I was looking forward to reading this book as it had been recommended by several sources of zombie fiction fans, and by the author Travis Adkins in the book itself. Bowie Ibarra explains in his notes at the end of the book that he's a zombie fiction fan himself and a teacher, so I expected the novel to be better than average for a first attempt. I guess that it is better than average, but it's not a masterpiece.The story centres around a teacher living in Texas ("write what you know"!) who makes a trip through a zombie plague to get to his home town. This sort of perilous journey idea has been covered a lot in zombie fiction in the past. Several similar books I've read include "Monster Island" by David Wellington, "The Rising" by Brian Keene and "Dead City" by Joe McKinney. So, the basic premise behind the story is nothing new.There are a couple of (sort of) new elements to the story, the main ones being sex scenes and FEMA camps. The sex scenes are a little bit awkward in that they're not totally necessary and the language used sounds very prudish at times. There's nothing really wrong with that, and I'm not saying that they should be graphic and crude, but using euphemisms like "George's sensitive area" seems a bit out of place among detailed and gory death scenes. The idea of including FEMA camps is good, but the descriptions of their methods seem a bit biased. There's basically nothing good to be said in the book about FEMA, which I think is a bit unfair as the organisation would surely feature at least some people trying to help and doing something in an attempt to protect the public. The novels "Eve of the Dead" by Nathan Tucker and "Hater" by David Moody also feature (what I feel to be) unfair and somewhat biased views of the military and authorities. Let's hope the governments of the world can do better if the zombies ever rise for real...The book is generally well written and proof-read, with only a couple of typos that I noticed. The characters have a bit more depth than many found in the genre, and the situations are fairly well described, but this isn't a literary masterpiece. If you like zombies, you could do a lot worse than reading this book, and check out a couple of the others that I've mentioned above if you like the novel and are looking for something similar.
You know, I do like the story here, the narrative. It's something different from a survival story, albeit the zombie apocalypse features heavily enough.Here we have a man who's on a journey, yet ends up getting shuffled from one situation to the next in the process.I can't say that's it's all that believable (yeah I know, zombies, but you know what I mean), but there's a nice little theatrical story here alright, and I like it for that, the story is very much protagonist-driven and it stays from his perspective from start to finish.But I don't think the book deserves higher than 3 stars. The story is light on action compared to most zombie books; which is fine - but then it has to be replaced with something solid; character development, tension/horror, etc... instead what it's replaced with are descriptions of surroundings, idle chit-chat and dialogue with briefly-featuring characters, some love scenes, back-story on his dead fiancee, etc... And that's all fine and all, but none of this stuff really stood out, and in light of this material I would have preferred more of a focus on pressing issues, the crumbling of the world, perhaps some more fleshed out action/suspense sequences, etc... The social commentary and such side-descriptions of the 'downfall' on the other hand were interesting, but I felt that it could have been done better.I also like my zombie fiction with a little horror, terror, a real sense of danger - but this book had very little of it; felt more like an action run-through and dialogue piece.So yeah, 3 stars. It's the author's 1st book, and it shows - although I can't put my finger on exactly why.But I can see that the style, the narrative, the background setting, etc... all have potential.I will definitely give the sequel a read, here's to hoping that the author has drawn some lessons from his first work and translated them into improvement for the second.
Do You like book Down The Road (2006)?
Pretty much this book starts out as most zombie stories. There is an unknown plague which animates the dead. A bite or scratch spreads the infection. In this story it is mostly told from George's POV. He sees what is coming and decides to try to reach his hometown where his mother and uncle still live. The government has taken over and put people in FEMA camps for "their own good". There is also a ban on living in private homes and owning weapons, even for safety. As things progress from bad to worse, many of the soldiers abandon posts and who is left are the corrupt and power hungry. FEMA camps become a war zone within itself where you not only have to worry about the guards, but the inmates as well.As we follow George, we start to see the real monsters and they aren't the ones devouring the flesh of the living. As chaos reigns, gangs try to rule the weak. There are pockets of people sharing and holding out, but they too have to fight the rouge gangs and the government run FEMA soldiers as well. It is a story of true horror in a world we have already seen can happen. What is interesting is that we find that this book was written pre-Katrina and no one believed that anything FEMA run would be that incompetent. Now with this new edition, we find that what he had eerily predicted could come true if a zombie infestation would break out in the US. *shivers*I give this book 3 stars. This is definitely an adult book. Not only is there violence but sex as well. If you like a good horror book and don't mind quite a bit of blood and guts then this book is for you! Just check your door before reading and make sure all windows are secure. Just in case. ;)
—Melissa
Hmm. Well, I can't say this was a great zombie book, nor can I say that it's bad. It is exactly as described: zombie pulp fiction. There's certainly nothing wrong with a little gory self indulgence, as long as you don't take it too personally. Ibarra has written a fun book. I do have to give it a nod, because it was one of the first zombie books published at the start of this undead craze, so when I say it doesn't really add much to the genre, perhaps I mean it helped to shape the genre? hmm. I don't think this is a book to be added to the zombie cannon, but perhaps its a fun escape.
—Alexis Winning
After recently reading The Fall of Austin, the third in this series, I went back and reread Down The Road. It was the first of this series. I had not realized this fact until 3/4's of the way through The Fall of Austin. Well, I sat down last night and reread Down the Road. I have to give a hats off to Mr. Ibarra. It is official he is my new favorite zombie author. I can't believe the subtle tie ins I missed. Wow! I have since ordered the second book of his on my e-reader and will start it tonight. I highly recommend his books and when you read them...pay attention. He has masterfully crafted each story so they link in some way with his other. At least that is what I found with Down the Road and Fall of Austin. I can't wait to be blown away by his other stories as I am sure I will be.
—Will
