Zombies spawned from cell phones, what could be cooler than that? The action starts almost immediately, and is violent, bloody, and fast. Before you know it, the zombies are everywhere. I couldn’t put this book down.

The story line is a simple one. Clayton Riddell is coming back home from an interview, which went well. He stops for a moment and gets in line to buy an ice cream. Then, all hell breaks loose. People go from normal to psychotic in seconds flat. No one sees it coming. All Clayton can figure out, at first, is that everyone who has gone crazy and homicidal had a cell phone. The people are still alive, but are suddenly acting more like zombies. They aren’t the slow, stupid, lurching zombies, either. No, they are fast, as in the remake of “Dawn of the Dead” kind of fast. Perhaps because they are still alive?

From there, the story is about survival. What do you do, when surrounded by what is basically a pack of zombies? Where do you go? Clayton must make some quick decisions. Cell isn’t simply about avoiding death by fast moving monsters. It also touches on what happens to people’s minds when they are dropped into this horrific situation. Who do you trust? How can you tell who is safe, and who is going to become violent? How do you figure out what caused this, so it doesn’t happen to you? Makes for a tense story. King excels in mixing psychological and physical horror. Just when his characters think they have things figured out, the zombies change. They act differently, and seem to be getting “smarter”.

Then there’s the moral dilemma. Is it right to kill off these zombies, in order to save not only yourself, but also the other, still unaffected, “normal” humans who are left? I mean, they are still people, right? They are alive, aren’t they? Or, have they stopped being “people” once they lost their minds and got all bloodthirsty? Staggering.

The only thing I didn’t absolutely love about this book was the ending. King doesn’t simply tell you if a particularly important action by the main character worked, or if it didn’t work. The book ends just as Clayton is doing the action. I was kind of mad, because I wanted to know for certain one way or the other. Instead, King has left it unclear. Either he wanted the readers to decide for themselves what should happen next, or, he is leaving room for a sequel to this story. I’m hoping for a sequel, but not exactly holding my breath.

The back of the book says that Stephen King does not own a cell phone. Neither do I. I hate them. I hate when people use them while driving, as they swerve into my lane and almost hit my car. I hate when people come into my retail job, ask me to find them something, and can’t manage to stop their conversation on the cell phone long enough for me to figure out what exactly it is they are looking for. I hate that they force me to be rude, and interrupt their conversation just to provide the help they asked me for in the first place. I hate the T.M.I people, who shout “too much information” across stores and restaurants, because the person on the other end of the cell phone has a bad connection, or is in a noisy place, forcing us all to hear about someone’s surgery, or the night someone drank too much. But mostly, I hate that we have become a nation of people who feel the need to isolate ourselves from the possibilities of having a random conversation with other passing humans. People now seem to feel like they must be constantly connected to this security blanket that “wireless” provides. It sickens me when I see a room full of people out somewhere for a night, all chatting away… to people who aren’t even in the room, instead of with someone who is actually standing next to us. Perhaps, King felt some of the same things I do, and that’s what inspired this book.

If you are a Stephen King fan, you will love this book. It’s just that special. If you are a fan of zombies, and like stories that include them, don’t pass this one up! If you hate, hate, hate cell phones, as much as I do, you will get sadistic pleasure from this book. I highly recommend it.

Max Brooks, creator of The Zombie Survival Guide, brings you World War Z. These are the stories of the survivors of the war between all of humanity and the walking undead. Details are given about how to survive, (including what armor and newly created weapons worked well, and also, what did not work at all), how different countries dealt with this new kind of war, (some failed spectacularly, some were better off), and how individual people responded to the economic, social, and cultural changes brought about as a result of The Zombie War. Brooks even goes so far as to report back on what happened to the environment, how different animals were affected, and the new psychological disorders people developed after the dead started rising and trying to eat people. The book is done in a series of narrative interviews, which is a little different from how The Guide was presented.

This book was so good, it gave me nightmares! Even better, it wasn’t the “I will never sleep again” kind of nightmares, it was more like the “I am in the middle of a Zombie movie! What do I do next?” kind of nightmares. I was very impressed. The book will be available September 12. Fans of the Zombie genre will not want to miss out on this one!

Summer is here, and the weather is hot, humid, and sticky! Looking for a book to read when its too darned hot to focus on much of anything? Then you are in luck! Here are a few books that I have been enjoying lately. All of them are quick, easy, and fun.

Diablo Moon Of The Spider is written by Richard A. Knaak. He is the author of the majority of the books in the Diablo series. These are the books loosely based around the Diablo RPG, but, it is not at all necessary to have played that game to simply be able enjoy these books. This is the fourth book in the series. I recommend that you either have read the third book before starting this one, or, not be upset when this fourth book reveals some of the ending to the third book.

Anyhow, the story is a good one. Two characters from book three, Zayl, (a necromancer who is devoted to restoring the balance between good and evil), and his sidekick Humbart,(a mostly intact skull of a long dead man that Zayl animated in the previous book), are main characters in book four. The main story line surrounds an ancient and misunderstood artifact, power hungry nobles, visits from beyond the grave, zombies, (well, ok, unorthodox zombies, but you get the idea), lots and lots of spiders, (none of whom are friendly), and an ubernecromancer who just may have turned to “the dark side”! This book has nonstop action scenes that really move. Almost as exciting as playing the game itself!

Wishing you could just go vacation on an island somewhere? Maybe you just miss watching some of the good tv that ended right as summer began? If so, then you are in luck! There are now books based on my favorite TV show, “LOST”!

I have only read one of these books so far, but believe there might be a total of three. Each book focuses on a minor character who was also on the island when the plane crashed, and throws in a few of the main characters we all love to make it that much more interesting. It is not simply a repeat of an episode of the tv series!

LOST : Signs Of Life is written by Frank Thompson. The focus of the story is on Jeff Hadley, who was an artist from Scotland before he got on Oceanic Flight 815 and stranded on the island with the rest of the survivors of the plane crash.

Jeff is still creating art, but not the same art he used to create. What he makes now are little sculptures and drawings that have these primitive looking symbols in them, and also some monsters. They scare Jeff. He doesn’t have an answer for the other survivors who ask Jeff where he got the ideas for this new creepy art. All he knows is that he has been getting bad dreams.

Jeff has mostly isolated himself from the rest of he survivors, and spent too much time thinking about his past, his art, his lovers, and his choices. A mystery unfolds as you read through this short book that links Jeff’s past and his current life. Stranger things start to happen after Jeff agrees to go on a boar hunt with Locke, Michael, Charlie, and my favorite character from the tv series, Hurley! Hurley is in this book quite a bit. (There are also brief cameos by Kate, Jack, Sawyer, Jin, Sun, and Walt).

The back cover of the book seems to have a typo. It calls the main character, Jeff Hadley, “Nick Hadley”, and I have no idea why. The front cover of the book has Locke on the cover. That should help you find it.

Too humid to focus on much more than pictures? Try a manga! I just finished reading the second book of the Tsubasa series by Clamp. (You can read my review of Tsubasa volume 1 by looking it up in the past reviews I have done for Bookwyrm U.S.).

Tsubasa volume 2 picks up where volume 1 left off. Sakura is still unconscious, and Sayoran (who loves her) is still trying to restore her memories by finding them in different “worlds”. He is still accompanied by Fai, (a happy go lucky sorcerer), Kurogane, (a disgruntled ninja), and Mokona, (a round, white, animal like thing that can somehow sense when one of Sakura’s memories are nearby). They start out in the world they were still in at the end of volume 1, the Hanshin Republic.

Off they go to try and find the piece of memory. In this volume, they learn what a “Kudan” is, and how to get one. There are many battle scenes, all of which have artwork that seems to move very fast around the page. They meet a few people with very powerful Kudans, battle them, and save a new friend along the way. It is a quick read. Most of this book is exciting, and many parts are funny. The ending has something really good and really bad happen, (and its the same event), and also a scene linking to what might happen in Tsubasavolume 3. I can’t wait to read the next volume!

This is the perfect book to read right before Halloween! Its scary, its creepy, its the type of book that would make a great movie. The special effects alone would be really interesting to check out.

The story is about four people in the town of Leppington, (which is supposed to be somewhere in England). The town was founded by a family of the same name, who had a dark and mysterious history. Once, the town was prosperous, and many people were employed at the local slaughterhouse that sits in the middle of town. By now, however, the town is past its prime, and no one there is happy to be there.
(more…)