Book Review: The Rising- Selected Scenes From The End Of The World

Bring on the Brian Keene love Alex! The guy is great. I've been pretty much picking up all of his stuff since I started with him. My introduction to him was The Conqueror Worms, through a co-worker. It was probably some of the most fun I've had with a book in a long time, and I agree that it's probably his best. (edit: I made my wife read it and my mom read it too. I was surprised, but they both seemed to enjoy it.) The Rising and its sequel followed, and I've also read Ghoul and Dark Hollow, and some others I'm probably forgetting. I kind of trailed off on Terminal, not because it was bad, but I think it was more because of all the cancer stuff freaking me out. Weird, huh?

Anyway, great review, and I'm looking forward to tracking that one down. It will be good to get back some zombies with him. Dead Sea was sort of a return to that and it was great, but not as good as The Rising. There were some great ideas in there though. I'm looking forward to Ghost Walk which is coming out at the very end of July.

I've been a fan of Keene ever since The Rising, and while the sequel is kinda unnecessary, I've loved The Conqueror Worm. I haven't started Ghoul (anyone read that?), but Dead Sea was fun.

I knew about the Selected scenes book, but I can't afford a limited edition at 150$, but I'll grab any available release from this guy. Glad to know it's worth my time and money!

Rich, Terminal is good?

Great review, Alex.

I'll admit to being baffled by the love for "The Conqueror Worms", however. In fact, after loving "The Rising" and enjoying "City of the Dead" (Land of the Dead riffs and all), "The Conqueror Worms" left such a bad taste in my mouth that I haven't bothered to pick up any of Keene's later works.

Am I really the only one 'round these parts that found the attempt to meld two obviously separate stories into one novel to be lazily and poorly executed?

Still, your review mightily tempts me towards picking up this new one.

That middle segment of Worms set in the city is far and away my favorite of Keane's stuff so far. Just apocalyptic as hell.

I'll definitely be picking up this new one. He's the goods.

I fucking love Brian Keene. And I must have this book now.

So it's basically a rip of 'World War Z', then?

I KNOW good horror is hard to find, by Christ ...'Brian Keene'?
If I was 14, I might agree with you.
Like when I was 14, I was introduced to James Herbert and (shudder) Guy N. Smith (the Barbara Cartland of 'horror' writers) {a book every 2-3 weeks normally}.

Have we sunk this low?

Mixed Feelings: def. (Noun) Emotions that overcome IggytheBorg at the moment he realizes there is a new Brian Keene zombie work in existence, and that it's good, juxtaposed against the emotions he feels because he didn't get to review it for CC. See also: Mother in law going over cliff in new BMW; bus full of lawyers going over cliff with 2 empty seats.

And Mattioli, I am totally with you on all counts. I liked the "main" story in Conqueror Worms, and thought the other one felt VERY tacked on & unnecessary. Overall, because I liked the main story so much, I liked the book enough to want to finish it and it didn't turn me off to his other works, though I have yet to read any besides the Rising novels & Dead Sea. Terminal's in the on deck circle, and I'll prolly finish that by the end of the week. I'll definitely be picking this one up. . . unless my brother beats me to it. Then I'll just borrow it, like I did w/ all the others. . . .

Ah. No. World War Z, while light and entertaining, is shit compared to Keene. Pure shit.

And somehow, I like the middle part of The Conqueror Worms more than the Teddy storyline, even if it's really good.

World War Z was an awesome idea, but a fucking chore to get through.

I never said I found 'World War Z' to be a great zombie 'anthology'...this merely sounds like a similar take.

Keene's good. Conqueror Worms was his first book I read and still my favorite. While disjointed it is a damn fun and exciting read. The Rising is very good also while City of the Dead is less so. I would have to say skip Ghoul if you have other books on hand to read. It's kind of like Stand by Me with a monster. It's not bad, just not as good as his other books IMHO.

Looking forward to this new Rising book, have to pick this up. Does it go into the story at all after City of the Dead? Because that is what I want to see. Not to go into spoiler territory but holy shit would I like to see the next battle (and if you read it you know who/what I'm talking about) to take place.

Apparently, one of those stories is set after the end of City. I'm also looking forward to that.

Sorry it took me a while to get back on here, but I'll agree with Alex on this one. Terminal is definitely good. It was just kind of bleak in ways grounded in reality that I guess I just didn't want to get absorbed in at the time. Also, it sets things up and gives off a vibe that makes you feel that things aren't going to end well, which I suppose is to be expected from Keene. Terminal had a bit more bite to it, for me at least (and not in a zombie-gnawing-on-your-arm sort of way). I should probably go back to it sooner or later.

More recently I really enjoyed Dark Hollow, and I'm looking forward to Ghost Walk, which seems to take place in the same area (LeHorn's Hollow). I was surprised to see some of the core events from Terminal brought up in Dark Hollow, but all of his stuff seems to have threads connecting them, whether it be the mention of Leviathan here or there, or something along those lines. getting back to Dark Hollow... there wasn't a ton of 'action' so to speak but when things started happening they happend quick and with violent fury. The saving grace with this one was the core set of characters, a bunch of neighbors. Keene did a good job of conveying their bond and making their interactions interesting.

I just looked up "Dark Hollow" on Amazon and discovered this in the synopsis:
Accordingly, I'm forced to ask: great novel or greatest novel?

Ha! If you want to have some fun, just check out some of Brian Keene's stuff in a book store and just flip open to page one and read the opening sentence of just about any of his books. He usually starts with a bang! Dark Hollow is no different. I happen to have it here in my desk so here you go:

SPOILER, ha!: It was on the first day of spring that Big Steve and I saw Shelly Carpenter giving head to the hairy man.

I have Dark Hollow to read on my plane to Seattle this weekend. Looking forward to it. His books are a breeze to read through.