Book Review: World War Z by Max Brooks

It's not often that if get to review an audiobook that was given to me as a gift, but that's the case with today's review.  Last Christmas I used my free Amazon Prime Trial to buy a couple books for my pal Matt Mitrovich.  In return, Matt gave me the audiobook adaptation World War Z, which arrived in my Audible.com account on Christmas Day.  As such, we'll be reviewing World War Z by Max Brooks today.

Max Brooks is the son of famous comedian and satirist Mel Brooks.  World War Z is set ten years after a worldwide zombie pandemic nearly whipped out humanity.  The book is presented as a series of interviews from various survivors about their experiences during the Zombie War.  You get to meet a wide range of characters, and we will discuss them in greater detail down below. 

I'd been meaning to get around to buying World War Z at some point.  Thanks for helping me take care of that Matt.  I really liked the way that the story was presented as an oral history through a series of interviews.  It helped me gradually ease into this world and really get a feel for things as opposed to an info-dump.  It was a really unique style of writing and I can't think of anything else to compare it to.  This isn't alternate history in the strictest sense of the term, but it should appeal to that crowd.  The descriptions of the nations of the post-zombie war world really peaked my interest to know what the demographics and political geography of this world are like.  

Before we talk about the characters, and their stories, we need to talk about the audiobook adaptation.  The audiobook is divided into two abridged halves that combined form the whole book.  In the world of audiobooks it is almost always considered a cardinal sin to abridge a book, but in this instance it wasn't such a bad thing.  Like I said, two halves, known as World War Z and World War Z: The Lost Files, combine to form the whole book.  It costs a bit more, but better to buy them both rather than the unabridged version.  The abridged versions have the original cover art, whereas the unabridged version has the movie tie-in cover.

One of the most profoundly annoying things I've encountered with Audible is when they turn the cover of a book into the movie tie-in version.  As if a book is only defined by its movie adaptation.  It'd be better if they gave you the option to switch the covers, and multiple cover options there in, or at least...sorry, I got a little sidetracked there. 

Anyway, the audiobooks are narrated by an all-star cast of celebrities.  It would take a while to list all of the celebrities involved, but they all did a really amazing job and each brought something new and different to their performances.  We'll get it into specifics down below.   

There are a ton of character featured throughout book, but I'm going to focus on a few that really stood out to me.  For starters, there was Roy Elliot, a filmmaker who created documentaries to inspire people to keep moving forward and not give into despair.  He's a pretty obvious analogue to Steven Spielberg, and I liked his general outlook on the Zombie War.  He's fully aware that his films often stretch the truth and distort the facts, but people need something to give them hope and inspiration to get out of bed and keep fighting on.  

This puts Elliot in sharp contrast to characters such as Grover Carlson and Breckinridge Scott.  Of the two I can safely say that I hated Carlson more.  Sure, Scott was selling false vaccines, profiting off of other people's fear and suffering, and is completely unrepentant for the many deaths he's caused.  However, Carlson had a serious case of smug small-mindedness and Southern thick-headedness.  I have to deal with people who subscribe to that idiotic and frankly self-destructive thinking on a near daily basis, so it really got to me.  At least Scott is entertainingly evil, Carlson was just plain repulsive and seemed to take pride in encouraging the government not to act on the zombie apocalypse until it was too late.  That he's an obvious stand in for Karl Rove is even more reason to hate him.

In more positive characters that stood out we have characters such as Jesika Hendricks and Christina Eliopolis.  Jesika was just a girl from Wisconsin when the Zombie War occurred.  She and her family decided to move to the Canadian wilderness in order to be safe from the zombies.  Unfortunately, several other Americans had the same idea and it wasn't long before they rang the Canadian wilderness dry of resources.  One of the things I liked about Jesika's story is that it showed just how an average citizen would handle a doomsday scenario.  Jesika and her family are reasonably well prepared, but most of their fellow refugees are woefully unprepared and bring things such as Xboxes, DVD players and computers, rather than actual survival materials.

It reminds me of this show that my family used to watch called Doomsday Prepers that used to come on the National Geographic Channel.  It was about these people convinced that the end is nigh and their preparation for that.  It was always just kind of fascinating just how woefully unprepared these people were.  Not only that, but they seemed to actually be looking forward to the collapse of society.  It was almost like they viewed it all as a big game, and obviously had no clue just how bad things could get in such a scenario.  I guess one of the big themes with Jesika's section, as well as many of the other sections, is that sometimes zombies are the least of your worries.  

Now let's talk about Christina.  She volunteered in the Air Force and her team's plane exploded over Louisiana.  As she struggled across the zombie infested landscape she's contacted via radio by a mysterious figure known only as Mets Fan...and Mets Fan might not have actually been real.  Well, as Christina's bit is set in Louisiana, it did make me wonder how I would be going if the Zombie War were to actually happen.  I really liked seeing Christina's determination and willingness not to give in.  Yeah, maybe Metis or Mets Fan was all in her head.  However, to paraphrase one Albus Dumbledore, even if it was why should take make it any less real?  

Then we have Kando Tatsumi, a nerdy Japanese teenager who spends several weeks reading up on potential survival strategies.  Then the power goes out and he realizes he has no skills or support group.  Nevertheless, he mounts an impressive escape from his apartment building, fights his way through a zombie infested city and eventually becomes a martial arts master by training with a blind old man.  Yeah, you wish you could be that awesome too.  Though it should be noted that Tatsumi got by just as much, if not more so, by luck as he did by his skills.  

There's also Terry Knox.  He was the commander of the International Space Station when the zombie outbreak occurred.  He and his crew fought bravely to keep as many satellites in orbit as possible.  It was grueling work, but in the end they did it.  As a reward they were brought back to Earth and given the finest medical treatment the Australian government could provide as they all slowly died of radiation poisoning.  It's not the happiest of endings, but at least they died known that they did their duty to ensure the survival of the human race.

There's a ton of other characters that we could talk about, but we'd be here all day if we did that.  Let's talk about the world building in this story.  Max Brooks has certainly created a rich lore with some really interesting geopolitics.  For example, Cuba is one of the richest nations in the world. It had an influx of refugees from America and elsewhere that spared a liberal revolution.  In economic terms, Cuba is comparable to pre-war Iceland or South Korea, and the Cuban Peso is used as an international currency of sorts.  Speaking of Iceland, it's one of the few remaining areas of the world yet to be rid of zombies due to its harsh weather burying them under so much snow.  Meanwhile, Lhasa, Tibet is the world's largest city.  In many way, the world has been turned on its head following the Zombie War.

So what about South Korea?  They're doing pretty well, apart from worrying about why North Korea mysteriously vanished.  Nobody knows what happened to the North Koreans and the possibilities are pretty terrifying.  Were they eaten by zombies?  Are they all living underground, or did something happen and now they're all underground zombies?  Nobody knows for sure, and many are too afraid to find out.  

Meanwhile, Russia is now a religious authoritarian regime that would make Iran look like a bunch of pot smoking hippies by comparison.  They're known as the Holy Empire of Russia and they're lead by a man, implied to be Vladimir Putin, who has declared himself the head of church and state.  The leader of Russia is also pretty much a czar in all but name by this point.  Well, you know what they say, plus la change.  

There's plenty of other geopolitical tidbits, such as China finally throwing off the shackles communists, the West Indies uniting into a federation, the European Union (save Britain) finally federating, and much more, but let's move on to other matters.  

One of the things I wondered throughout this book is, well, just where did the zombie plague come from?  I know it started when some Chinese kid, who was diving in a sunken city, got bitten by a zombie, but where did that zombie come from?  There's some rumblings about it being supernatural early on, but it soon becomes clear its a virus.  So what's the origin of the zombie virus?  We don't get any solid answers, but that is elaborated on in the companion book The Zombie Survival Guide.  Humorously, many characters mention just how useless the guide really is throughout the book.  You don't have to have read Zombie Survival Guide to enjoy World War Z, but I suspect it gives a little something extra.  

There are touching moments throughout the book.  One of the biggest for me was when it was mentioned that most whales are now extinct due to mass overfishing and whaling.  Granted, people had to do it because the zombies disrupted the flow of food, but it really hit home with me.  I'm an environmentalist with a love of the ocean; as pointed out in the book, you can make many new things, but you can't make new whales after they've gone extinct.  Then there's all the other horrible destruction of the environment that must have happened as a result of the zombies.  The scenes with the canine units also struck a chord with me since I listened to this book while walking my dog Wolfie.   

There were more than a few leaders who showed great heroics when their nations needed them the most.  Queen Elizabeth II bravely chose to stay in London, much as her father did during World War II, to boost morale and comfort of the British people.  The American president, strongly implied to be Colin Powell, insist on holding onto America's democratic ideals even in the face of the zombie apocalypse.  Not only that, but he also calls up the Untied Nations to go to war with the zombies for the sake of future generations.  On a slightly more humorous note, the president’s pick for vice president is strongly implied to be Barrack Obama, and we all know what he went onto in real life.

Throughout the book you really get a sense of lingering sadness about the horror and loss that occurred as part of the Zombie War.  And yet despite it all humanity has endured, the world is in the process of rebuilding and there is a sense of hope for the future.  It's a world half empty, it's a world half full.  It's a world of laughter, it's a world of tears.  It's a world of joy, it's a world of fears.  It's...well, you get the idea.   

As many of you know there was a film adaptation.  However, it was a very in name only adaptation.  The movie won't remind you very much of the book and vice versa.  I've heard rumors that a television adaption is being considered.  Personally, television seems like a much better medium for this kind of story.  Maybe make it a mockumentary in the style of PBS or Ken Burns.  

All in all, World War Z is a really great book and I can see why it's so highly thought of.  As I've mentioned before, this review is coming at you thanks to my pal Matt Mitrovitch.  Matt has his own World War Z audiobook review that you can check out over at Amazing Stories.  He's also responsible for a good chunk of the World War Z article over on Wikipedia, as well as many alternate history related articles.  

Well, that's everything for now.  I'll see you all next time. 

Interview: Matt Mitrovich

Today we've got another interview coming your way on Knowledge, Adventure and Wonder. He's the creator of The Alternate History Weekly Update, an alternate history aficionado and a good friend of mine. He's Matt Mitrovich and he is our guest for the day. So without further ado, let's get on with the interview.

1)  In your own words, who is Matt Mitrovich?

What a surprisingly difficult question. There are a lot of words that can be used to describe me: blogger, author, attorney, alternate historian, husband, son, brother, American, etc. I think a simple explanation is that I am just nerd who really enjoys alternate history.

2)  When did you first discover alternate history?

It had to happen early in my high school career. I remember going to the local book store and stumbling upon a paperback copy of Worldwar: In the Balance by Harry Turtledove where Hitler and Churchill are standing next to each other on the cover. Knowing a thing or two about World War II already, such a pairing was definitely a head turner. I bought the book and the rest, as they say, is history.

3)  What inspired you to start The Alternate History Weekly Update?

It's complicated. I started blogging during a time in my life when I was at my lowest. I felt my career was going nowhere and despite the number of times I told people I wanted to be a writer, I never actually wrote anything. Blogging was a way of letting off some steam from work and proving to myself I could write on a regular basis. Choosing what to write was difficult at first. I wanted to write about alternate history, but I needed a certain angle. Anyone could write their own alternate history timelines or scenarios and post them on the web, but I wanted to do something unique.

That is when I realized that most alternate historians don’t know a damn thing about the genre. Most knew the major authors and a few of the major sites, but topics like the Sidewise Awards or more obscure creators were mysteries to the fans. I decided then that I would write about the genre itself. I would cover the news and educate people about the history and people behind alternate history.

With Alternate History Weekly Update’s five year anniversary coming up next June, I think I made the right decision.

4)  I've heard that you've published a bit of fiction yourself in the past.  Can you tell us a little about that?

As mentioned above, part of the reason why I started The Update was to practice my writing. Once I became more comfortable with blogging, I decided to take a crack at writing fiction. I chose to write a short story first because I wanted to be pragmatic and didn’t think I could produce a novel just yet. My first short story I ever finished, “Collapse Theory”, has yet to be published. Although I was pretty proud of it, most publishers I submitted it to passed on it. Eventually I became frustrated with it and moved on to something else.

My first short story to be accepted by a publisher was “The Enchanted Bean”, which was a steampunk retelling of the Jack and the Beanstalk fairy tale. You can find a copy of it in Once Upon a Clockwork Tale. I published several other shorts after that: “Road Trip” (Forbidden Future), “A Perfect Hell on Earth” (Jake’s Monthly: Recollection) and “Revenants of Warfare” (The Were-Traveler).

To be honest I haven’t written much fiction since. When I was able to officially say that I was a published author, I lost interest in writing anything else. I really enjoyed blogging so I focused on that instead. Recently I have been feeling the urge to write fiction again and might even try for a novel, but we will see what the future brings.

5)  Now, I'm not personally a fan of the favorites game, but do you have a favorite work of alternate history?

I really have a soft spot in my heart for Worldwar: In the Balance, because it was the first alternate history book I read, but even I think “In the Presence of Mine Enemies” (the short story, not the novel) is my favorite Turtledove work. I enjoy the works of SM Stirling as well. He is probably one of the best world builders in the genre and knows how to write a series. Kim Newman’s Anno Dracula books are great as well if you like dark humor and pop culture references. Even though his writing is a little old fashioned, I always enjoy reading anything by Harry Harrison. Newer authors I have enjoyed include Michael J. Martinez and Tony Schumacher. Stephen Baxter isn’t a new author per se, but I only started diving into his bibliography recently and I am happy to report I have enjoyed every minute of it. So to answer your question: no, I don’t have just one favorite work of alternate history

6)  You used to be an admin for the AltHistory Wikia, before it went down hill, what was that like?

It was fun while it lasted. I got the job because I’m pretty sure I annoyed the other admins with my constant reports of vandals and spammers. They will deny it, but I am pretty sure they made me an admin just so I would take care of those issues myself and not annoy them anymore. To their eternal horror (I’m guessing) I was a very active admin and pushed for reforms and created written guidelines for what were previously unspoken rules. I made a lot of good friends and I think even gained a level of respect.

Then things started to go down hill. People I knew left and a new group of editors joined. Many were good, but a lot had more snark than skill. I soon just became exhausted with the constant arguments and challenges. I also realized I spent more time policing the wiki then actually writing anything. This was around the same time I started The Update, so I “retired” as an admin and threw myself into blogging.

Although I did eventually return to the AltHistory wiki in a limited capacity, I was soon put off by the current user base. Again, there are still a lot of good editors working there, but they are being overshadowed by the people who are dragging the wiki down. I hope one day the AltHistory wiki can improve, but until then I will remain a lurker.

7)  So you're serving as a judge for the Sidewise Awards.  Can you tell us a how you were selected, and for readers who may not have heard of them, tell us a bit about the awards themselves.

The Sidewise Awards for Alternate History is an annual award given out at Worldcon for the best alternate history novel and short story. It was founded in 1995 by Steven H Silver, Robert Schmunk and Evelyn Leeper. Since then many judges have come and gone. Steven is currently the only original judge still serving (although Evelyn helps out behind the scenes and Robert still hosts the awards’ page on his website, Uchronia).

There really isn’t much of a story to how I was selected. Steven emailed me asking if I would serve a judge. After I finished squealing with geeky glee, I emailed him back saying I would. The next awards are going to be presented in 2016 at MidAmeriCon II and I hope to be in attendance. If anyone else is going, let me know and maybe we can meet up to talk alternate history.

8)  You recently started your own YouTube channel.  What inspired you to do so, especially at a time when many users feel that YouTube has thrown them under the bus.

I enjoy experimenting with new mediums and YouTube was something I felt was deficient when it came to alternate history. Don’t get me wrong, Cody Franklin’s Alternate History Hub is something even people who are not fans of the genre should check out, but besides him, there really aren’t any other channels I can recommend.

Creating my own channel is my own effort to rectify that situation. I am still set in “throw everything against the wall and see what sticks” mode, so I can’t really talk too much about what I am doing. I can say I am approaching alternate history on my channel, The Alternate Historian, the same way I did it for The Update.

9)  Are there any non-alternate history books that you happen to be a big fan of?

1984, Fitzpatrick’s War, The Lost Fleet series, World War Z, Theodore Rex, Vortex, The Dark Tower series, The Zombie Survival Guide, Lord of the Rings, A Song of Ice and Fire, Starship Troopers, Mythology, “The Good War”, Lies My Teacher Told Me, Starfighters of Adumar, The Jungle, Revelation Space, Marvel Zombies, The Kingkiller Chronicles...the list goes on.

10)  Besides your own blog you're a frequent contributor at Amazing Stories.  How'd you get started with that, and what's that like?

Again, not a very exciting story. Before Steve Davidson, the editor of Amazing Stories, relaunched the magazine, he was looking for contributors. I filled out his form and he contacted me back and offered me a place on the staff. I tried various different ways to write for the magazine and eventually just said “screw it” and wrote about alternate history.

Steve has been one of the best editors I ever had and he has been very supportive, especially when I asked to go from a weekly to a bi-monthly schedule. He is passionate about Amazing Stories and I look forward to seeing all of his hard work pay off.

11)  What does the future hold for Matt Mitrovich?

Well I want to write more fiction and produce better quality videos for my channel. I also want to encourage more guest posts to The Update to give me time to do both of those. We shall see though. I try not to plan too far in advance.

In truth, 2016 will be the year where my wife and I focus on bringing home Baby Mitro. We are planning to adopt and if you would like to learn more, check out our blog or are GoFundMe page.

12)  Any advice for aspiring bloggers and alternate historians?

For bloggers (and writers in general) my advice is to start writing. There is a 99% chance that you are not a genius, so don’t worry about whether your content is “good”. Just write on a regular basis about something and share it with others. You will get better as time goes on and hearing criticism, even if it is not constructive, will help you improve.

As for alternate historians, always always always do your research. If I ever have to read about another British North America (in a world where the Americans lost the Revolutionary War) having to buy Florida from Spain, I will teleport to where you live and beat you with one of your Turtledove books (don’t lie, we all have at least one).