Ship of the Dead

Omega Days, Book 2

By: John L. Campbell

Narrated by: Richard Ferrone

Length: 12 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

In the weeks following the Omega Virus outbreak, survivors form desperate clusters, uniting to defend against hordes of the walking dead. But they can only hide for so long…

Father Xavier Church never wanted to be a leader. Nonetheless, he’s grown attached to his fellow survivors, and he won’t let anyone cause them harm - though he may be the one who inadvertently leads them to destruction.… Ex-con Bill Carnes may crave freedom, but he still prefers sticking with the group rather than fleeing to Mexico with his former cellmate TC. Maybe he’s changing. Or maybe the look in TC’s eyes is more dangerous than the undead.… EMT Rosa Escobedo gave up on hope after she watched the man she loved rise from the dead. But when a patient seems to start getting better, she can’t help but hope for a cure, even if it means risking her life.… As the numbers of the dead swell, the living are running out of safe havens - especially when the biggest threats lie within their own ranks.

©2014 John L. Campbell (P)2014 Recorded Books

Not a Complete Audible Series!!!

nothing like buying 3 or 4 books in a series to find audible does not have the final book and no plans to get it. FML

Ship of the Dead isn't the ship on the cover

The ship on the cover is a tanker or container ship. That's not the ship this book is talking about. The paperback version at Amazon has a battleship on its cover. But that's the wrong ship too. So I won't reveal which ship it is since the publisher seems to have gone to great lengths to hide the fact. But its a very good choice of ship!

So anyways, yeah, I felt the first book was too broken up by the many different groups and their stories so here they finally meet up. But of course they are now on a ship and of course they should all split up so the same thing happens here, tons of mini adventures and people you barely knew die. I have to say though, just before they died I got to know them, so was a bit upset when they seemed to die unnecessarily. I mean really? Go into the labyrinth corridors of a ship and split up to hunt zombies? Face palm. At one point they do just stand at a door way and call the zombies to them, but really, why didn't they do that from the start?!

But the plot is thicker here, I got time to like the characters and hate the treacherous ones. The book feels more complete, especially, since it was all wrapped up nicely, thanks for doing that Campbell. And thanks for saving my favorite characters, I thought they were goners! I'll buy your next book.

Great!

I couldn't stop listening, I was totally hooked. I definitely recommend the Omega Days series!

I wasn't 100% on board at first

The writing was dialed up to 10 then radioactive acid pumped into its veins. Excellent writing

Wow - Campbell does it AGAIN!

Easy to say.. these books are an absolute thrill to read! Campbell is now my favorite author.

Great sequel in a 4 part series

Author did a great job bringing everything together. Again, great well-defined characters, great storyline, and great local color of the Bay Area. You really get to know these characters and care about them. There are some wonderful moments as the characters get to know each other. The action sequences are just about right and it propels the novel along. There are some idiotic moments that seem out of character for the main characters, but I can let that slide. However, I dropped a few points for the uninspired villain stereotypes.

Narration was above average. This is a narrator to watch or listen to.

Original, different, human, detailed

Book 2 in a series which I hope will continue. Character development and character diversity is excellent and quite unlike most other zombie novels. It reminds me a bit of the Spanish writer Manel Loureiro and his Apocalypse Z series translated into English. So what is typical is the mix of people who find themselves thrust into survival at the end of the world - everyone from a group of hippies to ex-cons to nice suburban people and the trials they face. What is not typical is how the author really develops them so you have an appreciation for who they are e.g. a struggling priest who questions his faith during sort of an extended dark night of the soul, a struggling young deaf woman, a Russian helicopter pilot who desperately misses his own family (and this is where Loureiro comes in as a character reference, for me at least), two hard-bitten convicts, a disgraced televangelist and slew of others. Not so many that you get lost but enough so you really want to know about them. There are some showdowns in this book between various characters which are probably too interesting to relate here as they would probably reveal too much. I liked the narration as well. There was a lot of attention to detail that I appreciate too. Often many narrators are just reading text and still manage to make mistakes that affect the quality of the book. I didn't find that here. So for whatever this recommendation is worth, I heartily recommend this book and now I wait with bated breath for the next installment.

The tradition continues

John Campbell’s zombie story continues to impress. The same comments I made regarding the first in the series is applicable:

The narration while not RC Bray quality is still very acceptable. Narration was still slow and was best listened to at 1.5x speed. The main difference between this one and the first is this story line moves a lot faster, it introduces new elements physical/spiritual dimensions. The addition of the ship and natural disasters also adds a greater impact to the listener.

I found the ending of this title interesting. It is one of those endings which delivers enough closure for this to be the end of the series, or it could just as easily continue. Personally, I do hope it continues, but I would prefer less of the spiritual influence. However, some people love that sort of stuff, just not me.

If you are looking to dabble your feet into the zombie genre, this series is highly recommended!

OK with the stereotypes

It's understood that in this books world, stereotypes are wrong. Write the story without constantly being politically correct