real life zombie torching, he was instantly hooked. He earns a handsome amount of money while playing the game he is addicted to — a deal like this couldn’t get any sweeter. Besides, he see no harm on playing the game especially when zombies are a thing of the past and the ones he is playing against in the arena are just mechanical…or so he thought.
  
  It is painfully obvious right from the get-go that this novel had its eye set upon the high-octane action brought by zombies rather than the human conflicts of it.The dialogues between characters were there just for the sake of having something close to resembling a storyline. You could feel that the author was in a hurry to get to the next action sequence. Unfortunately. those action sequences were devoid of any real tension that could somehow compensate for the lack of characterization. There was no real sense of danger. I couldn’t get past the ridiculousness of having 4 zombies against 6 capable long-ranged weapons toting human players in an arena. Zombie Lessons 101: The strength of zombies lies in number. Also, the characters that ends up dead are reeking of death right from the very first page they appeared in.
  
  I cannot understand why this was entitled Z. Z is the drug that makes the person who took it think and feel like a zombie. The Z drugs subplot didn’t do any favor other than adding an unintentionally funny machismo mafia feel to this otherwise uninspired zombie story. Perhaps this novel would have been better had the author chose to present the side-effects of Z, the internal struggle Josh had to face on being Z-dependent and losing his grasp to differentiate human reality and zombie reality as the climax. I think that’s more interesting than a frantic escaped from an old asylum populated by 12 zombies. It could have offered an entirely new perspective to this genre.
  
  Michael Thomas Ford’s Z is a zombie novel that sets aside human conflicts in place of mildly exciting zombie-torching action sequences that could have fared better as a 90-minute feature film. If you’re looking for a zombie novel with tension and slightest amount of substance, look elsewhere.
• 
  Lilla

  (Originally posted on
  Read All Over Reviews)
  
  Rating — 4.5 cybooks out of 5!
  
  It’s 2032. Antarctica is turning into a rain forest. The oceans are brown, capped with yellow foam. Books, magazines and all things made of paper belong to museums. And 15 years have passed since the great Zombie purge…
  
  In 2017, a mutated strain of the flu caused a portion humanity to be reverted back to the reptilian brain—the part of the brain which is focused on instinctual behaviors such as aggression, dominance, and territoriality—as a primary source. From there, they became zombies and wreaked havoc upon society, finally stopped by a militant group known as the Torchers.
  
  Fast-forward fifteen years and kids are playing a virtual-reality game where they play as Torchers or meatbags as zombies are referred to. Our hero, Josh, is one of the best Torchers in the gaming world. Often playing late into the night with his best friend, Firecracker, you might even say that Josh is addicted. Charlie, the game’s best meatbag player, sends Josh a secret message one night and invites him to the underground LARP (live action role playing) games that are played in derelict portions of their seaside city–but not before swearing him to secrecy.
  
  Josh is taken by surprise when, after meeting the other team members, discovers they are using real flamethrowers and things are more than intense when he sees that they are hunting what appears to be real meatbags. Strange things begin to happen when teammates begin getting picked off one by one and Charlie introduces Josh to a drug called Z, which makes you experience what it’s like to be a zombie. Josh stops caring about school, begins lying to his parents, ditches his best friend and more.
  
  I’ll stop there so I won’t spoil it for you guys but this book was so addicting! It’s not your regular zombie book for sure, though there is enough blood and gore to go around, but I could not put it down. I found it taunted me from its place on the corner of my desk as I tried to get web design work done, causing me to pick it back up when I had to wait on a download or something. My only real compliant was that it moved extremely fast and because of that a lot of the peripheral characters are hardly more than a name, but I was still on the edge of my seat especially during the last few chapters.
  
  Bottom line, if you love zombies, read this!
• 
  Raina

  Solid zombie fic for the middle school set.
  
  Josh lives in a world after zombies. Fifteen years ago, before he was born, a zombie virus ripped through society. Now - to him -- they're a memory from the distant past. Josh himself enjoys playing simulated video games - killing zombies. His mom, on the other hand, doesn't appreciate his insensitivity to her not-so-distant trauma.
  And that's before he gets the chance to play in person.
  
  This book has a lot going for it. I thought it was cool how they brought in the sensitivity-to-the-past issue - reminds me of 9/11, and other things that feel historical to the young but are fresh in the minds of the slightly older. Also, there are parallels to drug use and other cult-like lifestyle choices - Josh has to keep his game play a secret, and struggles with hiding his major hobby from his friends and family.
  
  There are a lot of fun gorey scenes of zombie violence. I think the grossest part was early on, when they described a zombie being killed with a pole through the eye socket. High Action, and I liked the element of dystopia. Josh goes to an actual school for his education, but his text books and notes are all on a device he carries with him. The underground zombie killing game raises the stakes in an interesting way.
  
  Looking forward to booktalking this one.
• 
  Zombieslayer⚡Alienhunter

  It's been a while- fifteen years or more- since the earth was plagued by a virus.
  This virus, piggybacked on common influenza, turned its victims feral and lit up the sensation center of the brain (sometimes called the reptilian center because of its size in lizards) like freaking Christmas.
  
  "They were alive in the since that they breathed and moved and had heartbeats," the teacher said. "But their memories and emotions were gone. Their ability to feel was destroyed. They didn't think in any way we would consider human. But technically, yes. They were alive."
  
  To combat the 'zombie flu', world governments put together a task force saddled with destroying the victims.
  The Torchers.
  This force, worldwide, herded all known zombies together and set them on fire.
  
  They still pop up in rural areas, but with a newborn-safe vaccine, the Zombie Flu has been extinguished.
  
  Too young to even remember the zombie war, teenager Josh is obsessed with an MMORPG based on the exploits of the fabled Torchers. He and his friend, Firecracker, are some of the best players, with higher ranks than most others.
  But one player, a Z (zombie- FYI) who calls themselves Charlie, has thwarted them at a crucial moment and destroyed their rank in the game.
  Impressed with his skills as Torcher, Charlie contacts Josh.
  They meet in real life, and information Charlie has on a 'real-life' game of Torchers is staggering.
  
  Josh has been forbidden time and time again to play the online game, due to his mother and father having actually faced the war. His mother's sister was one of the victims.
  But Josh ignores his mother's warnings. After all, they're just 'meatbags'.
  
  Josh meets the other real-life Torchers; Charlie, Stash, Seamus, Finnigan, Freya, Bess and Scrawl.
  Led by the eccentric Clatter, they torch cybernetic zombies in desolate playing fields.
  High-stakes bets are placed on their games, and they make a killing slaying Clatter's robots.
  
  But, when one of the Torchers is bitten by a 'cybot' and doesn't return, and Josh's friend Charlie turns him on to a curious drug called Z, Josh realizes there was more to the zombie war than 'torching meatbags', and that he should have taken the advice of the survivors.
  
  
  
  Michael Thomas Ford's Z is a mindless, plot-light zombie romp that is basically the book equivalent of junk food; it has no substance or nutrition, but it tastes good and it makes me happy.
  
  Z is slightly more original than I was expecting it to be, with a little twist on what mankind could do with the walking dead. Overcoming them wouldn't be impossible, and just like any other war, there would be some atrocities and some casualties, and then the survivors would guiltily get on with their lives and sit, bored, being lectured to about it in high school history classes. It doesn't have to be the end of the world.
  I know other books besides Z have done that, they possibly did it first. A few are on my TBR so I guess I'll find out.
  
  The actions scenes are well-written, the book was paced well, and the world post-WWZ kept my interest. I do wish the medical advances made by mankind after the war had been explained more, though. What did we learn about the flu? What did we learn about vaccines? What did we learn about the human body and some people's resistance to certain illnesses?
  All questions Ford didn't think to answer.
  Z is set only six years from now, 2023. I'll be around then. I'd like to know what to expect.
  
  I somehow let the year get half-way over before I read a zombie book, and I'd just read an intense book and was about to start another one, so Z was a pallet-cleanser. It worked just fine for that.
  I'd read more by Ford.
• 
  The Reading Raccoon

  Read for Popsugar 2019 LitRPG but I don’t think it will apply. There is a video game but minimal discussion of scores, rank, etc.
  Average teen zombie book. None of the characters were particularly engaging.
• 
  Ash

  3.5 round down to 3 for the not the best writing. Characters were decent, the story was good if not a bit predictable. All in all an original zombie story.
• 
  Brina

  Als Fan von Zombies lese ich hin und wieder Bücher zu dem Thema. Dabei ist es allerdings schwer, die wirklich richtigen Kracher herauszupicken. Da mir "Z - Das Spiel der Zombies" immer wieder in diesem Genre empfohlen wurde, habe ich mich nun endlich dazu durchgerungen und dem Buch eine Chance gegeben und ich muss sagen, dass ich es nicht bereut habe.
  
  Michael Thomas Ford beschreibt hier eine Geschichte, die im 22. Jahrhundert knapp fünfzehn Jahre nach einer Zombieepidemie spielt. Der Virus wurde ausgelöscht und die Menschen haben sich eine sichere Welt ohne Zombies aufgebaut. Der 15-jährige Josh kennt die Zombies nur aus Erzählungen und seinem Lieblingscomputerspiel, in dem er Zombies regelmäßig mit einem Flammenwerfer abfackelt. Der Autor hat dabei eine Dystopie geschaffen, die sich gar nicht so sehr von der jetzigen Welt unterscheidet, hier sind lediglich einige Dinge, wie z.B. Telefone oder auch der Schulunterricht moderner, ansonsten wird hier allerdings auf allzu großen technischen Schnickschnack verzichtet.
  
  Die Geschichte liest sich dabei erstaunlich flüssig, die Figuren sind gut ausgearbeitet und vielseitig, allerdings muss ich auch zugeben, dass mir niemand von ihnen so richtig sympathisch war, was ich bei dieser Thematik jedoch nicht zwingend erwartet habe. Die Dialoge sind dagegen sehr gelungen. Bei Gesprächen mit Joshs Freund Firecracker sinkt zwar häufig das Niveau, aber das kann schon einmal passieren, wenn sich zwei in der Pubertät befindende Teenager miteinander unterhalten.
  
  Josh stammt aus gutem Hause und hat mit der Schule und seinem Lieblingscomputerspiel, das er eigentlich nicht spielen darf, alle Hände voll zu tun. Allerdings ändert sich dies schlagartig, als er von der unbekannten Charlie eine zunächst anonyme Nachricht erhält, in der er zu einem Real Life Rollenspiel eingeladen wird. Dabei wird das Computerspiel, in dem die Zombieepidemie noch stattfindet, in ein echtes Rollenspiel verwandelt. Für Josh, Charlie und seine Mitspieler beginnt damit ein spannendes Abenteuer - mit ungeahnten Folgen, denn er erkennt erst viel zu spät, in was für eine Lage er dabei tatsächlich hineingeraten ist.
  
  Die Umsetzung der Ideen ist dem Autor gelungen, denn die Zombies werden nicht nur äußerlich gut beschrieben, sondern auch ihr Handeln kommt gut zu Geltung. Dabei wird allerdings nicht übertrieben, indem sie noch stärker, noch schneller, noch gefährlicher dargestellt werden, sondern auch ihre Schwächen hervorgehoben werden. Dabei wirken sie schon fast authentisch. Auch die Stadt, der Hafen und die vielen Tunnel werden sehr gut und ausführlich beschrieben, sodass ich mir vieles bildlich vorstellen konnte. Allerdings geht es hier nicht nur um das Thema Zombies, sondern auch stellenweise um Drogen, um wahre Freundschaften und auch eine kleine Liebesgeschichte darf hierbei nicht fehlen, die allerdings weder kitschig, noch deplatziert wird.
  
  Allerdings besitzt die Geschichte auch eine größere Schwäche, über die ich leider nicht hinwegschauen kann, denn die Geschichte ist meiner Meinung nach viel zu voraussehbar, sodass ich bei vielen Momenten leider nicht überrascht werden konnte und die erhofften Schockmomente somit oftmals ausgeblieben sind. Dies ist sehr schade, denn Michael Thomas Ford hat hier wirklich viele Ideen umgesetzt, nur leider wollte die Gänsehaut leider nicht aufkommen.
  
  Das Cover ist jetzt nicht der größte Hingucker aller Zeiten, passt aber meiner Meinung nach ganz gut zur Geschichte, sodass es hier nichts zu beklagen gibt. Die Kurzbeschreibung ist ebenfalls gelungen und war der Grund dafür, weshalb ich der Geschichte eine Chance gegeben habe.
  
  Kurz gesagt: "Z - Das Spiel der Zombies" ist eine interessante, stellenweise spannende Geschichte rund um das Thema Zombies, bei dem viele Ideen gut umgesetzt und sich nur selten an Klischees bedient wurde. Zombie-Fans werden hier definitiv auf ihre Kosten kommen. Empfehlenswert!
• 
  Jennifer

  Z would be right up a tween or teen boy's alley, especially those with a thing for human versus zombie stories! It was a little young for my taste, but as an adult I liked the book overall and thought the story was engaging and well-written. I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed it a great deal. It can be listened to/read easily in a day. Regarding genre, Z is set in the future but not to the point of dystopian or post-apocalyptic, although it does take place after "the zombie war". There's some great action/suspense, teamwork, humor, and fun zombie violence. It is a fairly mature read for it's target audience.
  
  My favorite thing about this book: Family is important to the main character and that was good to see. The main character faces right versus wrong issues and deals with the consequences.
  
  My least favorite thing about this book: I got the impression that the target audience is school-aged youth. However, there is some drug use in this book. Although it is a fictional drug, there is some peer pressure involved for the main character to take a manufactured substance that creates an effect and can lead to dependency.
  
  Favorite quote: "It's disrespectful...Turning a war into a [video] game minimizes how horrible it was for those who fought in it, lived through it, died in it." Michael Thomas Ford, Z
• 
  Kim

  It could have been better if it had taken the time to flesh things out. Maybe less violent encounters and more world building.
  
  I liked the idea of the Z drug, but it has a minimal role in the book. It also doesn't make sense as to why they would want to take it before fighting the Zombies in the game. The zombification was weird too.
  
  Basically, it was a short story that could have been edited down to make more sense.
• 
  Leah

  A surprisingly refreshing twist on the zombie trope taking place decades after the initial zombie apocalypse which successfully mixes the horror genre with science fiction. This fast-paced and action-packed novel felt quite dark for a YA book, especially towards the end. However, the atmosphere and emotional investment suffered from a superficial writing style and the themes could have been explored more in-depth for me personally.
• 
  Logan Pair

  The book was ok i didn't really like the book that much,the book wasn't like what i thought it was going to be the book was ok in the beginning but through the middle it was bring it didn't really talk about what the book is about,it is a god book but the book is just not for me, i kind of liked it,i would read it again maybe in the future but the genre is just not what the book is about,i think the author did god with making the book and the book was gd in the beginning and the end.
• 
  Bookgypsy

  I'm not into zombie stories at all and I rarely enjoy YA books. But my son read this and asked me to read it as well so we could discuss it. Surprisingly, I enjoyed this story. It's a lot deeper and complex than I anticipated and the writing was well done. I ended up binge reading it in one sitting.
• 
  Amber Rabe

  I picked this because I was looking for a book with a title that starts with Z. I don't know what I was expecting but it wasn't to really enjoy it. This was amazing. Zombies become a thing but we all think we moved past it only to find out that a crazy guy is MAKING them so he can make a drug and has a bunch of kids killing the recruits who no longer serve their purpose. So good.
• 
  Michelle Glatt

  In the not-too-distant future, after the zombie uprising and subsequent (assumed) eradication, Josh moves from virtual reality gaming about fighting zombies to a live action version. Predictable to adults, but teens will enjoy the action. Pretty much all plot here.
• 
  Bibliobabe

  Interesting premise, quick read.
• 
  Teague D

  This is probable one of my top 5 favorite books of all time, and I think it deserves a lot more attention than it has. It’s a good story that has a really good plot twist.
• 
  Ceili Widmann

  I couldn’t put this book down - was inventing excuses to walk places so I could continue the audiobook.
• 
  Potad_

  I really don't like anything that has a lot to do with zombies, but this was a good book
• 
  Shanna_redwind

  This was ok. An interesting premise, but I had a bit of an issue with believing the characters.
• 
  Kristina

  Interesting Zombie story that makes me hope there is another to find out what happens next.
• 
  Gurkisha mamma

  The worst of zombie books, I’ve read, sorry.
• 
  Erika

  I am reviewing an advance reading copy provided by the publisher.
  
  Josh is a good teenager. He usually listens to his parents, does well in school, and never skips out on Family Night. The worse offense he commits on a regular basis is passively tormenting his little sister. That is, it’s the only real offense his parents know about. He would never admit it to them, but Josh is hooked on the latest internet video game: a virtual reality zombie hunting MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game). And he’s good—so good he’s been asked to meet Charlie, the game’s best player to date. It’s an invitation his parents would balk at, that anyone alive who remembers the zombie wars would find vulgar and disrespectful. What harm could it do to engage in a real life zombie hunt simulation war game? The zombies aren’t even real.
  
  When dealing with archetypes that have been used and reused for decades across several different mediums, it can be daunting trying not adding to the exhaustive catalogue of “what’s been done before.” Discovering novelty and then relating it to an audience becomes a Herculean task. While I admire the mechanic of Michael Thomas Ford’s plot engine, his zombies didn’t do anything new. I don’t suppose they were meant to, though.
  
  The unnamed zombie game, which gets Josh into trouble with his sister, his parents, his best friend, and his conscience, is the fundamental driving force behind practically everything in this book. While the game wouldn’t exist in its current state without the zombie wars to provide a model, the tragedy is long past and fresh only to a generation removed from Josh by age and experience. And that’s the key: if you didn’t live the zombie wars, you have no idea. As readers, we are left mostly in the dark with curriculum approved by state education boards elucidating the wars in a few sobering sentences, a brief in-class discussion and a grave insinuation to never forget to have your yearly flu shot.
  
  What I mean by this is what while the wars are pertinent, they are not urgent—not nearly as urgent as the shock of discovering the truth behind Clatter’s “animatronic” zombies and the mysterious hallucinogenic “z.” Josh’s addiction and pure love of the game pumps Z full of adrenaline and suspense, but only if you can believe such a good kid can devolve so quickly into a dabbler of drugs and passable liar who easily avoids his old friends for the new. That’s part of the conflict. The other part involves flamethrowers and those pesky in-game enemies: the meatbags.
  
  The zombies aren’t technically dead, but parts of their brains are. Evolved from a new strain of the common flu, the zombie virus (so to speak), attacks parts of the brain and nourishes another—the R-complex or “reptilian brain.” These zombies aren’t technically dead—they never were. Their survival depends on the dehumanization of the host victim as their neocortex and limbic system break down over time. What’s left is a coagulating husk that shambles hungrily with senses keenly attuned to all things flesh and blood. In short: pretty much like every other mindless zombie we’ve seen before, but not being too well read on zombie lore, I think that’s the point.
  
  It seems like readers are supposed to feel more for the compromising position Josh has been put in (I did) and that he’s placed his friends in. The strong sense of guilt and responsibility emanating from the very end of the story is arresting in it’s warning: be careful what you ask for, you just might get it. There is, of course, plenty of room for a sequel. Without one, Z doesn’t quite deliver to its full potential.
  
  Don’t get me wrong—there was something alluring about the game-to-real-life extrapolation of events. Ford definitely takes an interesting approach to the secondary reality video games (and MMORPGs in particular) provide, sometimes at the expense of loved ones and other responsibilities. I like that Josh and Firecracker took so easily to real flamethrowers and military-esque hunt formations, despite how unrealistically it represents the practical education of video games applied to real life scenarios (namely, we assume the game accurately simulated flamethrowers), especially since I felt the shock of reality alone should have shaken them more. I liked it because it was so ridiculous, I had to take it in stride.
  
  And I hope you do, too, if you choose to read this book. It’s a light action/horror thriller that’s heavy on the special effects and short on resolution. It’s also fast and incredibly accessible to read, even if some of the secondary characters aren’t terribly consequential (his parents, for one remain silent, gullible, and unobtrusive figures hovering ineffectively in the background; in YA that seems par for the course). If there is a sequel (and I kind of hope there is), I’ll be curious to read it myself. But for first-time zombie readers (albeit zombie video games and movies are so pervasive across age groups now), this will be a fun ride.
• 
  JunHao Xu

  One of my favorite books, the story talks about human society after the zombie invasion, the main character Josh loves to play a holographic game about torching zombie then get invited to a real-life game to kill the "zombies" and get money. But the main character never knew the zombies are regular human to get capture and turn into zombies and entertain people with. Josh then is on a road to stop this program. The book is very intense, also people who love zombie story will love it.
• 
  Terry

  Plenty of action and suspense keep teens turning the page, chasing zombies and other bad guys. There are realistic elements of the book that can open great discussions: peer pressure, gaming addiction, trust, family relationships, friendship, and "performance" enhancing choices.
  
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• 
  Elizabeth

  In 2032, the zombie apocalypse is a thing of the past. Zombies haven't been seen in years and life has gotten back to normal. Josh is fascinated with them and plays a virtual zombie killing game with his friend Firecracker every chance he gets. The game is based in reality and features a militia that torches zombies with flamethrowers. Josh is steadily rising in the ranks, but has to hide his gaming because his parents think it's in bad taste. He is approached by the best player in the game to play in real life with a team of teen torchers and cybernetic zombies. Josh is eager to play and doesn't notice that things just don't add up. He's just happy to earn some money and do what he enjoys without thought that the guy who runs the event is into some shady stuff and all isn't what it seems.
  
  Z is one of a growing category of books where the zombie apocalypse has already happened and people have moved on. This zombie disease is a flu that attacks the higher brain functions and strengthens the base functions or "lizard brain." Zombies aren't the undead, but people who fail to process pain and are taken over by animalistic instincts. By the time Josh is born, a vaccine has been developed that everyone gets at birth. There are still a lot of dilapidated locations, but most of civilization is back to normal and thriving. This was only mentioned in passing, but biological animals seem to be endangered, but the extent is unclear.
  
  Josh is a typical, middle class kid with typical problems and susceptible to peer pressure. He is obsessed with playing the virtual reality torcher game where he is viewed as a rising star. He hides his gaming activity because his mom made her feelings perfectly clear. His own aunt was one of the earliest people to turn into a zombie and his mom takes offense to her horrifying reality being made into a game. Like a typical teen, he doesn't think about others very much. Throughout the novel, he blindly stumbles into dangerous situations with only thoughts of fun. He joins the real life torcher tournament and doesn't believe the danger is real. In fact, he doesn't think to question anything at all. He takes a drug called Z that makes him act bit zombie-ish for a while and doesn't think anything of it when he attacks random strangers on the street or digs into raw meat with furvor. I found him pretty annoying for the most part until the very end.
  
  I have a problem with the core concept of this book. Why use flamethrowers to subdue zombies? I get that it prevents the spread of the disease, but it should really be used when the zombie is already down for the count. Flamethrowers are not good melee weapons at all. Zombies do not go down automatically when set on fire. It could take a while for them to die, so it's pretty dangerous for everyone around and whatever building they happen to be in to use flamethrowers. I'm not sure why the game, the history, or the real life game torchers didn't just have regular guns to use in tandem with the flamethrowers. The dangers of fire in enclosed spaces and to other humans is mentioned a few times, but no one ever thinks of simple solutions to the problem.
  
  Z is a bit of a disappointment. It's been on my shelf for a while and I had high hopes. The world is interesting and the narrative flows, but Josh is pretty awful and the main concept doesn't make much sense. The ending is a bit abrupt and ends in the middle of a scene, which annoys me. It's wide open for a sequel, but so far there is none. I would give the next book a chance because I enjoy Michael Thomas Ford's writing.
• 
  Aaron

  It is the year 2032, and a generation has passed since the Zombie Plague struck. It was a variation of the flu virus that produced the stereotypical zombie apocalypse. Josh's parents lived through, and his aunt became one of the first victims. For Josh and the rest of his peers, it is all history ... something they have a hard time comprehending the full horrors of.
  
  It is probably for that reason that one of the most popular immersive VR video games around is called Z. It gives players the opportunity to take on the role of a zombie or a torcher and relive what things were like during the plague. Torchers were the front lines of the battle against the rabid zombies. They literally went around with flamethrowers and destroyed zombies when they were found. No one really knows what ended the plague. Despite what many people think, there was never a cure found. The infections just seemed to end. Since then, a sense of safety has come about.
  
  As you can probably imagine, Josh's parents and many other people of their age really don't like the game, but that hasn't stopped the game from really taking off. It is while playing that Josh catches the notice of Charlie, a master player who always seems to play a zombie. Charlie contacts Josh and arranges for a meeting between the two of them.
  
  Upon meeting, Josh is introduced to the idea of live-action roleplay, though it is called something different in the book. Charlie, who turns out to be a girl, wants Josh to become part of her team as they participate in events where they seem to go in and destroy robotic zombies and are athletes that audience members bet upon their abilities to defeat the enemy and survive.
  
  Josh very quickly becomes obsessed with the game and also becomes very close to Charlie. In fact, Josh finds himself putting off time with his family, friends, and homework. He also starts to trust Charlie so much that he is willing to try a drug called Z that she suggests because it enhances playing the game both online and during their events.
  
  You probably have already guessed the horrible things that are going to happen to Josh and his new friends in the game, but that actually doesn't detract from the storytelling here. I have read most of Ford's adult books, which are LGBTQ-themed, and I think he is a master at creating and developing characters. The strong characters are definitely well represented in the form of Josh.
  
  This is definitely a good selection for those into stories with zombies and/or video gaming. While written for teens, I can easily see adults really enjoying this, too.