I have to say that this book review is long overdue.  I read World War Z back in January so it's been quite a while since I've picked it up and dabbled in its pages.  So, I'll try to keep this short or else I might end up mixing this review with other works...  Right!  On with the review!

I first passed this book in borders; the name caught my attention.  A world war, but what was the z for?  I soon found out that the z stood for zombies.  The premise sounded entriguing; a world besieged by zombies, where man fights a decade long war for survival.  It sounded like it came out of a George A. Romero film, and as funny as that thought was it was practically true.  Max Brooks, the author, took inspiration from the cult classic Romero films and applied the lore to his novel.  

The style of writing gave the novel a certain depth, and made it a chilling believable tale.  In the story, the author travels all around the world to meet survivors of the war.  These survivors then recount their experiences and their disparate stories paint the overall situation.  It's kind of like a puzzle/mystery/thriller story.

From the get-go I was immediately hooked; it starts off with a viral outbreak in China, referencing the three kingdoms [had to put this in because it was a personal interest of mine...], and then from there to all the different continents.  It also shows, though to a minimal extent, political dogmas of today.  The first 3 chapters were brilliant and I wasn't able to put it down.  I know alot of people overly use that expression but I've never ever truly felt it until I read this.  However, I say the first 3 chapters are brilliant, and yes they are, but the rest slowly evolved into an agonizing boring technical book of jargon, not interesting literature.  The ending was anti-climatic as well.  

Overall  it was very difficult for me to say whether this book was exceptionally brilliant or exceptionally poor.  It just didn't hold throughout.  I guess it was more of the zombie culture and the world war aspect that was so intriguing, and not necessarily Mr. Brooks' writing.  What I mean to say is that any one of us could have written this book and it would still sell like pancakes!  So to those that love zombies and dark, graphic story-telling have a look at the book the next time you're in your favorite bookstore.  If you do plan to get it, trust me, wait for it to come out in paperback.         

7.3 out of 10