Product Description

At the end of the world a handful of survivors banded together in a museum-turned-compound surrounded by the living dead. The community established rituals and rites of passage, customs to keep themselves sane, to help them integrate into their new existence. In a battle against a kingdom of savage prisoners, the survivors lost loved ones, they lost innocence, but still they coped and grew. They even found a strange peace with the undead.

Twelve years later the community has reclaimed more of the city and has settled into a fairly secure life in their compound. Zoey is a girl coming of age in this undead world, learning new roles--new sacrifices. But even bigger surprises lay in wait, for some of the walking dead are beginning to remember who they are, who they've lost, and, even worse, what they've done.

As the dead struggle to reclaim their lives, as the survivors combat an intruding force, the two groups accelerate toward a collision that could drastically alter both of their worlds.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #105687 in Books
• Published on: 2008-10-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 232 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781934861110
• Condition: USED - VERY GOOD
• Notes:
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
A thinking man's zombie novel. Paffenroth has looked beyond the initial bloodshed to what happens after the end of the world. He explores deep philosophical issues while never letting the horror fan go hungry for gore. --David Wellington, author of MONSTER ISLAND

Customer Reviews

The Dr. Strikes Again
After the author's impressive debut novel, DYING TO LIVE, I couldn't wait to get my hands on its sequel (but was prevented from getting to it sooner due to my ever expanding TBR pile).

LIFE SENTENCE picks up 12 years after the events of DTL. This time our survivors have cleared and fenced themselves into a large area just outside of a major city. The groups' spiritual leader, Milton, continues to use his supernatural gift to horde the undead into holding bins; the aggressive ones go to one area, the seemingly less aggressive to another. When Milton's protégé, Will, notices two zombies in the latter area behaving almost like "normal" humans, he soon befriends them.

Most of the novel is told from one of the intelligent zombies' viewpoint (we discover his name is Wade Truman, a former college professor who is slowly trying to remember his past life, and whose notes we're now reading). He meets an undead woman named Lucy, and together they spend their days and nights writing, reading, and playing the violin (but trust me . . . this isn't funny or cheesy in the least; Paffenroth truly develops his zombies as much as his human characters).

The second storyline the novel follows is Zoey, a teenage outcast who agrees to take her "vows" to the community. She's as deadly with a gun as she is with her wit, and eventually Will and her situations meet for a finale that's exciting, scary, and best of all, a HUGE cut above your standard zombie fare.

Paffenroth continues to explore zombies from a philosophical angle, this time bringing out the humanity of his two intelligent monsters: neither of them want to eat the living, despite it being a newfound instinct. The self-control displayed by Wade could have been a quick rip-off of "Bub" from Romero's DAY OF THE DEAD, but being this is a novel, we get to see what's going on inside this unique zombies' mind, and its more caring and understanding than most of the human survivors. (Speaking of DAY, there's one group of sleaze balls who try to ruin the party before human and zombie team up to stop them; their leader's name is Rhodes, which I'm sure is in tribute to Romero).

My only gripe is I wanted to see more of the work done by Milton, who was the driving force behind the first novel. Hopefully, if Paffenroth returns with another DYING TO LIVE, he'll go there.

Any horror fan will enjoy LIFE SENTENCE, especially those with a thing for zombies. The author's unique perspective on a post-apocalyptic, undead world puts this--like its predecessor--in its own league.

Not the zombie book I had expected but a good and thoughtful read
This is a really good book but only if you take it on its own merits and you are not expecting a typical zombie book. This book does not contain the gore, violence or aspects of survival typical to most books in this genre. Some people have left negative reviews, I think because they had expected that. While I can understand why those reviewers had done so, I think its more fair to consider the book on its own terms because the author has done an excellent job.

The previous book was really good and unique in how it explored the philosophical aspects of a "zombie apocalypse." After reading this second book, I can see how its true to the first and a logical extension. Its not the traditional survivors killing zombies in order to survive; its more of an contemplation of the meaning of survival, life and how death is now an integral aspect of life. The survivors have learned to accept this post-apocalyptic world full of zombies in a way not explored in any other book. Zombies are rounded up and placed in quarantined areas rather than being destroyed because the living survivors have chosen to show respect for the dead since they were once among the living and the separation between "life & death" has taken a whole new meaning in this world.

This book takes place twelve years after the outbreak and the group of survivors believe they are the only ones left. The story is told in journal form by two characters; one a 12 year old girl Zoey whose coming of age, and Truman, a zombie who becomes self-aware. Normally, I don't like stories written from the zombie's perspective but it's done really well here. I found myself quickly drawn in by this character as he discovers himself and the world around him. Both Zoey and Truman recount their story as they struggle to understand their role in their perspective worlds as well as understanding the meaning of other's actions.

The book and the concepts explored were interesting... other reviews have covered those better than I can here. While I enjoyed the book and appreciated the tone of humanity in this group of survivors, it did seem idealized and more optimistic of human nature. I'm not so sure we would be this reflective and thoughtful in real life. However, this society is a reflection of Milton's influence; and one can argue that a society, that is seemingly counter-intuitive to expected norms, can really exist if shaped by an egnimatic leader. In this case, Milton's influence represents the best in humanity and he was successful in shaping a society that reflects those values. For that reason, I had chosen to suspend my expectations and enjoyed this book on it's own terms.

While this book was not what I had expected or hoped for when getting it, I enjoyed it on its own terms. You can tell by reading this book that the author must be a really nice guy and introspective. He seems to see the best in people and a society. An there's nothing wrong with that since "realism" or cynicism is the far easier route to portray. I think that's a big reason I enjoyed this book.

A good book, not great, but good
This wasn't what I expected but it was okay. The writer's good so its cool.
Not enough about zombies as I would have liked, though.