At the heart of it, aren't most zombie books/movies the same? The crisis starts and the challenge becomes dodging flesh eaters while reuniting and rediscovering humanity. One of the things I love about the apocalypse is that everyone is prey. Division of sexes, ages, races, sexualities all become so arbitrary when it's human versus undead. What do people do then? Further divide or overcome difference?

This book? Cherry Twizzlers all the way, baby. You know, you eat one and it's cherry goodness, so maybe you have another because you're hungry and are working a 12 hour shift. Kind of satisfying to chomp on. And before you know it, you've eaten half a bag of licorice and suddenly feel vaguely ill, still hungry and wondering why on earth you ate all that licorice?

For a nice overview, check Andrea's review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/322571578 She's right, characterization is rather awful. There's numerous logical problems and there's a large helping of zombie tropes. Word choice was simple and at the proverbial sixth-grade level of adult eduction material. There was a terribly awkward four-way love/sex interest. And yet.

And yet I still couldn't put it down, except when I had to take a break because I was getting too apprehensive about the hordes of zombies chasing our heroines.

I guess if you include zombies, a married lesbian and a German shepherd puppy, I can forgive a lot. ( )

Sometimes there are books that clearly written by amateur and it shows in every way. The amateur side is so strong that there is no point in bashing book on that ground. BUT. Most amateur books also usually written either exceptionally badly or with so much heart that amateurish attitude becomes their greatest plus. And this book has that heart. ( )

Book 3 of my Zombie-a-thon 2022!

This started off excellently with a stressful and heartbreaking scene. Things steadily declined from there with some personality shifts that were ridiculous and annoying. I need character development in a story and enjoy the building up of relationships, however, this all moved at a laughably unrealistic pace. I know it's a zombie apocalypse story but I still want some elements to be believable. The zombie attack scenes were well written and intense. Overall though, I did not enjoy the characters in the story and the heavy focus on finding love again a matter of days after characters lost their kids and spouses to the zombie virus. Others have enjoyed this so another case of 'not for me'. More flesh eating and less swooning please. ( )

I liked how this book focused on what they went through to survive from these creatures. I didn't like the touchy feelyness throughout this book. It didn't seem realistic to me. ( )

The First Days by Rhiannon Frater is the first book in her zombie trilogy, As the World Dies. It’s been awhile since I have read a “zombie book” and I have to say that I quite enjoyed this one. I find these kind of fantasy/thrillers very good escape reading. While Frater really didn’t bring anything new to the genre, she provided an exciting, page turning story and a group of characters to root for. Two women are front and centre in this story, Katie and Jenni, and it was fun to see how they grew from terrified victims to kick-ass, gun toting, zombie bashing heroines.

The story follows Katie and Jenni as they escape from a heavily populated city and find sanctuary in a small, roughly fortified Texas town. With the men outnumbering the women, and many of the man being young and single, it isn’t long before romance breaks out. Things don’t always run smoothly however, as both Katie and Jenni are recovering from the zombie death of their spouses. While the book doesn’t end on a cliff-hanger, there are enough unsolved issues that have me looking forward to the next book.

While The First Days deals with zombies in a very familiar way, and there isn’t a lot of emotional depth to explore, I still found the story compelling enough to clear my mind of the real life difficulties we are currently facing. ( )

Pretty decent zombie thriller meets chick lit. Quick read definitley written for a movie adaptation but I'll be reading the second and third ones as well. Good job of keeping it not too gory but also keeping it realistic in terms of what we all grew up with learning about zombies. ( )

Wow. That was bad. Really, really bad. I made it 3/4 of the way through and I'm done. The main problems are 2-D characters that are supposed to be adults but behave as if they are in high school, faintly scratched out situations that make little sense (muscle tissue chewed up, but zombies are still fast until they break a bone and then they're slow), and scant description of settings.

This could have been a fairly decent book in the hands of a better writer. The idea of people who know exactly what they're looking at during a zombie outbreak could have been good - Quick thinking and immediate action could save a lot of people. Unfortunately, the story got bogged down with the immediate formation of ridiculous, immature relationships instead of letting them form naturally over time. It read like bad fan fiction. ( )

I have a lot of mixed feelings regarding this book. I have heard great things about this book and the description really appealed to me so I was excited to dive into this one. The book opens right in the middle of some rather heartbreaking zombie action and I was sure that I had made a good choice. There were some things that I absolutely loved about this book but there were other things that bothered me. It was a book that I didn’t want to put down even while I grew more annoyed with each page.

At the start of the book, Jenni is trying to get away from her husband and two young children who have recently become zombies. The imagery was very well done and I could envision those tiny toddler fingers reaching for his mother. Katie happens upon the scene in a truck and rescues Jenni. The pair has no idea what is going on or what they should do. They eventually head out of town and eventually meet other people who are just trying to survive as they are.

I thought that the zombie scenes were very well done. They were descriptive enough that I could picture everything quite well and I found them to be rather exciting. I thought that the confusion regarding the situation that some in the community seemed to have kept things really interesting and felt authentic. I liked the survival aspect of the story and enjoyed seeing the characters adapt to their changing environment.

I did have some pretty big issues with this book. I didn’t care for one of the main characters at all. I thought that Jenni was okay at the start of the book but as I read I disliked her more and more. I think that the book would have been a lot stronger without her and I have to admit that I kind of wished that she would be eaten by a zombie before everything was over. She wanted to be the only person to be close to Katie and had some rather unreasonable behaviors if Katie was in any danger. Jenni also seemed to be very focused on finding a new relationship when it seemed like she probably had a few other important things to think about.

I also had some major issues with the fact that Katie’s sexuality seemed to take over the story at times. Katie lost her wife, Lydia, at the start of the epidemic. She loved Lydia and thought that the way she mourned her was very well done. I just got so sick of all of the other characters talking about the fact that she is into women. She was doing all of these amazing things but the only thing anyone wanted to talk about was her sexuality when she just wanted to be left alone to mourn her wife. Katie’s sexuality does end up being a bit more complex which just added more unnecessary drama.

I am glad I read this one and do think a lot of readers will like it a bit more than I did. I found this to be a rather exciting zombie story with enough action to keep me turning the pages. I don’t think that I will be reading any further in the series because of the issues that I did have with the story.

Book Source: Library ( )

Really enjoyed the zombie story...I just didn't like the character of Jenni. Her jealousy of Katies friendship with others and the way she pouted about things just got on my nerves. I'll still read the rest of the series though. ( )

I have had this book for a while to read and was excited to finally get to read it. This was part of the bunch of books I got when I was in a huge zombie reading phase a few years ago. This ended up being a pretty typical zombie book. This book details the first days of a zombie outbreak and two women who struggle to survive it.

I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook was well done. It wasn’t outstanding but it wasn’t bad either.

My main complaint about this book is that after the initial rush and struggle to survive the book gets very soap operaish. There is a ton of drama about which characters are hooking up with which other characters. Of course then there is jealousy over this and infighting. I would have rather heard more about the survival aspects and the understanding behind why this zombie plague happened.

This book doesn’t explore the “why” behind the zombie attacks at all. I found that frustrating, but I assume that will be covered in future books. Towards the end of this book they start to address roving bands of brigands and thieves who are attacking the region. It becomes clear that other humans, rather than the zombies, are becoming the focus of the story.

This book is very brutal and gory and doesn’t pull any punches. If you don’t like reading about gore and brutality I would stay away.

Overall this was an okay read that is pretty standard zombie fare. I wish the book had focused less on human relationship drama and more on survival and the why behind the attacks. By the end of the book I was kind of bored with it all. I don’t plan on continuing the series. ( )

Great zombie story. I particularly liked the fact that the survivors don't know how to be in the new world and that several of the main characters are really struggling to keep their sanity in a world in which zombies roam. I also really liked the exploration of the sexuality of one of the main characters (won't say any more because I don't want to spoil the story!). Definitely looking forward to reading the rest of the books in this series! ( )

This book was not good. I mean, it started out ok, then fell apart like paper in a rainstorm.

I really thought it would be my jam. Survival, zombies, and what should have been kick-ass heroines. Alas, it was not.

I wanted to love you, book, I really did. It's probably not you based on the other glowing reviews, it's me. ( )

It's a zombie novel. It won't really mess with your expectations for a zombie novel - rather, it fulfills them. If you liked the TV series The Walking Dead, you'll probably enjoy this book.
The writing style is rather as if the author was watching a TV series and describing what happens on screen, as quickly and simply as possible. At times it's rather amateurish, and the depth of characterization doesn't go beyond what you'd expect from a TV show. The author's website notes that the story has actually been optioned for TV. I'm not at all surprised, because although the literary qualities of the book are limited, the story shows a keen sense of timing, a lot of good action, and the mix of humor and horror that every good zombie story needs.
( )

There is a reason this book was originally self-published, it's not very good. It is my least favorite zombie book with a female heroine. You may think there aren't many strong female leads in zombie books, but there are a lot.

I thought the characters (Katie and Jenni) were very contrived and forced. I don't mind at all that the main characters are a lesbian and battered wife, it's a new angle, but they were just too high school-ish in their petty relationships with each other and the men in the book. One minute they are crying and kissing each other and the next they are cursing and shooting zombies in the head; it seemed like a really bad action movie. ( )

There is a reason this book was originally self-published, it's not very good. It is my least favorite zombie book with a female heroine. You may think there aren't many strong female leads in zombie books, but there are a lot.

I thought the characters (Katie and Jenni) were very contrived and forced. I don't mind at all that the main characters are a lesbian and battered wife, it's a new angle, but they were just too high school-ish in their petty relationships with each other and the men in the book. One minute they are crying and kissing each other and the next they are cursing and shooting zombies in the head; it seemed like a really bad action movie. ( )

There is a reason this book was originally self-published, it's not very good. It is my least favorite zombie book with a female heroine. You may think there aren't many strong female leads in zombie books, but there are a lot.

I thought the characters (Katie and Jenni) were very contrived and forced. I don't mind at all that the main characters are a lesbian and battered wife, it's a new angle, but they were just too high school-ish in their petty relationships with each other and the men in the book. One minute they are crying and kissing each other and the next they are cursing and shooting zombies in the head; it seemed like a really bad action movie. ( )

This was my first ever zombie read and I absolutely loved it. Jenni and Katie become sisters-in-arms, developing an unbreakable bond in the face of the zombie holocaust. I was envious of their friendship. They came from very different backgrounds, their old lives lost and embark on new ones together and in Jenni’s case with a completely new personality as a crazy risk taker. Their survival was more about luck than skill, it was horrifying to see good people die so quickly and easily.

After reading this, for the first time I wished I lived in a gun-toting country. I want a gun, make that “guns”, plural, and a never-ending supply of bullets. You know, just in case.

My Favourite Bits
The zombie old man outside the library clutching “Better Sex After 60″

Juan to Travis about Katie:
“Ever see Chasing Amy?”
“No.”
“Eh, you’re fucked”
“Yeah.”

Juan to Jenni:
“Dropping from the harness is real loca, Loca. What if you had missed and hit the spikes?”
“Um, you would miss me?”
“Yeah, right.”

Mike's ominous "...the black man always gets it"

The fact that Jenni's mixed race: her mother was Mexican, dad Irish so she can speak Spanish.

Katie's bisexuality. ( )

That was good and bad. ( )

The First Days (As the World Dies, #1) Ever since reading Feed by Mira Grant I have been strangely drawn to zombie fiction. (Thank you Wendy, Maja, and Michelle) This is especially strange considering that I'm usually pretty squeamish and blood and guts fiction has never been my thing. While I'm still not a fan of the gore, for some reason, I seem to enjoy stories about how people survive in a world gone completely insane. The First Days certainly fits in that category with a sizable helping of the gory bits included. The First Days begins by traumatizing the reader into a state of frozen terror by describing how a woman is watching her 3 year old's bloody fingers scrabbling under the door in an attempt to get to her and goes on to explain how the woman had earlier walked in on her husband consuming the child in his crib and she wonders how there was enough left of him to make it downstairs since her husband has always been known to have a big appetite. With such an insane beginning, I was repulsed by the story and also intrigued with where this author could possibly go from there. While I don't believe The First Days had the emotional impact of Feed, it definitely held my interest from start to finish. The rest of the book didn't exactly fulfill the promise of that first chapter, but there was no shortage of zombie action either. The fast moving plot and well written female characters made up for the fact that the male characters, other than Jenni's stepson Jason, were pretty meh. I also felt like there were a lot of unnecessary explanations about Katie's sexuality. Jenni and Katie's weird bond was fascinating but the stand-out character for me was Narit, who fascinated me for some reason. The First Days is a blood soaked crazy look at how chaotic a zombie apocalypse can be. I absolutely enjoyed this from beginning to end and am looking forward to reading the second in the series. ( )

The First Days (As the World Dies, #1) Ever since reading Feed by Mira Grant I have been strangely drawn to zombie fiction. (Thank you Wendy, Maja, and Michelle) This is especially strange considering that I'm usually pretty squeamish and blood and guts fiction has never been my thing. While I'm still not a fan of the gore, for some reason, I seem to enjoy stories about how people survive in a world gone completely insane. The First Days certainly fits in that category with a sizable helping of the gory bits included. The First Days begins by traumatizing the reader into a state of frozen terror by describing how a woman is watching her 3 year old's bloody fingers scrabbling under the door in an attempt to get to her and goes on to explain how the woman had earlier walked in on her husband consuming the child in his crib and she wonders how there was enough left of him to make it downstairs since her husband has always been known to have a big appetite. With such an insane beginning, I was repulsed by the story and also intrigued with where this author could possibly go from there. While I don't believe The First Days had the emotional impact of Feed, it definitely held my interest from start to finish. The rest of the book didn't exactly fulfill the promise of that first chapter, but there was no shortage of zombie action either. The fast moving plot and well written female characters made up for the fact that the male characters, other than Jenni's stepson Jason, were pretty meh. I also felt like there were a lot of unnecessary explanations about Katie's sexuality. Jenni and Katie's weird bond was fascinating but the stand-out character for me was Narit, who fascinated me for some reason. The First Days is a blood soaked crazy look at how chaotic a zombie apocalypse can be. I absolutely enjoyed this from beginning to end and am looking forward to reading the second in the series. ( )

Don't Mess With -- BRAAAAAAAAINS!!!

The Zombocalypse has arrived, and survival is as much a matter of dumb luck as it is skill and cunning - a fact quickly established in the first few pages of The First Days. Texas prosecutor Katie is on her way to work when the traffic procession in which she's stuck is swarmed by a group of the undead. Katie barely manages to escape with her life, thanks to an older gent in a pickup who sacrifices his meat suit for hers. Katie races home, only to find her beloved wife Lydia eviscerating the mailman. She takes off in confused horror, and serendipitously crosses paths with Jenni, a long-suffering housewife whose abusive husband Lloyd has just made a meal of their children. In a very Thelma & Louise moment, the two women embark on a road trip, traversing the rural Texas countryside in search of Jenni's surviving stepson, Jason, and a safe place to call home.

The First Days: As the World Dies is a solid enough zombie story that, for whatever reason, stopped just short of sucking me in. The story - a kind of cross between The Walking Dead, The Zombie Survival Guide, and every Romero movie ever made - primarily focuses on the tenuous task of rebuilding while swarms of zombies continue to beat down your door. The logistical planning - of which there's more than a little - didn't interest me so much, but I loved the many pop culture references. Frater's obviously a huge fan of the genre. Originally self-published, the Tor reprint maintains some of that indie feel (and not in a bad way). Puzzling, though, are the many punctuation errors that managed to make it into the new version: missing periods, spaces both before and after periods, etc.

The book's real strength is in its diversity of characters. Katie is a bisexual woman who, at different times and for different reasons, leaves people to their assumptions that she's either heterosexual or a lesbian. Frater explores the hateful attitudes, harassment, and even violence directed at gay women, as well as the discrimination leveled at bi persons from both the straight and gay communities. Through Jenni, Frater also shines a light at the dynamics of interpersonal violence. Katie and Jenni form a swift and strong bond that, while far from flawless, offers a positive example of female relationships. The cast is ethnically diverse as well: Nerit is a former female Israeli sniper; Juan and Belinda are Mexican-American; and, if I'm not mistaken, the city manager Max is African-American. (I'm starting to wish I'd bought the ebook - a Kindle search function would come in mighty handy right now.) Frater isn't afraid to place "a heroine in the hero's role" (in Jenni's words) - or multiple heroines, as the case may be.

I cringed when she introduced Jake the dog - but (spoiler alert!) the dog doesn't get it! Or at least not in this first volume of the trilogy. I can't exactly vouch for Fighting to Survive or Siege.

I'm on the fence about the rest of the series: The First Days took a rather dark and jarring turn in the final few pages that grabbed my interest. The rest of the book was a quick and entertaining read, but probably not something I'll revisit in the future.

http://www.easyvegan.info/2014/01/08/the-first-days-as-the-world-dies-by-rhianno... ( )

Amazzzzziiinnnggg!!!!
Totally loved it. I got really caught up with the story and the characters. Some zombie books tend to get kinda far-fetched this book,however, kept it believable. It felt REAL. I never found myself thinking this is a bit overboard.I wanted to give this a 5 star so badly but I felt I had to stick with my rating rules and there were a few spelling errors and a few instances of the author repeating things that I already knew that got on my nerves. Kinda a pet peeve of mine..If ya told me, then I already know it. Soooo even though I had to give this a 4, after reading I immediately put the others on hold at my local library and can't wait to continue the series. ( )

The First Days
By Rhiannon Frater
Publisher: Tor
Published In: New York City, NY, USA
Date: 2008
Pgs: 335

Summary:
The first day of the outbreak. Terror, disinformation, run for your lives. A zombie attacks your car. You fight it off. You find a woman racing into the street with a zombie chasing her. You and your new best friend set off to try and find safety. The apocalypse is upon you. Where are you going? What is life? What is love? Why?

Genre:
fiction, horror, life quest, zombies, apocalypse

Why this book:
Zombies. And it has been on my list ever since it came out. And it’s zombies in the Texas countryside. I’m in.

This Story is About:
courage, survival, one foot in front of the other, friends, sadness, family

Favorite Character:
Ralph and Nerit in their hunting store, off the main roads, in a small Texas town. She a former Israeli sniper; he, a shopkeeper, former mayor of the small Texas town, and postmaster. Good characters.

Least Favorite Character:
Mr. 6-Figures Douche. He and his sports car didn’t have such a good trip into the city.
Add the rednecks in the fort.
All of them are villains and you’re not supposed to like the villains.

Character I Most Identified With:
I like Ralph, a lot. And Jack the dog. Course with the way these stories usually go, I don’t have high hopes for either of them being around for the end of the story.

The Feel:
The loss of control, the putting one foot in front of the other mode of survival

Favorite Scene:
The first 20 pages of this story are pedal to the metal and one of the grossest zombie scenes I’ve ever seen or read. Makes me a bit oogie. Love the fast zombies vs. slow zombies explanation slipped into the opening big scene.
The convenience store scene when they stop for gas.
When the red pick up comes to the gate in the closing chapters.

Settings:
The city, the road, the cab of the truck, the hunting store, the wilderness area summer camp site, the Ashley Oaks construction site(awesome zombie survival site idea)

Pacing:
breakneck. It does slow down when we make it to the Ashley Oaks site, but I believe this is just a catching of the breath and a coming to grips vignette against the larger zombie apocalypse.

Plot Holes/Out of Character:
Some stuff is left for the next book in the trilogy.

Last Page Sound:
I’ve got a smile on my face as I finish this. But I wish I knew what happened to the characters beyond the last page.

Author Assessment:
Definitely earned a look at everything that has her name on it.

Editorial Assessment:
Tightly done.

Disposition of Book:
Irving Public Library, Irving, TX

Why isn’t there a screenplay?
Hopefully when there is, the lessons of World War Z not having jack or shit to do with the book gets taken into account.

Casting call:
I’d like to see Mark Harmon in the role of Ralph.
Considering the story’s Texas-centric storyline, I’d love to see a scene where Chuck Norris being Chuck Norris is shown cameoing as Chuck Norris. It’d be a great nod to geekdom and internet fandemonium.

Can this book be broken down into a pop culture cliche:
Thelma and Louise with Zombies

Would recommend to:
genre fans, horror enthusiasts, zombiephiles ( )

The First Days (As the World Dies, #1) Ever since reading Feed by Mira Grant I have been strangely drawn to zombie fiction. (Thank you Wendy, Maja, and Michelle) This is especially strange considering that I'm usually pretty squeamish and blood and guts fiction has never been my thing. While I'm still not a fan of the gore, for some reason, I seem to enjoy stories about how people survive in a world gone completely insane. The First Days certainly fits in that category with a sizable helping of the gory bits included. The First Days begins by traumatizing the reader into a state of frozen terror by describing how a woman is watching her 3 year old's bloody fingers scrabbling under the door in an attempt to get to her and goes on to explain how the woman had earlier walked in on her husband consuming the child in his crib and she wonders how there was enough left of him to make it downstairs since her husband has always been known to have a big appetite. With such an insane beginning, I was repulsed by the story and also intrigued with where this author could possibly go from there. While I don't believe The First Days had the emotional impact of Feed, it definitely held my interest from start to finish. The rest of the book didn't exactly fulfill the promise of that first chapter, but there was no shortage of zombie action either. The fast moving plot and well written female characters made up for the fact that the male characters, other than Jenni's stepson Jason, were pretty meh. I also felt like there were a lot of unnecessary explanations about Katie's sexuality. Jenni and Katie's weird bond was fascinating but the stand-out character for me was Narit, who fascinated me for some reason. The First Days is a blood soaked crazy look at how chaotic a zombie apocalypse can be. I absolutely enjoyed this from beginning to end and am looking forward to reading the second in the series. ( )

Ever since reading [b:Feed|7094569|Feed (Newsflesh, #1)|Mira Grant|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1335958027s/7094569.jpg|7351419] by Mira Grant I have been strangely drawn to zombie fiction. (Thank you Wendy, Maja, and Michelle) This is especially strange considering that I'm usually pretty squeamish and blood and guts fiction has never been my thing. While I'm still not a fan of the gore, for some reason, I seem to enjoy stories about how people survive in a world gone completely insane. The First Days certainly fits in that category with a sizable helping of the gory bits included.

The First Days begins by traumatizing the reader into a state of frozen terror by describing how a woman is watching her 3 year old's bloody fingers scrabbling under the door in an attempt to get to her and goes on to explain how the woman had earlier walked in on her husband consuming the child in his crib and she wonders how there was enough left of him to make it downstairs since her husband has always been known to have a big appetite. With such an insane beginning, I was repulsed by the story and also intrigued with where this author could possibly go from there.

While I don't believe The First Days had the emotional impact of Feed, it definitely held my interest from start to finish. The rest of the book didn't exactly fulfill the promise of that first chapter, but there was no shortage of zombie action either. The fast moving plot and well written female characters made up for the fact that the male characters, other than Jenni's stepson Jason, were pretty meh. I also felt like there were a lot of unnecessary explanations about Katie's sexuality. Jenni and Katie's weird bond was fascinating but the stand-out character for me was Narit, who fascinated me for some reason.

The First Days is a blood soaked crazy look at how chaotic a zombie apocalypse can be. I absolutely enjoyed this from beginning to end and am looking forward to reading the second in the series. ( )