Review: Kaiju and Zombies, Oh My!
I had a dilemma this week. Jason Cordova sent me the novella Murder World: Kaiju Dawn, to read, and John Holmes sent me a link to his free story, Even Zombie Killers Need a Break. I'd already reviewed Dave Freer's excellent Stardogs, but what the heck? I thought. I can read a novella and a short story…
Hah! First of all, Murder World: Kaiju Dawn is so much better than the earlier Kaiju book I'd read. While I enjoyed that one, it had some rough spots, and I'd decided I wasn't going to read along with the whole series. This series on the other hand… The setting up at the beginning is much smoother, really gives you a sense of the characters, and hey, there are fully-developed characters! it's still a light entertainment read, but that hits the spot at the end of a long day. Fun, recommended, and I'll be reading more of the Murder World series. I am a sucker for tramp ships and crew…
And then… last night, I started to read Zombie Killers Break. Remember I said free story, and then I said short story? Um, no… this sucker is a full length novel. Cool! Only… not when I need to sleep. So, if you enjoyed John Ringo's latest zombie series, get this book (it's free, do I have to twist your arm?) and then get the others. I was delighted to see there are more, this morning. Detailed military fiction, black humor, a hero who is stuck with the only thing to do during the Zombie Apocalypse is just to keep fighting. Because to not fight is to see human civilization flicker and die. Only don't pick it up at bedtime. Really, you'll regret that. Read it on a lazy afternoon, or on the weekend, or… I was pretty pleased with PPT Ranger's book. All the black, snarky humor you'd expect. Heavy Military detail - almost too much for me, although I know guys who will really get into it (you can never have enough toilet paper…) and infected zombies like Ringo's. Best of all, he does combat right. Fog of war, not clear 'whole-battlefield' awareness by the MC.
Murder World: Kaiju Dawn is, I would say, space opera. Although I think the giant monster fic gets it's own genre, I'm not familiar with it. Even Zombie Killers need a Break is actually hard science fiction, like John Ringo's books, these are infected zombies, who started from some mad scientist's basement experiment gone wrong. Everything after that is just extrapolating how to deal with the epidemic. One book, although set in space, is a fantasy. The other could actually happen. That's the difference, as I was talking to someone recently about SF/F and the line for Hard-SF. What say you?
