Review: Maybe 4.5
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 16, 2012
I am a huge fan of Living with the Dead.  But instead of five stars I'm going with 4.5 for the latest book.  No spoilers.Let me tell you what I love about the series: fantastically real characters whose initial WTF reaction to zombies becomes panic, fear, courage, resolve, determination, fear again, hope, ingenuity, rage, well, you get the picture.  Joshua narrates the gamut of human emotions and really makes you feel what it would be like.I also love the details of coping: learning to fire guns, making arrows, sharpening weapons, creating ways to protect the body during hand to hand (first attempt involves duct tape!  Later they learn to create armor from aluminum and plastic). We see them learn to hunt, butcher and smoke meat.  And once the Cheerios and canned stuff is gone, to farm and raise animals.  All the while dealing with inevitable conflict among the group, marauders who represent the worst of humankind, finding other survivors, and, yes, the undead.Another thing I love is the undead.  There are fascinating changes among the zombies, so even they keep you enthralled.  And there are just so many interesting quirks, that unlike many zombie books, movies, tv programs, are explained as best the survivors can explain.  Electricity?  Solar panels and windmills.  Computers?  Sure, the  people at Google are holed up in California and  keeping everyone online!So why am I docking this book half a star?  Because after so many blog entries complied into four books now, we get Josh's philosophy of life, changing as it is.  Be good to each other.  But if you have to kill people who threaten your community, then kill them.  Do what it takes to survive, even kill first ask questions later.  Then spend some time wondering if you have lost yourhumanity.  Then decide, no, you had to do it.  Then discuss with wife, friends, other survivors.  Then decide everyone deserves a second chance. Well, maybe not everyone.  But maybe they do.All this musing is to let us know that Josh has not lost his humanity, and it's great that he asks these questions of himself and of his community, but more than I need to read.  I confess I hit the next page button pretty fast on some entries.  Also confess thatsince I was off work this week I re-read 1 and 2  before I read 3 and 4, so it could just be LWTD overload.Will I buy book five?  Absolutey.  I want, I need, to know what will happen next.  The people in these survivor communities have come to matter to me.Last thing, somebody in TV land or Hollywood ought to option these books!