This Book is Full of Spiders
David Wong's This Book is Full of Spiders is technically a sequel to John Dies at the End. I haven't read the first one, but I really don't think you need to. In fact, the first page of the spider book tells the reader to just ignore everything that happened in the first book. The only confusing bit was that John was in this book, alive and kicking and drinking way too much. So he probably didn't actually die, which makes that first title rather misleading.
The second title, though, is not in any way misleading. This book is all about spiders. Many-legged, alien parasites that zombify their victims while they breed and search for new victims. The book plays out like a typical zombie narrative in three acts. The first act counts down to the outbreak, the second to a massacre, and the third to a last-ditch effort to contain the threat by bombing an entire town off the map. Like you do.
Our heroes, David, John, David's girlfriend Amy, and her dog Molly try their best to stop this from happening. Or, barring that, to live to see another day and to make sure their friends live too. The only problem is that they are the worst heroes to ever exist. They make the wrong decision at every turn (well the guys do), and if they're the thing standing between humanity and the end of the world it's a little surprising the first book even had a sequel.
Or it would be surprising if not for Amy. Amy is perfect and I was with her the entire way. She keeps her head, she always does the smart thing, she looks out for her friends. In the end she saves the day and all is as it should be. Well, as much as possible after a zombie apocalypse.
There are some fun twists that set this book apart from the rest of the genre. For one thing, the narrator, David Wong, is wholly unreliable. Thankfully we get the perspective of John and Amy which helps validate some things. But by the end of the book it's clear that David was exaggerating certain events, if not outright lying about them. There's also a spooky little girl who isn't quite what she seems and a perfectly executed paradox that still has me scratching my head.
For the most part, though, this is a typical zombie narrative. Or what has become a typical zombie narrative in recent years. Which is to say that it's a rollicking good ride, with plenty of humor and gore. A lot of fun, and perfect for the week leading up to Halloween.
The second title, though, is not in any way misleading. This book is all about spiders. Many-legged, alien parasites that zombify their victims while they breed and search for new victims. The book plays out like a typical zombie narrative in three acts. The first act counts down to the outbreak, the second to a massacre, and the third to a last-ditch effort to contain the threat by bombing an entire town off the map. Like you do.
Our heroes, David, John, David's girlfriend Amy, and her dog Molly try their best to stop this from happening. Or, barring that, to live to see another day and to make sure their friends live too. The only problem is that they are the worst heroes to ever exist. They make the wrong decision at every turn (well the guys do), and if they're the thing standing between humanity and the end of the world it's a little surprising the first book even had a sequel.
Or it would be surprising if not for Amy. Amy is perfect and I was with her the entire way. She keeps her head, she always does the smart thing, she looks out for her friends. In the end she saves the day and all is as it should be. Well, as much as possible after a zombie apocalypse.
There are some fun twists that set this book apart from the rest of the genre. For one thing, the narrator, David Wong, is wholly unreliable. Thankfully we get the perspective of John and Amy which helps validate some things. But by the end of the book it's clear that David was exaggerating certain events, if not outright lying about them. There's also a spooky little girl who isn't quite what she seems and a perfectly executed paradox that still has me scratching my head.
For the most part, though, this is a typical zombie narrative. Or what has become a typical zombie narrative in recent years. Which is to say that it's a rollicking good ride, with plenty of humor and gore. A lot of fun, and perfect for the week leading up to Halloween.
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