The Audio File: Hannahpocalpse: Season 2

I’ve been working hard on new scripts for The Books of Thoth. However, I’m also trying to fulfill my outstanding review obligations. So, without anymore preamble, onto the main event. We’re taking a look at season two of Hannahpocalpse. 

It has been fifty years since we last left Hannah and Cali. They’re doing fairly well. They’ve turned the ruins of Golden Gate into a thriving community for the zombie horde Hannah now leads. Meanwhile, over in Junk Town, Hannah’s friend Mel has picked up some new companions as well. Specifically, a scrappy mechanic named Ashley, and a British robot named Billy. Ah, but all is not as calm as it seems. Rictor has become a zombie, and he commands a horde of his own. Rictor fully intends to march his horde on Golden Gate. So, will Hannah and company be able to weather the coming storm?

As you might have gathered, this season is primarily split between two plot lines. One following Hannah and Cali in Golden Gate; and one following Mel, Ashley, and Billy in Junk Town. We also occasionally get episodes following other characters, such as Rictor.

Let’s start with Hannah and Cali. Cali has been adjusting to life as a ghoul pretty well, and she’s even gained the ability to interact with the listener more. They’ve been having an annual movie night, but haven’t watched The Truman Show, probably because that one might hit a little too close to home. Hannah has come a long way since those first episodes. We actually get a flashback to the first season, along with Hannah’s commentary. It underscores how she’s grown far more confident and levelheaded. Granted, not being a prisoner in her own body definitely helps with that.

Now, a brief aside. I remember watching episode two of The Amazing Digital Circus. Absolutely fantastic series; you really should watch it, if you haven’t already. Anyway, the scene where Jax tells the fudge monster to eat Ragatha, and she yells at him. I remember thinking to myself “That scream. So neurotic and distinct. I know that one, but can it be?” I looked it up, and yes, Amanda Hufford, who plays Hannah in Hannahpocalpse, does indeed voice Ragatha in The Amazing Digital Circus. Amanda, if not exact having read my review of season 1, is at least aware of it thanks to Damian Szydlo. So, I have indirectly interacted with one of the cast of The Amazing Digital Circus, which is kind of neat.

Getting back on topic, let’s pivot to Junk Town. Mel briefly appeared in season one. She is Hannah’s friend who got turned into a ghoul. So, the seeds for this plot line had clearly been planted well in advance. Speaking of which, there’s a little prequel miniseries call Flamingo Down, which explains how Ashley and Billy got to Junk Town. Mel and Ashley develop feelings for each other over the corse of the season, but Mel is a bit wary of the age gap, not to mention species gap, between them.

Age gaps are a tricky thing to navigate. The biggest hurdle, and the reason so many people object, is due to potential power imbalances. The older partner will usually have more life experience and/or financial security, and that this will put the younger partner at the disadvantage when it comes to negotiations. However, it isn’t always that black and white. There can be various reasons the older partner missed out on major life milestones. For example, if you happen to be on the autism spectrum. Or perhaps you aren’t financially secure due to being between jobs, or having major medical expenses. Mel is chronologically older than Ashley, but much like Hannah, spent a good chunk of that time navigating the wasteland in various states of loneliness.

And, of course, we can’t forget about Billy. Back in my review of season one, I speculated that not all robots were mindless killing machines. Just like Hannah proved that not all zombies are bad. Well, lo and behold, my speculation proved to be correct. I’m definitely detecting some influences from C-3PO when it comes to Billy’s personality and characterization. And I’ve got no complaints. Some kids dressed up as Darth Vader or Luke Skywalker. I was the sort of kid who dressed up as C-3PO for Halloween. Admittedly, Bill lost his body, and has been turned into a hood ornament for Ashley’s truck. Still, his in fairly good spirits about the whole thing.

Okay, I’ve been putting it off, but how does this season compare to season one? Well, I felt the Golden Gate plot line was half of a really good season. And I felt the Junk Town plot was half of a really good season. However, I also felt that the sum was not greater than the parts. Now, it is true that Hannahpocalpse has been juggling multiple plot lines from the start. However, since Hannah and Cali’s plot paralleled each other in season 1, it didn’t feel quite so disjointed.

Now, in the interest of being fair, this might have had to do with how I listened to this season. I could more or less binge all the episodes of season one. Whereas with season two I listened to each episode when it come out. There are certain TV shows that make for better viewing when you can binge them on streaming or DVD. You can appreciate all the little details and foreshadowing. Or it just makes for better pacing. And I think that’s what it ultimately came down to. Listening to each episode as it came out gave season two of Hannahpocalpse some serious pacing issues.

And this isn’t a universal issue with serialized audio dramas. I’ve listened to several serialized shows as they dropped new episodes. 1865, Timestorm, Brave New Frontiersman, and Residents of Proserpina Park, just to name a few. In fact, when I could binge Residents of Proserpina Park, I actually had to pace myself. But with Hannahpocalpse, I wasn’t feeling a sense of “Oooh, I wonder what happens next?” but more along the lines of “Ahhh! Get to the point already! This is moving like molasses in an igloo.”

Also, while there were seeds for future seasons, the ending of season one felt like a pretty conclusive note. I wasn’t opposed to there being more seasons of Hannahpocalpse, but at the same time, it wasn’t exactly high on my list of shows I was hoping would come back. Which isn’t to say I didn’t like it. Just that I felt the story was at its natural end, and I was ready to head to my next port of call.

All of that having been said, the last few episodes were extremely well done in terms of pacing, writing, and acting. However, getting into the specific would be spoilers.

So, if you don’t want any of that, turn back now.

Last chance, you sure you wan’t to continue?

Okay, then here we go.

So, Rictor and his horde arrive at Golden Gate. He and Hannah face off, and we learn about his backstory. Specially, that he had an abusive father. It is clear that this doesn’t excuse all the terrible stuff he’s done, but it is understandable how Rictor was sent down that path in life. Ultimately, Hannah decides not to kill Rictor, but to use her powers to rehabilitate him, and give him a chance to redeem himself. It would have been satisfying to see him killed off once and for all. However, it would also go against the themes of the series. Being hopepunk means daring to believe that a better tomorrow is possible, even in the face of an uncertain future. It also means believing in the inherent goodness of people, and that everyone is worthy of redemption.

One of the big questions within the realm of law is whether justice should be retributive or rehabilitative. That is, should we focus on punishing criminals, or should we rehabilitate them, and make them into functioning members of society. Think of justice like a set of scales. When a crime is committed, the scales become unbalanced. You have two choices to bring the scales back into alignment. You can lower down the one who committed the crime, or you can raise up the victim of the crime.

Season two of Hannahpocalpse wasn’t quite as good as season one, but despite some pacing problems, it wasn’t without its charms. It still has that same hopepunk zombie apocalypse fun. From the looks of it, we are going to be getting a third season of Hannahpocalpse at some point. If that is the case, I’ll wait til the whole thing is out so that I can binge it. And if you’re going to give season two of Hannahpocalpse a listen, I advise binging if possible.

Well, I think that should do it from me for now. I will see you guys next time.

The Audio File: Hannahpocalypse: Season 1

As many of you know, I try to work on my own projects when time allows for it. I find myself with a bit less time for that now that I’m gainfully employed at the Shreveport Aquarium. However, I always make time for those who ask me to review their audio dramas. Frankly, I feel a bit guilty when I’m not writing new reviews. I’m aware it isn’t my job to keep the reviews coming, but still. So, without further ado, let’s get right into it. We’re taking a look at Hannahpocalypse. 

Hannahpocalypse is set in the year 2182. It has been 150 years since the zombie apocalypse destroyed civilization as we knew it. Humanity tried to counter the zombies by building an army of robots. Unfortunately, the robots went rogue, caused a robot apocalypse, and just made things worse. But hey, at least they killed all the zombies. Well, most of them anyway. A few zombies have managed to survive. Hannah is one of these zombies. She basically has dissociative identity disorder. Her human personality is basically a prisoner in her own body. Her animalistic zombie personality is the one in the driver’s seat. Hannah has led a dull and lonely existence. The highlights of her day include chasing red balloons and eating live crows. However, Hannah’s finally found some new companions: us, the listeners! Somehow, Hannah is hosting a podcast about her unlife, and we’re along for the ride.

Hannah’s world is turned upside down when she meets Cali. Cali is a scout from Golden Gate, a city-state in what was once San Francisco. Cali recognizes the spark of sentience buried deep within Hannah. Could this be the key to better relations between zombies and humans? This unlikely duo is about to make their way across the wastelands of what was once the United States. It is a story of love, death, and robots. But, you know, not the Netflix kind.

I was approached to review Hannahpocalypse by series creator Damian Szydlo. He is also the creator of the audio drama Cybernautica. Damian had some very nice things to say about my audio drama reviews. He felt very tacky about asking me to review Hannahpocalypse, but I see no issue. People have all sorts of ways of asking me to review their audio dramas. It is also always great to hear that people enjoy the work that I do with these reviews.

Hannahpocalypse is a member of the Fable & Folly network. If you’ve been following my reviews, then you know what that means. Audio drama roll call! The other fine members of the Fable & Folly family include, but are not limited to, Human B-Gon, Alba Salix, We Fix Space Junk, Harlem Queen, The Carlötta Beautox Chronicles, Spaceships, and Who is Cam Candor?

Hmm, wait a minute. So, the backstory of Hannahpocalypse involves a robot apocalypse. It is mostly set in the United States, but we do see that Canada, along with the rest of the world, was impacted as well. We also have a supposedly non-sentient that turns out to be smarter than she appears to outsiders. Does this mean that Hannahpocalypse is secretly a prequel to Human B-Gon? Well, actually, no. The answer is no. However, Damian Szydlo and Drew Frohmann are both friends, and have respect for each other's work. Both of them are also Canadian. This was all just some random observations I made that weren’t meant to be taken seriously.

Anyway, let’s get into my actual for real observations and thoughts on Hannahpocalypse. The series is billed as being hopepunk. Hopepunk, from what I understand, is fiction that strives to depict a better tomorrow, and a more hopeful future. It isn’t averse to conflict, or even bad things like climate change. However, rather than a future ravaged by climate change, hopepunk chooses to show humans works together to fight against things like climate change. The general philosophy of hopepunk is that sometimes things go bad, but we can work together to fix them.

Now, all of that being said, terms like zombie apocalypse and robot apocalypse are not typically included in the same sentence as the word hopepunk. And yet, despite these seemingly disparate elements, Hannahpocalypse does indeed live up to its descriptor of hopepunk. To explain why, let’s first meet our leading ladies.

Hannah has been a prisoner in her own zombified body for the last 150 years. Despite this, she’s in surprisingly good spirits. Well, at first glance anyway. As the series goes on it becomes increasingly clear that Hannah has gone a tad nutty over the years. To be fair, it would be weird if she wasn’t at least a little insane after all she’s gone through. Though, this does raise an obvious question, how exactly is it that Hannah is hosting a podcast if she can’t control her own body. For that matter, what’s she broadcasting on? The audio drama itself tells us not to think too hard about it. We have several characters, besides Hannah and Cali, who break the fourth wall. This includes those who logically shouldn’t know about Hannah’s podcast or Cali’s status reports. Of course, if we go back to Hannah being slightly crazy, then maybe all those instances are figments of Hannah’s imagination. Of course, in the immortal words of Albus Dumbledore, maybe it is all in her head, but why should that make it any less real?

Hannah is also a lesbian. She had bad luck finding a stable relationship, and turning into a flesh-eating zombie certainly didn’t help. Plus she did eat that pride parade when she first turned. But hey, she’s LGBTQ, and wasn’t in control of her body. So, uh, pretty sure it technically wasn’t homophobic to eat all those people. Anyway, it may have taken 150 years, during which time she kind of went bonkers, but at least Hannah found Cali eventually. And perhaps she’ll even find one of her old friends. Hannah’s friend Mel also got bit, but she turned into a mutant. That means she partially zombified, but retained her human mind. Unlike Hannah, mutants like Mel retain control of their bodies.

One of the things that makes Hannah such an endearing character is the phenomenal performance by her voice…actor? Amanda Hufford uses they/them pronouns, so I’m not sure if voice actor is the correct term. Whatever the case might be, Amanda just did such an amazing job making Hannah sound like a total sweetheart. Their performance reminds me of Amy Adams during the early days of her career in movies such as Catch Me If You Can, Enchanted, and Junebug. Amanda also adds several other layers to Hannah. We get to see Hannah’s endearingly dorky side, such as when Hannah worries about swearing in the podcast, even though nobody can hear her. However, we also get those hints of desperation within Hannah’s voice. You can hear this even when Hannah is clearly trying to put a metaphorical smile on. She’s obviously been screaming her head off mentally for quite some time. She still has a mouth, yet she cannot scream, no matter how hard she tries.

We, of course, have to talk about the other half of our two leading ladies. Cali has grown up in Golden Gate. The city-state prides itself on restoring the best of Old America. In reality, however, Golden Gate has a very warped view of what pre-apocalypse America was like. It is clearly based around rose-tinted nostalgia for a past that never truly existed in the first place. Golden Gate is clearly the right-wing view of America. Hmm, so we’ve got a post-apocalyptic setting, killer robots, mutants, and a moral about the dangers of being blinded by nostalgia. I’m definitely getting some Fallout vibes from Hannahpocalypse.

I bring all of this up because Cali does not fit the mold of Golden Gate. Cali is a lesbian, and Golden Gate is not a particularly LGBTQ friendly place, to put it lightly. So, being a scout was one of the few times she got to truly get herself. Cali is jaded, cynical, and rough around the edges. Despite this, she can be just as much of a dork as Hannah is. Cali gets very excited when she finds a stash of Tank Girl comics from the 1980s. It is a little odd that Cali would be a fan of pop culture from nearly 200 years in the past. On the other hand, it has been firmly established that Cali is definitely a nonconformist.

Abigail Turner gives a multifaceted performance for Cali. It perfectly compliments Amanda Hufford’s performance as Hannah. Cali starts off gruff, tough-as-nails, and gives the impression that she’ll do anything to survive. Then the cracks begin to form, and we start to see a softer side to Cali. The first, besides the comics, is when she sees the faint glimmer of humanity still within Hannah. Cali was taught to fear and hate zombies, and it would have been easy to snuff Hannah out. However, Cali chose to take a gamble on Hannah, and choose kindness over cruelty. Yet this wasn’t a choice born purely out of altruism. Further cracks form, and we get to see just how lonely Cali has become over the years. A good chunk of that bravado and prickliness is just a mask she wears to hide the sadness she carries. Perhaps on some level, Cali chose to spare Hannah because she wanted to believe she’d found someone she could truly be herself with. Granted, her faith was certainly not misplaced. The scene where Cali finally breaks down and admits how lonely she feels is particularly well performed.

One of the main themes of Hannahpocalypse is about how we deal with trauma. Hannah experienced one of the worst things that can happen to someone. However, she only regains control of her life when she stops try to fight against the zombie half of herself. One way of dealing with trauma is to accept what has happened to you and learn to live with it. Like it or not, what happened has happened, and will always be part of you to some degree. However, that acceptance doesn’t mean you have to be a victim for the rest of your life. Hannah is able to regain her agency, both physically and metaphorically, once she truly accepts that she is a zombie. She isn’t just a victim, she’s a survivor, and there is power in being a survivor.

The other major theme, as we’ve already touched upon, is the importance of choosing compassion over cruelty. There’s also a message about the dangers of confusing pessimism with realism or pragmatism. It is never outright stated, but it is implied that Golden Gate suppresses homosexuals in the name of repopulating humanity. There’s a kind of logic to this, but it also requires sacrificing individual liberties and happiness in the name of the “Greater Good.” But that begs an obvious question: who gets to define what the Greater Good is? The leaders of Golden Gate talk big game about the lofty ideals of Old America. However, it is pretty clear that their true vested interest is keeping themselves in positions of power.

To build a world on compassion requires taking risk and gambles. Cali gambled on Hannah still having humanity within her. She also gambled that this might lead to better relations between humans and zombies. I won’t give away the ending. However, I will say that sometimes risks are worth it. There can still be hope for a better tomorrow even when you live in a post-apocalypse world full of zombies and robots. Hannahpocalypse, despite its oddball premise, managed to live up to its hopepunk descriptor.

Now, that being said, I do have a few minor points of critique. As we have noted, Hannahpocalypse deals with several philosophical themes. For most of the series, these are woven into the story organically, and it never feels like I’m being beaten over the head. Episode fifteen, however, was an unfortunate exception to this. It had the characters spend several minutes lecturing the listener about what a terrible place Old America was. They go on and on about the rampant inequality and prejudice that filled America in those days. However, we already cover all of those point, so it came across as incredibly redundant. It also came across as heavy-handed and needlessly preachy. I felt like I was listening to a sermon rather than an audio drama. Thankfully, episode sixteen was a welcome return to form. It was also an incredible finale overall, but getting more specific would be spoilers.

This next one isn’t a complaint, but more an observation. Hannahpocalypse is set in the United States, and deals with American culture, but series creator Damian Szydlo is Canadian. Now, that isn’t to say that Canadians aren’t allowed to comment on America. However, I found it a little odd that Damian decided not to set the story in his home country. Maybe the theme he wanted to deal with worked better in an American context. I admit I’m not too familiar with Canadian post-apocalypse fiction. Here in the United States, we tend to assume that Canada gets eaten whenever the apocalypse happens. 

Damian had said that, in his view, America won the Culture War a long time ago. To give on example, in many countries, people will watch both local television shows and movies, but also American movies and television series. Canada, for instance, requires its television stations to air a certain amount of Canadian content in an effort to combat the torrential flood of American media. As such, if America falls, the rest of the world falls with it. So, he had the zombie outbreak begin in America. He also claims he didn’t think of Golden Gate as being particularly right-wing. I guess that’s where our cultural differences come into play. In America, it tends to be the political right that invokes nostalgia for the past, and the need to return to this so-called golden age. The political left, by contrast, tends to emphasize the negative qualities of the past, such as the rampant inequality and bigotry, and how we need to let go of the past. 

Hmm, here’s another random thought I had. Hannahpocalypse sounds like the phrase “an apocalypse.” And the word apocalypse contains the suffix -caly, which is like the name Cali. Could it be that Hannah and Cali’s names were puns all along? Accord to Damian, this was just coincidence. However, he did find my observation amusing. 

Season one has wrapped up most of the loose-ends fairly neatly. However, Hannah and Cali’s story isn’t over yet. Season two is already being planned. There are certainly several directions for the story to go. For example, we discovered that not all zombies are mindless killing machines. Does the same hold true for robots? It does appear we will get answers to that particular question in season two. I know that I can’t wait to find out which path the story takes.

Well, there you have it. Hannahpocalypse managed to genuinely surprise me. It billed itself as a post-apocalypse zombie hopepunk audio drama. Despite these seemingly disparate elements, it managed to find hope for a better tomorrow within the wastelands of what was once North America. And it did so quite well at that. Give it a listen, and perhaps it will surprise you as well.

Well, I think that should do it from me for now. I will see you guys next time.

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.