This review relates to book 11 onwards

Don't start the series unless you are happy for a drastically changed narrater half way through!

I enjoyed Books 1-10. I bought books 11 and 12 but could not cope with the narration. I had to return them. I wish I had known before starting the series as I would have seriously considered not starting it at all. I hate leaving a series part way through.

Book 11 (and onwards I presume) the narration is horrendous. Dave (one of the key characters throughout0 sounds like a lobotomised imbecile; all the girls sound like transvestites and any posh accents now sound like chavs??? It's like a totally new line of characters. At the very least the new narrater could have listened to the way Dan Morgan performed and done something similar. For me it is a lesson learned and when looking at a long series of books in the future I will double check the continuity!

87 people found this helpful

Meh! Heard better. Average.

Sadly I found it average. Like other reviewers that have said you could miss a chunk and not miss any of the story. Its true. Didn't find it funny, gory, horrific or nail bitingly good. Sad as it's set in Britain and I really love anything to do with Zombies. Narrator did his best.

For a really good zombie series IMHO (okay it's not set in Britain) try Mountain Man read by the marvellous R C Bray.

Won't read the next in the series and I'm glad it was a BOGOF.

15 people found this helpful

Brilliantly addictive!!

What made the experience of listening to The Undead the most enjoyable?

I wanted an audiobook to listen too for a 9hr drive from Austria to the UK after a weeks Snowbaoarding. I did already have RR Haywood's 'Undead' on Kindle, but unfortunately just don't get time to read it due to busy work schedule. So as soon as I heard 'The Undead' was available as an audiobook i knew I had to download it. It made the 9hr drive fly bye!
As soon as I got home I knew i had to download Part 2!

What did you like best about this story?

Great intro & character building. I just want to listen to more.

What does Dan Morgan bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

Great voice & very subtle voice changes for the characters. Perfect

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Not so much 'moved me', but can i relate to the characters & their decisions as if I was in their situation.

Any additional comments?

Cant wait for the next available Audiobook!!

20 people found this helpful

Some good aspects, but average overall.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Yes, overall I think this was a fair book and not a waste of time. I liked both of the two main characters as they make for a good blend - and I liked them as individuals too. I didn't like the zombies if I'm honest though and I'll explain why below.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I don't think the author thought out the zombies that well. I'm not a huge fan of people that write a book were they aren't the inventor of a genre or sub-genre but write it as if they are. IE if you aren't the first person to write about zombies - and given they are a well know pop-culture brand - it doesn't play well for me when no-one in the book knows what a zombie is. More so when you use the word zombie. I counted the use ten times that I noticed.

Also, what he does use is, "the un-dead", and pretty much only that to describe zombies. Which can be a little repetitive

The zombies in this book start off being killed by the main character with head blows, but later when the secondary lead comes into the story he is killing them by cutting their throats. I didn't understand this at all. Firstly it isn't that easy to cut a throat - certainly more so than in the book. Secondly, some people die with limbs ripped off, arteries torn out or other injuries that result in them bleeding out, and they rise to be un-dead. So if this is the case I couldn't get on board with them suddenly being able to die from having their throats slashed and bleeding out as a zombie. How can a bloodless zombie bleed out?

Also, some scenes don't work if you actually think about them for five seconds. In one scene a zombie manages to cover two hundred meters faster than the MC can get into his car. The world record for that is 19 seconds. And considering the MC was outrunning zombies with a fair amount of ease even at night I found this ill thought out. And it wasn't the only scene that had this type of issue.

Far too much shouting in the book. In reality the world would be like living surrounded by enemies that all want to kill you. Are you ever going to shout in that type of world? Not and live that long, and so I never like seeing characters do it, as I'm not sure many would past the first few hours or so.

Which scene did you most enjoy?

I found quite a few scenes good. The strip club was quite funny at the beginning of it. The gun battle in Portsmout was quite good too.

If this book were a film would you go see it?

Sure, I love a good zombie blood bath. But as films often tend to be worse than books I'm sure I'd hate it afterwards.

Any additional comments?

Not the best author in this genre, but if it is his first book - I think it is - then it is certainly an acceptable start, and I found the book good enough that I'll read the second one to see if some of the issues in this one have been addressed.

32 people found this helpful

Too Short

What made the experience of listening to The Undead: Part 1 the most enjoyable?

The characters are very well developed.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Undead: Part 1?

The stripper club.

What about Dan Morgan’s performance did you like?

Performance was excellent.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes and I did.

Any additional comments?

The book was to short. I really think the author could do readers a favor and put 2 books into 1 recording as there are a lot of books in this series.

4 people found this helpful

So glad I found this

Where does The Undead: Part 1 rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It's ranked and number 4. I don't like scary books and was worried this would be. It isn't. The author manages to capture the human traits in every character and tell several unique stories with each. Love it.

What other book might you compare The Undead: Part 1 to, and why?

Extracted. Same author. Well written with great characters

What does Dan Morgan bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

A great succinct read with the right amount of flare.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Shaun of the dead meets hot fuzz. Ok maybe not but it's got humour, zombies and great characters.

Any additional comments?

An awesome must read.

3 people found this helpful

Didn't Bite Me Quite as Much as I Had Hoped.

I was very hopeful about this series, zombies in the UK! That and so many of the reviews being so positive it's clear that plenty of people have enjoyed it greatly. This is a semi-humorous approach to the zombie apocalypse and there were a couple of genuinely funny moments. The author is in touch with his human side but to me it grated slightly as the book slipped between horror and humour never quite feeling as if it found its true course.

The narration is genuinely good, lively and bright but it never quite brought the story up to the best that Audible has to offer. I would also say that the author is at a disadvantage in having me read his books in that I live near Portsmouth . . . I don't mind that he is so down on the place at all, it's poetic license I guess. However, the island nature of the city and the placement of the Victorian forts he is so keen to mention to the North of it mean there's no way anyone but an idiot would be heading into Portsmouth. For most this won't matter of course, it just might help explain why I found it tougher going.

This is still entertaining enough, the scenes in the club were particularly well done. Markus was very well voiced and it was one of several highlights scattered throughout the book. I may well give the series a further go and I wouldn't want to try and turn too many people off a UK zombie series but it never quite hit the heights for me.

18 people found this helpful

I love the undead series. Brilliant.

I have read the book already. Love the series so much I got the audible.

I would note that the original book has been tweeked by publishers, so is slightly shorter. Both are good reads/listens.

The book differs a lot in that fact that is done day by day. As the books develop, more great characters are added.
Very good and different to all the other books like it.
Click the button and get it.

2 people found this helpful

love love love

I loved the books and I love the audio. Mr Howie is a great lead character and Dan Morgan brings him to life well, Howie is going through a massive ordeal which means he questions his own morales as well as human nature and this is narrated very well.

In terms of the series, if you are a closed minded zombie purist who doesn't allow an author to express their own creativity and ideas and wants every zombie novel to be the same (i.e zombie apocalypse with zombies that are slow, can only be killed by head injury and are one dimensional, where survivors manage to fight them off to a relatively safe haven only to to turn on each other) this series isn't for you.

If you are opened minded and welcoming to an alternative take on the zombie genre and like characters that spring off the pages, you'll love these books

Can't wait to get listening to part 2 :-)

11 people found this helpful

Good Start.

Good start to what I hope will continue to be a fast paced series. Some impressive bits of action and a UK spi on some typical zombie apocalypse dilemmas make this a must read/listen.

Narrator does an amazing job, a lot of credit to him in bringing life to the story.

8 people found this helpful