 Okay, so I just read The Gathering Dead, and it was pretty good. This is the introduction song. It's not very good, but it's not too long. I wish I could say more, because this is my second review in a row where I just don't have a lot to say about a story, because both Skyward and this are pretty formulaic. Though I will say I like this one a little bit more than I like Skyward, even though it's slightly more outside my wheelhouse. So basically the plot of this one is zombies are attacking, you know, they're all over the world, and then at the beginning there's this group of special forces soldiers who are helping to try and evacuate New York City, you know, to try and get as many civilians and resources and all that as they can out of the city before the zombies completely take over. But then shit goes wrong, and they're stuck in the city for a little while, and they just gotta try and survive until they can be evacuated or escape on their own. Like I said, very simple. This is kind of like a military sci-fi-esque thing, like I don't know if that's the exact terminology I would want to use, but it's like that, or maybe something Tom Clancy would write, maybe, like I just don't know where exactly this would fit, but it's mostly focused on, you know, military types doing military things and being stuck in difficult situations, having to think slash fight their way out. It's, you know, it's pretty simple, you know, these types of stories rarely get complicated, and I think that's fine, you know. I don't think they necessarily need to in order to be good, and like I said, this one is, it is pretty good. The majority of the story is just things slowly getting worse for the soldiers, you know. They go into a building because shit goes south out on the streets, and they hole up there, but then zombies keep coming, and keep coming, and keep coming, and so they have to get out as soon as they can. And this book does do a pretty good job of nailing down the dread of knowing that death is coming for you, and that you really can't fight your way out, you just have to find a way to leave. And that's helped somewhat by making the zombies a little bit more dangerous than normal. So, see, in most zombie stuff, you have to walk a very thin line between making the zombies too weak and too stupid to really pose a threat, and honestly, in stuff like The Walking Dead, you often find yourself, or at least I often find myself wondering how the zombies took over at all, because, I mean, they're just slow and stupid, and as long as you know that they're coming for you, they're not that dangerous, really. And in fact, in The Walking Dead, at least in the show, a lot of the drama and danger is just caused by characters being dumbasses, so, you know, World War Z has kind of this problem too, but that book is clearly trying to talk about like societal issues that the zombie virus exploits. But then on the other side, you have zombies that are like, you know, fast or smart or something, and those are usually like so dangerous that it's kind of amazing that they didn't take over the entire world immediately. And there's stuff like 28 Days Later and The Gathering Dead, which manages to go on that line, which manages to walk the line between the two pretty nicely, where they're just smart enough and just fast enough to really be dangerous, and you can see how the government and people would get overwhelmed, and even if you're prepared, it's still dangerous. You're still going to be in for a hell of a fight, but at the same time, it doesn't seem like, wow, these zombies should have taken over everything immediately, because in The Gathering Dead, the zombies are a little bit faster than normal, and they are a little bit smarter than normal as well. And I know that might seem like a spoiler, but it really isn't, like at the beginning you do get indications that the zombies are smarter than they usually are portrayed in fiction. They know how to like climb over stuff and hang back from danger a little bit. So I thought that was interesting, and it did help make the story feel... Well, it helped with a sense of dread with the story. There we go. Words are hard. As for characters, I literally only remember one of them. His name was McDaniels, he was the main character, and there's very little to him, unfortunately. Like, he's mostly just a tough soldier dude. There's a little bit more than that. Don't get me wrong, like he clearly regrets some stuff that's happened in his past, and it talks a little bit about how he's a black guy in United States Army Special Forces, and that's pretty rare. There aren't a whole lot of other black people that work with him in his field. That doesn't inform that much about his character, but you know, it is there. And yeah, that's about it. As for the other characters, there's like this dude, the scientist, who is studying the zombie virus and how it works, and this is one of the other tough soldier dudes who doesn't really get along with McDaniels, and this is a tough soldier dude who does get along with McDaniels and likes him, and you know, they're mostly just archetypes. They never really break out of those archetypes, and they never even really develop those archetypes, if I'm being honest. So yeah, there's not a lot to them, but nonetheless, nonetheless, it is... They serve their purpose, you know, they're there to fight zombies and then either get killed by them in order to show how dangerous the situation is getting, or help out and not get killed by them. One final thing that I did like about this, though, is how this book doesn't ignore the effect that modern weaponry has on the human body, because what I mean by that is that in most zombie stuff, you have to kill them by getting them in the head, and this book is no exception. If you want to actually kill the zombies, then yeah, get them in the head. But most of them ignore the fact that modern weaponry will still shred the human body to pieces, even if it doesn't damage the brain. Like, for example, in World War Z, the Battle of Yonkers talks about that a lot, how there's a lot of shrapnel and stuff going around that's hitting zombies in the torso and the limbs, but it's not getting them in the head, so they're still coming. And again, I love World War Z, I love what it's trying to say, but in that case, it's very wrong, because modern explosives and artillery and stuff, they can still shatter the bones in your arms and legs or shred your muscles. And if you do that to a zombie, then it's not going to be able to move properly. Like, it's not going to be able to walk, and in many cases, it won't even be able to crawl. It'll just be sitting there, moving its jaw around, wanting to bite anyone that's stupid enough to stick their fingers in its mouth. So I did like that the gathering dead doesn't ignore that. It shows, like, yeah, modern weaponry will still fuck them up, even if it doesn't kill them, and even if they're not dead, they're eliminated as a threat, so that's perfectly fine. And I liked that. I liked that it had that little bit of information. It shows that the author did some research and thought about things a little bit before he wrote this. He wasn't just writing another zombie story, because this, I believe these came out, because this is part of a series, and I believe these came out during the height of the zombie craze or maybe near the tail end of it. I don't remember. I would need to check what year. But, yes, he clearly put some thought into it and wanted to differentiate himself from it a little bit. Because in this case, the zombie apocalypse is not just beginning. Like, it's been going on for a little while, but it also hasn't completely destroyed government and civilization and everything. Like, it's in the midst of everything, which, when you think about it, is pretty rare to see. So I liked that as well. And overall, The Gathering Dead, if you are someone who's just into, like, pure action stuff or you really like zombies, then I would say go ahead and check it out. But I think you can tell from my description of it, and if you look at the book Summary, I think you'll be able to tell whether you'll like this or not. For my part, like I said, pretty good. But I don't begrudge anyone for not liking it because this probably won't change your mind on any level. Special thanks to all of my patrons whose names you see here, including my $10 up guys, Appo Savilainen, Andrew Dixon, Ashley Watson, Ava Tumor, B Quinn, Brother Santotes, Christopher Quinton, Emily Miller, Joel, Johnny St. Clair, Madison Lewis Bennett, Ronnie, Taylor Briggs, Tobacco Crow, Tom Beanie, Tofer Wheeler, and Vaivictus. Man, that list is getting long. And this review was a Patreon request, so thanks to them. And you might notice the sound is a little different this time, and there's also no static in the background. That's because I got a new microphone, but I'm still tweaking it a little, still trying to figure out how it works. So please just bear with me in the meantime. And thank you for watching. I'll see you next time. Bye.