| Title | : | City of the Dead (The Rising #2) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0843954159 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780843954159 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Mass Market Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 357 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 2005 |
City of the Dead (The Rising #2) Reviews
-
Even more carnage, blood, guts and zombies looking to spread the infection than the first book.
This book is the perfect follow up, I just gets straight into where it left off.
This second installment is full on nuts and I just loved it, it was written so well with a wide range of interesting characters and had the perfect conclusion.
Certainly looking forward to delving into more of Keene's books.
If you love zombies, you'll love this. -
3.5/5 stars!
CITY OF THE DEAD has been on my TBR pile for a year or two, (and on my physical bookshelf), so when I saw it listed on my Audioboom! email, I immediately requested it. I'm glad I did!
This book picks up right where THE RISING left off. Most of the group is now trapped in a house and you can't help but to root for them. The zombies they are fighting are not your normal zombie-they can be fast, use weapons, and drive cars. They are led by Ob, and in this book we learn more about him and his mission on earth.
Fast paced and filled with lots of fun action,(zombie crocs and birds anyone?), there isn't much time to rest here, and why would you want to? There are plenty of gross outs and characters to root for and not of lot of time for quiet moments, fancy prose, or reflection. If this is the type of book you're in the mood for, then CITY OF THE DEAD is the book for you!
I listened to the audio, narrated by Joe Hempel. It took me a while to get into his narrative style, but once I did, I ended up enjoying it quite a bit.
Recommended for those in the mood for bloody, smart-zombie fun!
Thanks to Audioboom! and Joe Hempel for this audio copy in exchange for my honest review. This is it!* -
Accidentally read this one (book #2) first. Even so, it was easy to pick up where 1 left off. In this series (The Rising) the zombies can actually talk and use weapons. Have to admit when I first heard them speak I was shaking my head, (authentic zombies are not supposed to talk) however, I ended up liking it a lot. I would describe this series as a genuine good vs. evil storyline, and it worked well.
Narrator Joe Hempel did a fabulous job narrating the detailed and often gruesome dialogue for the entire cast of characters. -
No es un 3/5 normal de "un libro más". Hay momentos de 4/5 y momentos de 2/5, así que lo dejo en el término medio.
Los momentos buenos no los digo por no hacer spoilers pero sí quiero hacer mención a un momento malo, muy desagradable: violan a una zombi.
Ha sido una bilogía raruna, con momentos muy incómodos y desesperanzadores y otros potentes.
No es apto para cualquiera. -
Now that was a different kind of zombies. This book was disgusting lol but a really good read. Didn't know it was the second book in a series so now I got to get the first one.
-
My original
City of the Dead: Author's Preferred Edition audiobook review and many others can be found at
Audiobook Reviewer.
Set immediately following the final moments of Brian Keene’s Bram Stoker Award-winning The Rising, a small band of survivors manage to flee the zombie-infested suburbs of New Jersey. Their escape is not exactly scot-free, however, and Jim, Frankie, Martin, and Danny are hounded by a pursuing band of the undead who quite nearly finish them off. They’re rescued, though, and spirited away to Ramsey Tower, an impenetrable New York City skyscraper at the heart of the city where scores of survivors have found shelter and a chance at survival. Unfortunately for them, this rescue puts the survivors out of the frying pan and straight into the fire. Ramsey, an old, perverted, wealthy old tycoon with a reality TV show and dementia (hmmm…I wonder what other old, perverted, wealthy real estate tycoon with a crappy TV show and dementia Keene could have based Ramsey on?) will do anything to survive. Anything. And Ob, the undead leader of the zombie hordes, has set its eyes on Ramsey Tower and the death of everyone hiding within.
With the ground-rules of Keene’s zombie apocalypse well-established in The Rising, this Author’s Preferred Edition of City of the Dead ups the ante a fair deal and provides a wealth of gore, dismemberment, and mayhem. New York has become a necropolis, and in between all the flesh-chomping and headshots, Keene expounds on the goals of Ob and the demonic Siquissim. One of the things I’ve grown to appreciate about Keene’s The Rising series is the way the author infuses traditional zombie apocalypse tropes with a welcome dose of cosmic horror. Anybody looking for solid, edgy Romero-esque carnage will feel right at home with these two novels, and will likely appreciate the spark of originality Keene injects.
The Rising‘s narrator, Joe Hempel, returns to the microphone for City of the Dead to deliver a lively reading. Having narrated more than 150 books, Hempel has a comfortable, familiar reading style that makes for a companionable listen, one that’s smooth all the way through. His production skills are top-notch, as well, and you won’t find any blips or aberrations in the recording to yank you out of the story.
Readers who bemoaned the ending to The Rising can rest assured that Keene delivers a definitive finale to City of the Dead. Personally, I found the ending to The Rising to be very well-done, but I know there’s also a surprising number of readers out there who need every single thing spelled out for them and who are unable to infer details unless they’re beat over the head with them. Well, fear not – City of the Dead has an ending and nobody need fear the mistaken appearance of a cliffhanger!
City of the Dead takes all the best aspects of The Rising and plumbs its cosmic mythological depths a bit more. In some ways, it’s a nastier, darker, dirtier work than the prior story, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. Ramsey in particular is a real piece of work, and Keene gives his living characters enough warmth and humanity to stab you in the heart when you least expect it. Thankfully, Keene softens some of the considerable tension and long, violent action set-pieces with moments of dark humor, usually thanks to a cat named God, as well as a few scenes of heartwarming familial repartee. City of the Dead is definitely worth a visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there. -
Before we begin - This is the Sequel to "The Rising" and should be read in that order. If you have yet to read "The Rising" stop reading now because what is in these reviews will be spoilers when reading the first in the series.
Now for the Summary - Keene rewinds a bit in the opening of this book, recapping the final chapter of "The Rising" where we were all left in that upsetting cliffhanger. He then continues on from there with an ever growing and shrinking group of scrappy survivors. At this point they have now crossed 5 states, escaped the psychotic military troupes, run from the Zombie leader "Ob" and continued on into New Jersey. In this installment (the final installment at the point of my writing this), the group spends most of the first half of the book running like heck, then being rescued by another group of survivors holed up in a supposedly indestructible skyscraper. Shockingly enough, the man in charge of the skyscraper has lost his mind (sounds like something you've seen on the TV doesn't it... well you're right). To prevent what might be any spoilers, I won't go beyond there.
But odds are, if you are reading this book, you like Zombies... which would also imply that you like Zombie movies, which would then mean... you've already watched this book. The first 3rd of the book is standard run from the Zombie fare... the second 2/3 of the book is an almost exactly the same as George Romero's "Land of the Dead." Now as to who ripped off who... according to Amazon, both were released in 2005 so it's a toss up. All I'm saying is that the majority of the book is the same as the majority of that movie. I was really disappointed in that aspect. I had really been hoping for something new and inspired, unfortunately if you've seen the movie, it's not.
Does that mean this is a terrible book? By no means, it's a heart pounding thrill ride from beginning to end that never lets up for a second. I blazed through the 360 some pages in about 3 hours. I enjoyed the read; Keene is a very fast paced writer. I just know I would have enjoyed it more had I not seen such a similar film. -
Several of our old friends from The Rising are back for more fast talking and speedy moving zombie killing action. Sh*t, these zombies fly, crawl and drive military assault vehicles. Damn. That's f'd up. If only Jim and company can get to the sanctuary at Ramsey Towers everything would be peachy. Well...until Ob and his horde of nasties show up to spoil the party.
-
El libro me gustó mucho, salvo por el desenlace. A pesar de que durante la narración se deslizan una serie de pistas e indicios que prometen uno que otro giro, al final éstos no se producen y me quedo con la sensación que el autor cerró la historia de la manera que encontró más fácil. Eso, o lo otro es darle una interpretación con toques religiosos que, la verdad, me gustaría menos.
Independiente de lo anterior, la lectura se disfruta mucho, aunque no es para estómagos muy sensibles. La habilidad de Keene para describir escenas de acción es una de las mejores con las que me he encontrado. -
If you read my review of 'The Rising', the first book in this collection, well then you know exactly what I will think of 'City of the dead'
Miraculously, City of the Dead manages to be even more cringeworthy than 'The Rising'. Lashings upon lashings of depressingly bad dialogue between characters, stupidly over the top gory scenes and overall, a completely moronic plot with more unnecessary god references than the last book managed to squeeze in, which is quite an achievement.
Notable crapness:
A homeless person with a cat called God. This allows choice lines such as 'Let god lead the way' or 'God will save us' etc.
A dream scene with a zombie ejaculating maggots. Yes. Wow...
Don't get me wrong, this doesn't phase me itself, but the stupidity of writing about it sure does. 'Wow, I'll really shock the readers with this!!!' must have been the thoughts in the authors head when he put together that particular scene.
Sexual themes abound in this one too. The above mentioned maggot-member scene, then some homosexual references and even some necrophilia. None of it serves any purpose at all. I really think the author of this book is mentally stunted.
It's just the kind of crap I might have thought about writing when I was 11 or 12, thinking I was cool to describe over the top grossness after having read a few Stephen King novels.
I really struggled through these books since I had nothing to read and they truly are terrible.
I vow never again to read anything written by this author. -
Bien, desde hace unas cuantas páginas antes de terminarlo tenía una idea loca de cómo podía terminar el libro... pero la deseche por no considerarla usual, ¿quién diría que no me equivocaba? O.o de cierta manera me agrada y a la vez no, es decir, ¿tanto para nada? O ¿realmente no me esperaba un final tan turbio? En fin, no deja de ser un gran libro, siempre te mantiene al filo del suspenso y nunca hay un respiro, la narrativa es ágil y fluida por lo cual no puedes parar de leer. Lo único por lo cual no le pongo 5 estrellas (y esto es una cuestión muy personal) es que en las narrativas de zombis por lo general los personajes de la noche a la mañana se vuelven unos guerreros expertos en todo para poder aniquilar todo lo que se les ponga en frente, en fin :p cada quien.
-
I finally got to City of the Dead, Brian Keene's sequel to the relentless The Rising.
I had rated The Rising four stars, but I think this one will have to hit five.
Keene can move a story along with the best of them. There is no time for flowery prose, so buckle in and hold on tight.
City of the Dead picks up right where The Rising left off. Actually, it overlaps that ending. Like The Rising, the pacing is relentless, and you are burning through the novel like gangbusters.
And man, I love his zombie concept. These zombies are bad-ass and scary as hell.
Read The Rising, and then read this. And make some popcorn. -
I'll write a longer review at some point maybe, but for now I'll just say this: There's hope in this book, but COTD isn't going to clobber you over the head with it. No, it's a novel with integrity. Keene follows the story to the conclusion that fits best, and that means you'll need to steel yourself for some rough, disquieting stuff.
But it's scary, it's harrowing, and as you'd expect, it's exceedingly well-written.
A worthy sequel to one of the best zombie novels ever written, and a great standalone tale as well. Five stars. -
I liked this one better than the first. I read the author’s preferred edition. Not sure if that makes a difference.
-
This story wastes no time in jumping back into the action. Full of gore, violence, and talking zombies this one turns cosmic toward the end. I enjoyed it but did not feel much of a connection with all the characters. The one I liked best died fairly early on. 3.5 rounded up.
-
This books picks up immediately where The Rising leaves off, matter of fact the first chapter of this book is pretty much the last chapter of The Rising. I would recommend reading the books in order, unless you're just reading them for the sake of gory action. I'm not giving these books 5 stars, because, although I really appreciate Keene's spin on the zombie story, this is just not how I like my zombies. I like my zombies like I like my mornings, slow moving and quiet...these talking, thinking, driving, armed and dangerous ones are just too freaking unfair, how can anyone survive that? Still good book, I definitely recommend it.
-
Great unplanned sequel to The Rising, Keene gets things going pretty fast and doesn't let go until the very end. There isn't a book by him I haven't enjoyed and this wasn't the exception.
-
So book 2 starts straight after the ending of The Rising. We see the group trapped in the house with zombies appearing everywhere. After struggling to escape, they head towards New Jersey. On their journey they see something they haven't seen for a long time, a skyscraper lit up. They decide to avoid that because it's both a beacon for humans and zombies. But things don't work out like that and they find themselves rescued and brought to this skyscraper. This skyscraper was built to withstand basically everything that can be thrown at it. It has become a place for humanity to make their stand. But with the owner of the sky scraper losing his mind and thinking he is God and with Ob taking control of the zombies, this might just be the end.
I have to say, this was a lot better than the first book, The Rising. There is a lot more character development and a lot more action in this one. I was also able to connect more with the characters, even the newer ones we were introduced. I feel like the story really came together, which was awesome.
I absolutely love the zombies in this series. The way they came to be and how they are sentient and able to do everything was truly scary, plus the author doesn't hold back on the gore and horror, which just makes them terrifying. Zombies are bad enough, but when you think of zombie rats and birds, well it just made me shudder!!
In all, this was a fast paced and thrilling read. This book holds nothing back, it is pretty much non stop with the action and I flew through it. The author wraps up everything nicely and I'm glad I read this series.
Joe Hempel is a narrator I know will always deliver a brilliant performance. His tone and cadences always make for effortless listening, because he brings the story to life. I always find that he is able to draw me in to the book and this one is no different. I loved his tone for Ob!! Great performance from an equally great narrator.
I was given this free audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. This in no way affected nor influenced my thoughts. -
So, after “that” end, there was a direct sequel to The Rising, after all…
This dark book is not your average zombies’ book, despite its powerful George Romero’s vibe.
If you either like the rising, or you like Keene (the author), then you’ll love this one.
If you don’t like Keene (the author), then ignore this book.
If you don’t know Keene (the author), then try The Rising or The Complex.
If you don’t know Keene (the person behind the author), listen to “that” podcast (The Horror Show with Brian Keene). Then, you’ll probably be back to the previous point.
If you don’t like Keene (both the person and the author), then you aren’t reading this.
And what an end! What’s with Brian Keene and the end of his books? -
I really enjoyed this book. I read the first book a while back and didn’t remember much. I was able to pick right up and get involved with the story. I loved the characters and all I can say is Wow what an awesome ending.
-
So another Brian Keene book. um.. despite calling he undead zombies - they aren't - one of my biggest peeves with this series. The corpses are demon possessed. zombies in my opinion are not animated by the spirits of evil beings banished by God invading our dimension. Zombies don't sit around and chat, drive HumVee's and use rocket launchers (unless they are re-animated like in "Dead Eyes Open" ) then there is necrophilia, one castration "just because the zombies could" etc etc. near the end of the novel I simply got pissed about continuity... one character uses the washroom, pulls up panties, walks out. and somehow in the space of a paragraph they are gone. Stuff like that is SLOPPY. I can see why Keen has so many books - he churns them out like Peirs Anthony. It was an okay read but I'm getting off this ride.
-
Absolute CRAP. Forced writing, a horrible use of the genre & the reader. Again with the standard, old boring jackbooted military thugs wanting to rape & murder & torture the poor, innocent little survivors who just want to survive. A disturbing look into the distrusting & twisted mind of the author. GARBAGE!!!!! I'm not for book burning, but burning this wouldn't be a loss to humanity! Sadly bought this POS at Naples & found out it was book 2. Had high hopes for it, I love Zombie fiction. This is TRASH! An utter travesty to the reader, to the sensible, to the entire horror survival zombie genre. You'd think they'd be able to come up with some new, interesting view rather than spewing a garbled, trashed version of Romero.
-
I read this book without having read The Rising. When I got this I chose it because of a recommendation from a friend, without checking that it was the second in the series!
I'd meant to try something by Keene for a while, and this was his latest when I went looking.
Even though I'd not read the first book, this was enough for me to go out and buy pretty much everything I could get my hands on by this author.
I love that the zombie crisis has a background that isn't your typical out-of-control virus.
This is not a book for the faint-hearted reader, but definitely a recommendation for die-hard fans of horror and zombies. -
This is my fourth Keene read, all of them recent. While the first three all fell into that "entertaining and gory with the occasional chuckle but not hugely memorable" category, this one steps things up a notch. It's the sequel to
The Rising, but it's much better than that first book. Intense. -
Highly enjoyable sequel to The Rising that continues the story of the band of survivors trying to fend off the zombie apocalypse. Well-written with lots of action and a satisfying ending. If you liked The Rising then you should like this one. Zombies have never been so entertaining.
-
“The Rising” ended and left, needing more. I immediately” started “City of the Dead.” Keene wasted no time jumping back into the book with gore and violence.
The characters in both books have depth and the scenes are scary. There is nonstop action. Although I
preferred “The Rising” to “City of the Dead”. Keene wrote a pretty solid sequel with a good ending. -
City of the Dead is the sequel to Brian Keene's Bram Stoker Award winning novel The Rising. I read The Rising a couple of years back after I picked it up at a used bookstore here in town. I knew that it was a zombie book, but I was hesitant. Zombie fiction is a notoriously tough nut to crack. Most of what little I have bothered to read has been dreadfully boring. Even World War Z didn't really do it for me, which is really saying something. But The Rising, simply put, rocked. It was gory and scary and intriguing and had a killer opening scene. It had zombified animals as well as humans. And these zombies were not your typical slow, lumbering Romero zombies, but they also weren't the Danny Boyle 28 Days Later fast zombies either. These zombies were smart. They could talk. They could drive cars. They could shoot guns. They broke ALL the cardinal zombie rules according to Dan. It was a recipe for failure that instead, served up something so delectable that I could hardly believe it.
City of the Dead picks up right where The Rising left off, and because it had been so long since I had read The Rising, I had to go read the plot recap at Wikipedia. With it all coming back to me now, I dove into City of the Dead. A group of survivors of the zombie apocalypse has made their way from West Virginia to New Jersey in search of Jim Thurmond's young son. By the time City of the Dead opens, the undead population outnumbers the living by a staggering proportion. However, these zombies are not what they seem. As it turns out, a particle acceleration experiment has ripped an interdimensional hole in the universe which has allowed a demon race known as the Siqqusim to enter our world and possess the dead. The fact that the reanimated dead are possessed by demons is a cool idea and goes a long way toward explaining the intelligence that the zombie hordes possess.
Surrounded on all sides in the suburban New Jersey home where they find Thurmond's son, Danny, they make a narrow escape (an absolutely thrilling series of scenes) that eventually leads them to lower Manhattan and Ramsey Tower. It's designer, billionaire Darren Ramsey, declares it to be completely impregnable and therefore, the perfect fortress against the 99.9% of the Big Apple that is now rotting and possessed by Siqqusim. Clearly, Ramsey has never heard of the unsinkable Titanic because the building is not quite as sealed off as it might appear, especially once the leader of the Siqqusim, Ob, starts rallying heavy artillery and tanks.
The chain of events in a novel like City of the Dead is completely predictable, but you're not there to be surprised by the plot. In the hands of a lesser writer, it'd be a tosser. But Keene has mastered this kind of writing. Instead of being bored by the predictable plot and characters that veer a little too hard into cliche at times, I was intrigued not so much by what-happens-next as by how what-happens-next happens. The smart zombies really work even though for me, they really shouldn't. Their intentions are clear (kill all humans by whatever means possible) and they really are pure and unadulterated evil. The writing is graphic and bloody and gory. So vivid are the descriptions of what's taking place in the novel that what's usually necessary to really seal the deal with zombies - the visuals - are rendered superfluous. You can see it in your head. And that is why good zombie fiction is so hard to find. Usually, you need the visuals. With Keene's zombie novels, you simply don't.
It's been a long time since I read a book this quickly - it really held my attention and interest. It's not great literature or anything, but who says a good book has to be? Fans of zombies and horror fiction in general will certainly enjoy both The Rising and City of the Dead. They are leaps and bounds better than some of the other mid-level horror fiction I've read and the best zombie fiction I've read. Of note, Keene has also written another unrelated zombie novel, Dead Sea, which features more traditional slow zombies which is a hell of a read as well. -
Oh dear gawd, how did I accidentally download this audiobook?
At any rate, I'm going to try to avoid a real review of this because I got through maybe 45minutes before I knew it was going to be a serious mismatch for me. And I'm not giving it a star rating so I don't weigh in one way or another.
I'll give space for 'intelligent' zombies (how?? Anyway). I'll give some space for lingering memories or.. something.
But the monologue by the Preacher was the tip-off: this is not a zombie tale. This is a God vs. Satan tale (the zombies are actually demons that took over bodies or... something). The 'head' zombie, too, gives a lovely monologue. *sigh*
That doesn't work for me. I wish it had been in the blurb that prompted this one.
(btw, zombie mechanics? Really??!) -
This two books are for me just one. I've read them in my holidays, one after each other.
We learn quickly that the world went insane when some scientists working in one of those secret weapons laboratories experimented with a new particle accelerator. Whoops. The experiment had all sorts of important functions, at least on paper, but warnings that strange incidents could take place went largely ignored by the technicians involved in the project. When reports began surfacing about the recently dead suddenly reanimating and wreaking havoc, people wrote it off as nonsense. Predicatably, the problem soon proved horribly true, resulting in escalating and ever widening scenes of violent death at the hands of the hungry undead. Society went under with astonishing speed as the flesheaters promptly attacked any living creature within reach, thereby exponentially increasing their own numbers while achieving a comparative decrease in human numbers. Electric power, cell phones, the Internet, the government, and radio and television stations began to fail in various parts of the country as the zombies rampaged. This further isolated survivors, although a few stalwart souls doggedly hang on in the face of total insanity.
(Then he kicks it up a notch when he connects the beings possessing the humans as demons thrust into this area called "The Void" by God and are here killing everyone to violate God's "loved ones". Throughout the book there are a few biblical & religious references, but not enough where the average reader will get lost.. its great. )
One of these survivors is Jim Thurmond, a construction worker living in West Virginia. Hiding away in a bomb shelter he constructed in case the world ended from Y2K, Thurmond now uses it to hold off packs of roving beasties, one of them his recently deceased second wife. Jim laments his condition, sick to the very marrow of his being that he will never again see Danny, his son from his first marriage. Thurmond's son lives in far off New Jersey, a long trip under normal circumstances but now seemingly unreachable considering current affairs. Then something amazing happens that sends Jim off on a quest fraught with peril: his nearly dead cell phone rings with a message from his son. Danny whispers into the phone that things are bad where he is at but that he and his mother are currently hiding from the zombies. Thurmond resolves to leave that very minute in order to rescue his son. Just getting out of the bomb shelter presents a host of gruesome problems, problems requiring Jim to commit violence against his former neighbors and even his reanimated wife. Thurmond learns a few other things too, namely that the zombies he encounters do not resemble the shambling creatures from horror movies. The undead in this world possess the ability to think, drive cars, use weapons, and set traps for the living. New Jersey looks further and further away with every passing second.
Other poor souls wander through the deteriorating cities and countryside of the United States. Thurmond meets Martin, an elderly black minister, soon after he leaves his house. The two join forces to find Danny and soon run into plenty of life threatening situations, everything from packs of roving zombies to backwoods cannibals seeking some extra food to undead wildlife. At the same time, Frankie, a down on her luck heroin user and woman of the night who narrowly escapes disaster in the Baltimore Zoo also begins a trek out of the cities and into the country. We also keep tabs on one of the scientists in charge of the particle accelerator as he too seeks his destiny in a world full of the undead. You know all of these people will come together at some point in the novel; seeing how Keene pulls it off is the fun part. The conclusion to the story delivers plenty of gory violence, but also gives us an ending that raises more questions than answers. Keene's story is one of the few mass-market horror paperbacks I have read in the past few years that makes you think after you finish the book.
Several scenes of contrived coincidences, a bit of annoyance concerning Thurmond's robot-like determination to save his son, and a few characters who could have benefited from some better development isn't enough to hurt this book in the least. There is plenty of heavy gore, mach speed pacing, and an imaginative plot that doesn't give you all the answers. Even better, Keene used his apocalyptic tale as a vehicle by juxtaposing unconditional love and hope with death and destruction. "The Rising" is a good tale well told, although if the author plans a sequel perhaps he should reconsider. The conclusion is more powerful left just as it is, something a follow up novel would ruin.
....
Well the author reconsidered and I think he didn't fail.... Well if only one should be printed it would be great...
At the end of THE RISING, Jim had fought his way across several states through zombies and militia to try and reach his son. Just as the book stopped, we did not know what he found at his son's house. This book takes up just before the end of the first with a little repetition and we finally find out the status of Jim's son. Right from the start Jim, Martin, Frankie and the rest of the party are on the run from organized zombies. We have zombies torching houses and mounting high-speed chases. This all gets Jim and company into a New York skyscraper reputed to be impenetrable. The part joins several hundred survivors in the building. Meanwhile Ob and the zombies are mobilizing on a grand scale. Their talk is to wipe out all humans so that the next wave can begin (plants and insects). Death and gore are major parts of this book (as in the first). We learn a little more about the zombies and their purpose. The action builds and builds as the book enters the final phases. With only a dozen pages to go fates are still unknown and the reader has to go right to the final page. Unlike the first book, this does wind up the saga although many readers will probably not like the way the ending is handled.
Here is one review done by other person who have read the book...
"I read the first book in this series The Rising, and i loved it. I thought it was really unique, descriptive, exciting, and the ending although it was harsh, It was okay with me, because not everything has a happy ending. When I saw the sequel "City of the Dead" I assumed that it takes the ending of the rising and went even further, I was right. The same characters are ther (surprise they arent dead! yay!), Jim, Martin, Frankie,Ob, Danny and many many many (more than i can count) more. It takes place in a skyscraper in New York, built by a man who has delusions of grandeur, his name is Ramsey.The zombies, who we now know are demons reanimating the dead bodies to take over the earth to ultimatly destroy it. Ob is the leader, and no he cant fit into your pocket easily when you have your period. Anyway, grossness ensues, maggots, fluids, screaming, defleshing, rats, intestines, rot,sex with dead people...the old standbys, and our "survivors" manage to survive through another onslaught of zombie buffet, They find an underground tunnel, a promise of a bomb shelter, and in the end AGAIN, NO ONE SURVIVES, Keene makes us love these people, love this poor child danny and his father who dies saving him, love the prostitute, the cat God, the homeless pigpen but he KILLS them! and the world is destroyed! SO what was the point of this book? why keep us at the edge of our seat again,when we accepted the death of everyone at the last one, why give us hope that maybe the tiny few would prevail? I thought up untill the last paragraph that they would survive, and whammo, i was knocked off my feet..again! I put the book down and said "if Keene comes out with a book called "garden of the dead" because the plants are the next to be possessed by demons, i am turning the other way". "
And there it is... some persons read cataclysms book to see how persons react and survive.. i've read some.. but this one was execlent.... they all die, you read the last chapters with an urge to see how they are going to survive and then in the last paragraph you see they didn't... I hated the author but i love it.. it put me liking this characters and persons and then he kills it...
I love the ending, you know why? because it made me became sad....
Overall, I've enjoyed the books in all, i've never ever read any horror books but this one was great... I've got some otheres here as well other "end of the world" books....
If you like zombies as the first movies in the 70's and 80's probably you won't enjoy this one... this book sare more than zombies.. they are demons who incorporate the bodies so, they have souls (i guess you can call it souls), zombies in the general way, don't have it.. oh well, read it and judge it yourself... -
Re-read in 2022 and I moved its rating up. New review with less spoilers, original spoiler review at the bottom.
This book literally takes place right where "The Rising" finished off both of them sharing a chapter.
Brian Keene ramps up the onslaught against humanity as the numbers of the living have dwindled down to a size slightly bigger than the rush crowd at a Golden Corral.
You can start to see Brian's developing as a writer and his voice starts to pick up here. He also lays out a better understanding of what would eventually become his universe of interconnected parallel earths that are under siege by various forms of evil entities.
The four survivors of the last book Frankie, Rev Martin, Danny and Jim are again the main focus of the book but like most horror movies that start with a small cast we have more characters quickly introduced to add to the buffet for the zombies.
One of them is quite clearly a Trump parody written before the presidency and although this timeline is a fucked-up zombie world I do sorta prefer this character's ending more than what we went through.
Still early in Brian's career but already you can tell there has been an improvement in his writing over the first novel.
If you liked the first novel you will like the second and it does a great job of setting up most of the different universes that would later be explored by Keene.
The sequel to the novel “The Rising”
This novel is dark. The previous one had plenty of zombie fodder and quickly introduced and killed off characters. Spoiler. In this book, everyone dies. Still a good read.
Characters:
Jim: Father of a young boy named Danny. At the end of the last book, he had arrived at his son’s house and just entered.
Danny: He’s more than a McGuffin in this story. A poor messed up kid who has seen pretty much everyone he loved died. Lives longer than almost anyone.
Martin: After crossing the country with Jim he has become a fast friend. He still has faith in God and thinks this is all part of his plan.
Frankie: The drugs are gone and Frankie has emerged as a kick-ass warrior. She sorta adopts Danny.
Don: Neighbor of Danny’s mother and step-father. Has spent all of the last book hiding in a bomb shelter under his house.
Ramsey: A fundamentalist Donald Trump who built, what he believes to be, an indestructible tower. It houses pretty much all that is left of humanity.
Jim finds his son but is quickly overwhelmed by the neighbors of his ex-wife. Frankie and Martin who have been waiting in the car hear the shots and rush in to help fight. The crowd is too much and they start to retreat up into the attic where Danny has been holed up.
Meanwhile, next door Don has been living in a small panic room for many months safe but very bored. He hears the gunshots and decides to investigate. He sneaks up to his attic and looks out the windows and sees all the zombies converging on Danny’s house. He then notices the people, still alive, in the attic. Thinking quickly he gets an extendable ladder and makes a bridge between the two houses. After a few mishaps, they end up in Don’s car and drive off.
In most zombie books this would be the end of the scene, but because of the nature of the undead in this book, it continues. Rather than being able to simply drive off and find an abandoned place the group is chased by their own hummer which they left idling in front of the house. A few zombies on motorcycles are also pursuing. One of them ditches, on purpose, its bike in front of Don’s car resulting in a wreck.
Martin is killed in the wreck, Frankie is rendered unconscious. Jim uses himself as bait to draw the remaining zombies away from the car while Danny and Don work in waking up Frankie. Both parties find themselves surrounded and it looks like it will be the end. Jim is being attacked by zombie birds and the other three are on the top of a parking garage with no way to get back down. However, a helicopter has seen the firefight and swoops in. It has a special piece of equipment hooked up to it that is used by airports to scare off birds using sonic waves. Turned up to the max it destroys avian brains, which as a result kills the zombie birds, they also have a chain gun that is used to clear off the closest zombies on the top of the parking garage. Soon they are all back together on the helicopter heading to a building in the middle of New York named Ramsey Tower.
In the meantime, Ob has found himself a new body and has started to gather his army. His goals are laid out and we finally see what is planned for this world. Ob has two brothers and both of them can only be released from the void after certain criteria are met. Once Ob has used zombie humans and animal to kill off all of humanity and animals, his first brother can be released This brother can possess all dead insects and plants. They will repeat the cycle Ob did, killing off and possessing more and more of their kind. Once the last plant and insect has died the third brother can be released. He and his followers are basically made of fire and they burn the planet to a cinder. After this, they all return back to the void and wait for the next dimension to make a mistake and allow Ob to start again.
Ob is informed that life in Asia is gone and that all that is basically left are some few scraps in the countryside around him and about 300 humans left in Ramsey Tower. He sends out messengers to the surrounding areas to finish up the scraps and to prepare an army. Then with knowledge from his new host's brain, he heads off to a National Guard Armory to get supplies for his army.
In the tower, at first, things seem peaceful and secure. Built after a few terrorist attacks on New York Ramsey believes his tower can hold off anything. And so far his confidence has good roots and the tower is soot-stained and surrounded, but none of the undead has been able to penetrate it. However, all is not as it seems and it has become obvious to the chief of security that Ramsey has become mentally unbalanced. Besides this, there have been some suicides and the chief of medical operations has developed a taste for necrophilia.
Still, there is some peace and Frankie gets treatment for injuries from the crash while Danny and Jim get to have some time together safe. Don gets recruited to the Towers security force and quickly integrates himself and finds someone he used to know before the zombies. A homeless man with a cat named God who used to panhandle outside of Don’s work.
The peace is short-lived as Ob’s army shows up. They start an invasion with suicide bombers and are soon shelling the building. On the roof, someone trying to escape opens the top door and gets overwhelmed by birds giving entry to the tower to millions of them.
Things go to shit fast and the security team learns from Don’s friend that there are tunnels beneath the tower that can be used for escape. Frankie, Jim, Don, Danny, the security chief, and a few others fight their way to the basement and start to head to tunnels that will lead them to an airport.
One by one they are picked off until it is just Frankie, Danny, Jim and the homeless man. They have given up on escape and are instead trying to reach a bomb shelter that has doors that will keep them safe. Frankie, Danny and the homeless man make it inside but he and his cat are killed. Jim shuts the door with himself outside and causes an explosion that he hopes will seal off the shelter from the zombie horde. He knows that there is a second exit to the shelter and if he dies with that knowledge and can't be resurrected then the hoard will be blocked from access and not know of the second exit.
This works but the explosion damages the door. That night Frankie and Danny fall asleep and while they slumber rats sneak through the door and kill them. They are the last humans alive and the rest of the destruction of the world can now happen.
As sad as it is, the book makes a point of showing that there is an afterlife of some kind where they are all reunited. And beyond this, there are other dimensions that currently know peace.
