Planet of the Dead: A Zombie Novel

By: John Stowers

Narrated by: Doug Cassell

Length: 6 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

In the future, NASA's first yearlong mission to Mars mysteriously loses contact with Earth. When the desperate crew of the Space Shuttle Aldrin arrives home, there are no marching bands, fanfares, or joyous reunions to greet them, only a lonely trek across a barren world.

At a darkened military base hidden in the desert, the crew stumbles upon a mystery of locked doors, disarray, and bloodstained walls. They also recover a dormant laptop, complete with a journal telling of a nightmarish pandemic sweeping across the planet.

Where society once rushed to and fro in the fast-paced and unceasing rat race of the early 21st century, the crew of the Aldrin now finds a world that shambles along on a crumbling highway, littered with desperate characters, flesh-craving zombies, and maybe, if they are lucky, a few living survivors.

Welcome to Earth.... Or by its new name, the Planet of the Dead.

©2010 John Stowers and Living Dead Press (P)2015 John Stowers

Bad performance killed this for me

Bad audio performance. Too bad cause it's a good book I read it a few years ago. But the narrator is boring. He's not enthusiastic, Like he'd rather be elsewhere. A much better narrator should have been used. This was a poor choice on the part of audible. They dropped the ball here.

This is easily another do it, do it now selection!

I have been looking at this selection for quite some time and never really could get to the point of pushing the Select button.. I was between books and trying to have something to occupy my time. The story descriptions doesn't do it justice; this was an interesting perspective of the zombie experience that absolutely kept my intresr from beginning to end.

Awesome book!

What made the experience of listening to Planet of the Dead: A Zombie Novel the most enjoyable?

Everyday on my commute was story time in my car.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Planet of the Dead: A Zombie Novel?

The battle of Dallas

Have you listened to any of Doug Cassell’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

In a world plagued by the undead, every day is a struggle to live another day.

Any additional comments?

This book needs to be made into a movie or TV series.

Fun book, enjoyable listen.

I like the way the story and characters developed, although a couple of them seemed a bit rushed. Good progression through the overall story with a nice set up for the second story. I also really liked the narration and the ability of the narrator to shift trough the character "voices". Well done! I like that it was and a bit different from the usual zombie apocalypse stories. Cheers!

Grab the Popcorn....

So I'm a returning reader from the paperback version and I was just curious to see what this book sounded like in audiobook form. It was really good for my long airplane flight and kept my interest for the whole time.

I don't really like most action/thriller novels or movies because they usually don't suspend the disbelief for that long. But this book, even though the prospect is sort of outrageous (20 years in the future astronauts return from Mars and find the whole planet has been consumed by a zombie apocalypse), it's done with enough research that you can believe it. This probably shows up the most in the spacecraft landings, which come with lots of detail, and also zombie forensics, etc.

When I saw another review mention weak female characters, I sort of understood. A lot of the female characters who always registered as smart and tough in the book weren't really narrated as well as they could be. Salgado, who came off as pretty BA on the page, is narrated with a breathy, weak voice that's always sort of languid. There are also some explicit scenes, like the "clubhouse", that are harder to skip over in the audiobook version.

But the narrator did a great job with the villain and I really enjoyed him a lot more than I was planning on. Some paragraphs/sections towards the end might work better in a different order but that was about it. If you're the kind of person who likes a good storyline but with absolutely grounded research this is a good one.

Boring and monotone

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

If you like strong female characters don't read this one! However, none of the characters really stood out. Not sure what could have been done to change the tone of read.

What could John Stowers have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

I didn't like the voice of the narrator and as mentioned before, not all women are victims or need saviors.

Would you be willing to try another one of Doug Cassell’s performances?

No

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Boredom and surprise at the high school level of characterization.