Review: Surprisingly good
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 15, 2012
Kudos and thanks to the author for 2 things-first for a free or 99 cent zombie read that was self-contained.  A beginning, middle and end, oh my!  No cliffhangers or a promise to maybe continue the characters' stories in a sequel that might be published someday... or is already published but will cost you big bucks...And second, this book doesn't have those dozens of fake five star reviews that are now attached to most eBooks.  We all expect a few fakes (whose mama or spouse wouldn't post a good review?) but it's gone overboard.  So much so that I have lost faith in Amazon reviews and have pretty much given up doing them myself.  But this was a good read that I got when it was offered for free and the author had the integrity to not get too carried away with that dishonest route so am adding this review as a thanks and nod of respect for that.Enough ranting about my pet peeves and on to the book.  From the book title and the cover, I thought it was going to be a weird thing about gladiator zombies or something.  Didn't expect to like it but it was worth checking out for free.  Turns out "Zombie Bowls" have nothing to do with stadium events, except that stadiums would be a good platform for one of the methods of killing zombies that the main character developed.  And what a character she is.  The first half of the book is focused on this lone young woman survivor of a zombie apocalypse, who has not only developed amazing survival skills but who is determined to fight back and save the world.  Which she does very well.  Love strong women characters and "Dr. Z" is one.  She's not particularly likeable and not real believable; she is described as this tiny woman but handles fortifying dwellings with sheet metal and such.  But that's forgivable-who expects anything in a zombie book to be believable?  The atmosphere of the first half is captivating-no dialogue since there is only one character but the descriptions and action keep the story going very well.  What was that movie with Tom Hanks and the soccer ball?  It was that kind of feeling-nobody talking but still a great story.  Other survivors show up in the second half and everything changed for me into a more action and adventure/survivors of the apocalypse -type feel.  I'm all about characters and these new guys were great.  But here is where I wish the novella was longer and had more character development.  Such huge potential because each of the new guys had personalities and quirks that I would have loved to know more about and their development happened much too quickly and how they got there was brushed over.  Could have been a lot of fun to spend more time with each of them.Still overall, it was very good and entertaining.  Wish is was longer because I wanted to read more about the characters besides  May (Dr. Z.)  Not a bad length at around 2,500 locations and well worth checking out.