Dead
The Ugly Beginning

by T.W. Brown

Epic Zombie Saga

So this is the first book in a huge ten book, so far, epic saga, so I have my work cut out for me, and if you have been following my review all I need is another series to get sucked into. I was grabbed at once by the colorful and graphic covers they all have, seem to be the same artist for each which helps tie them all together. I have heard and read a lot of good things about this series and am not really sure what to expect.

If you have listened to the Zombie Fallout or the Blood Soaked series and loved the comical side of the stories, you’re not going to find much of that here. While there are funny parts Dead: The Ugly Beginning is definitely not a comedy. If you have listened to I, Zombie or the Timothy series and loved the brutality and gore, you’re not going to find much of that here either. What you will find is a meticulously intricate and well thought out zombie apocalypse story, told from multiple points of view, with a plethora of different complex and interesting characters, that explores, in my mind, several realistic scenarios and situations. All that being said there were a few completely grotesque and disturbing parts that made my skin crawl with disgust. Brown is quite obviously a fan of George Romero and Stephen King as this comes out in the many references throughout and is not a bad thing. While the book started out pretty cliché and predictable and even a tad slow, I started to think that there wasn’t going to be anything special here, but I was so wrong. Where this audiobook shines is, within a rather short period of time, when it became clear that Brown was shooting for realism, something that is missing from many of this genre. I could see myself and those that I know in the story trying to survive. I can only imagine where the rest of the books and soon to be audiobooks will take us, I can say that I cannot wait to plug in and forget all of reality.

This was my first time listening to a performance by Andrew McFerrin and he nailed this one. Dead: The Ugly Beginning call for a big booming crisp military guy narration. He gave it the subtle soft-spoken gritty charm that the main characters demanded. On the flip side, he was able to kick it up for the characters that needed it. McFerrin made me jump out of my seat when he started yelling into the mic to the situation the full emotional impact. I already have the second book to this series in my queue and am looking forward to letting McFerrin pilot my imagination.

Disclaimer: This Audiobook was provided free of charge by the author, narrator, and/or publisher in exchange for a non-bias, honest review.