REVIEW: Dead Earth: The Green Dawn by Mark Justice & David Wilbanks
Dead Earth is an extremely short novella. Eighty something pages on paper that is a tad bit smaller than trade paper. Don’t let the size of this novella discourage you from reading the story. Despite the size of this book, Dead Earth is a wonderful story that is written in third person.
Terror strikes the small town of Serenity. Most of the townsfolk have been suffering from some flu like illness. The remaining populace still active continues their daily life. Jubal was the only law enforcement agent that made it to work. Even though he is only a deputy he assumed all the responsibilities of sheriff.
The mysterious illness is linked to a much bigger disturbance coming from Nevada. Serenity’s pharmacist, Fiona, who is also Jubal’s fiancé, begins making the connections. A very ill woman stumbles her way to the local dinner where she collapses in the parking lot. Jubal is at the dinner enjoying his dinner and is also picking up a meal for his ill mother. The mystery woman was covered in blisters and puss oozed out of all her pours. Fiona decided to take this ill woman to her place for proper care. Once there, Fiona and Jubal learn more about the sickness in their little town.
Shortly after the lady expires she reanimates and is now a walking corpse. Jubal and Fiona still don’t understand what is truly happening. All they know is that something big is going on and it has already affected the rest of the town. It won’t be long until the illness reaches Jubal and Fiona. They must survive but in order to do so they have to fight their way through an army of walking dead cannibals.
This novella is a very fun and exciting read. Some of the ideas are unique and the writing is substantial. Like I mentioned before, don’t let the size of this novella discourage you from picking up a copy. You will not be disappointed. The characters could have used a bit more life but since the novella is short there isn’t enough time to get a feel for them. (SPOILER START: When Jubal’s mother died I didn’t feel that her demise affected Jubal as it should have. Maybe it was just the way the emotions were expressed but I didn’t feel much sentiment. I felt the same way when Fiona passed. It was as if Jubal wasn’t really bothered by their deaths. SPOILER END)
Dead Earth was a very exciting read though. I’ll give it that. The actions scenes were very realistic and made my heart race. The book didn’t have many action sequences but the ones that were present did the trick. In my personal opinion I would read Dead Earth again. Not anytime soon but someday if I see the novella on my bookshelf I’ll pick it up. Buyzombie.com would like to thank the authors for sending us a copy to review. We truly appreciate it.
