Review: A horrifying, heartbreaking and unforgettable new vision of a classic tale
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 30, 2014
It was inevitable that at some point in a series called “The Zombie Bible,” which imagines zombies as a part of everyday life in Bible times, the subject would turn to Jesus, who both raised someone from the dead and was himself raised from the dead. It was bound to happen, but at the same time that’s no easy feat. How do you portray Jesus’s interaction with the living dead in a way that’s neither overly preachy nor some schlocky “Jesus versus zombies” gimmick?Author Stant Litore took that risk in No Lasting Burial, the fourth novel in his Zombie Bible series, and in the process has delivered a truly unforgettable story. He basically gives us two overlapping events here – a small fishing town dealing with the aftermath of a zombie outbreak that devastated their lives in a profound way, and the story of how Jesus met his earliest disciples. Both stories are equally powerful, for very different reasons. Here is a town with a decimated population, literally starving to death, and with everyone carrying either (or both) physical or mental wounds, struggling with how to survive, how to treat outsiders, and how to treat each other. Then there’s a stranger who draws the dead to him like moths to a bonfire, and who possesses powers and visions from God. It’s fascinating, even to a jaded atheist such as myself, to see how these fragile beings all come together to start something that will change the world.Litore already has a track record for writing moving, emotional stories that don’t overlook the horrifying zombie violence that makes the genre what it is, and he continues that in No Lasting Burial. The action is intense, as are the characters and the way they interact. It’s rare to see such a large cast of unique, fully fleshed-out characters like this, where you come to know and care about nearly everyone in the town. And his version of Yeshua, this gifted yet tormented soul with such incredible powers and burdens, is the most compelling I’ve seen since Christopher Moore’s in Lamb.This is an amazing experience. If you read and enjoyed the other books in the series, you will not be disappointed by No Lasting Burial. And like the other Zombie Bible novels, this one can be read independently without any knowledge of the other books. Though after reading it you’re probably going to want to get the rest.