Can You Survive the Zombie Apocalypse? by Max Brallier

Publisher: Gallery
Publication Date: February 8, 2011
Pages: 288
Source: library
Buy It: Amazon / Borders / Barnes & Noble

Inside these pages lies unspeakable horror. Bloodsplattering, brain-impaling, flesh-devouring horror. You’ve probably read your fair share of zombie stories. But this time it’s different. No longer can you sit idle as a bunch of fools make all the wrong moves. All hell is about to break loose—and YOU have a say in humanity’s survival.

You have choices to make.

Moral dilemmas.

Strategic decisions.

Weapons. Vehicles.

Will you be a hero?

Or will you cover your own ass at all costs?

Can you withstand the coming hours, days, weeks, and months? Or will you die amidst the chaos and violence of a zombie uprising?

Or, worst of all, will you become one of them? --Goodreads

Can you survive the zombie apocalypse? That is the question. When you dive into this choose-your-own-adventure novel, you are a bored businessman—the most mundane character I have ever read about—but when you find zombies have taken over your home, New York City, you need to fight back (well, you have the choice to fight back… among other choices, but fighting back is what I chose). You will have the power to choose between life or death but all without leaving your comfy couch. With a flip of a page, your fate has been made and you are one step closer to discovering if you can survive this zombie apocalypse.

This is one of the most entertaining books I’ve read in a long time. Do you remember those choose-your-own-adventure books? It’s really hard to come across them. I read Goosebumps as a kid and, I think, there were a few in that series. Last year, I found a choose-adventure book in a Pride and Prejudice remake novel. These types of books are so much fun!

In this one, Brallier certainly wants you to get the whole experience. You start out as a bored guy at the office, miserable with your life (which I was not fond of—figuring out that I was a generic, pathetic loser). Don’t worry, after the zombies hit town, you have the choice to become anything you want (so I wasn’t worried so much about my character). I felt, sort of, like Wesley (played by James McAvoy, at right) in the movie, Wanted. (In the movie, Wesley’s life takes a dramatic turn when he meets an assassin.) Well my life, in the book, dramatically changed when zombies started killing everyone in sight.

Brallier’s writing style was fabulous. He told it like it was; he was honest and did not hold anything back. Max Brallier transports you into a zombie-infested world with gory details (that I loved) and cringing choices. The cover, by the way, reminds me of those old comic books (I found some in my attic). It just looks so action-packed, you have to pick it up.

Now the big question here is, did I survive the zombie apocalypse? Yes, I did, but only after I died about six times. That is what’s so great about these choose-your-own-adventure books, you can get a thousand second tries.

If you’re a zombie fan, you definitely don’t want to miss the opportunity to survive in the Zombie Apocalypse.

First Sentence:

"Will this ever end?"

Can You Survive the Zombie Apocalypse? by Max Brallier, p. 1

Rating:

Cover: 5
Characters: 4
Plot: 5
Writing Style: 5
Ending: varies (most of the endings I came across were a 5)
Overall: 5
Rated R for drug abuse, strong language, blood and gore, some sexual references.