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Positive
The acclaimed author of Chimera and The Hydra Protocol delivers his spectacular breakout novel—an entertaining, page-turning zombie epic.
Anyone can be positive . . .
Years after a plague killed 99 percent of the population, turning them into infectious zombies, Finnegan and his family live in a barricaded New York City. But Finn's sheltered life fractures when his unsuspecting mother falls sick with the zombie disease—latent inside her since before her son's birth.
Finn, too, can be infected. If he remains healthy for the last two years of the potential incubation period, he'll be cleared. Until then, he must be moved to a special facility for positives, segregated to keep the healthy population safe.
Tattooed with a plus sign on his hand that marks him as a positive, Finn is exiled from the city. But when marauders kill the escort sent to transport him, Finn must learn how to survive alone in an eerie, disintegrated landscape. And though the zombies are everywhere, Finn discovers that the real danger is his fellow humans.
Anyone can be positive . . .
Years after a plague killed 99 percent of the population, turning them into infectious zombies, Finnegan and his family live in a barricaded New York City. But Finn's sheltered life fractures when his unsuspecting mother falls sick with the zombie disease—latent inside her since before her son's birth.
Finn, too, can be infected. If he remains healthy for the last two years of the potential incubation period, he'll be cleared. Until then, he must be moved to a special facility for positives, segregated to keep the healthy population safe.
Tattooed with a plus sign on his hand that marks him as a positive, Finn is exiled from the city. But when marauders kill the escort sent to transport him, Finn must learn how to survive alone in an eerie, disintegrated landscape. And though the zombies are everywhere, Finn discovers that the real danger is his fellow humans.
448 pages, ebook
First published April 21, 2015
About the author
David Wellington
77 books1,007 followersDavid Wellington is a contemporary American horror author, best known for his Zombie trilogy as well as his Vampire series and Werewolf series. His books have been translated into eleven languages and are a global phenomenon.
His career began in 2004 when he started serializing his horror fiction online, posting short chapters of a novel three times a week on a friend’s blog. Response to the project was so great that in 2004 Thunder’s Mouth Press approached David Wellington about publishing Monster Island as a print book. His novels have been featured in Rue Morgue, Fangoria, and the New York Times.
He also made his debut as a comic book writer in 2009 with Marvel Zombies Return:Iron Man.
Wellington attended Syracuse University and received an MFA in creative writing from Penn State. He also holds a masters degree in Library Science from Pratt Institute.
He now lives in New York City with his dog Mary Shelley and wife Elisabeth who, in her wedding vows, promised to “kick serious zombie ass” for him.
His career began in 2004 when he started serializing his horror fiction online, posting short chapters of a novel three times a week on a friend’s blog. Response to the project was so great that in 2004 Thunder’s Mouth Press approached David Wellington about publishing Monster Island as a print book. His novels have been featured in Rue Morgue, Fangoria, and the New York Times.
He also made his debut as a comic book writer in 2009 with Marvel Zombies Return:Iron Man.
Wellington attended Syracuse University and received an MFA in creative writing from Penn State. He also holds a masters degree in Library Science from Pratt Institute.
He now lives in New York City with his dog Mary Shelley and wife Elisabeth who, in her wedding vows, promised to “kick serious zombie ass” for him.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 433 reviews
July 5, 2015
Carol! I am so glad I didn't make you suffer through this with me. I took one for the team!
Oh my bleeding eyeballs, but I am very disheartened to report that very little in this book's almost 500 pages did anything for me. Despite the zombies, despite the post-apocalyptic landscape, despite the grappling, unending confrontations with human depravity and the silver threads of uncovering and recovering pieces of our humanity --- ALLLLL of my favorite things -- David Wellington's Positive still managed to bore the pants off me. Over and over again.
The prose is just too plodding, too clumsy, too eager to tell -- tell everything about everything! -- rather than ever get out of the damn way and show. The unending, unforgivable descriptions of what characters think and feel are wearying and unsatisfying. Show me dammit!! Let actions speak louder than words. Then perhaps a plodding 500 page novel can be edited into a leaner, meaner 350 pages.
Sigh. Characters are very cardboard cutout and as the hero -- Finn is just too goody-goody unbelievable to the point of being grating. As the first-person narrator his voice fails miserably doing no justice to himself, supporting characters or the novel's action. His unflagging "do the right thing never give up" attitude is sanctimonious and unrealistic as Wellington fails to balance it with anything deeper or nuanced. And then he just becomes so insufferable in his "my people" way of speaking and thinking. YOU'RE NOT MOSES, FINN, AND THIS AIN'T THE EFFING DESERT. I kept longing for the uber-dysfunctional assholery of Rick Grimes to give the story some texture and believability.
Anyway, this was supposed to be my great summer zombie read. No. Not. Negative.
Want a great zombie yarn? Read one of these:
The Reapers are the Angels
Rot and Ruin
The Girl with All the Gifts
This is Not a Test
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
And of course Kirkman's The Walking Dead
Oh my bleeding eyeballs, but I am very disheartened to report that very little in this book's almost 500 pages did anything for me. Despite the zombies, despite the post-apocalyptic landscape, despite the grappling, unending confrontations with human depravity and the silver threads of uncovering and recovering pieces of our humanity --- ALLLLL of my favorite things -- David Wellington's Positive still managed to bore the pants off me. Over and over again.
The prose is just too plodding, too clumsy, too eager to tell -- tell everything about everything! -- rather than ever get out of the damn way and show. The unending, unforgivable descriptions of what characters think and feel are wearying and unsatisfying. Show me dammit!! Let actions speak louder than words. Then perhaps a plodding 500 page novel can be edited into a leaner, meaner 350 pages.
Sigh. Characters are very cardboard cutout and as the hero -- Finn is just too goody-goody unbelievable to the point of being grating. As the first-person narrator his voice fails miserably doing no justice to himself, supporting characters or the novel's action. His unflagging "do the right thing never give up" attitude is sanctimonious and unrealistic as Wellington fails to balance it with anything deeper or nuanced. And then he just becomes so insufferable in his "my people" way of speaking and thinking. YOU'RE NOT MOSES, FINN, AND THIS AIN'T THE EFFING DESERT. I kept longing for the uber-dysfunctional assholery of Rick Grimes to give the story some texture and believability.
Anyway, this was supposed to be my great summer zombie read. No. Not. Negative.
Want a great zombie yarn? Read one of these:
The Reapers are the Angels
Rot and Ruin
The Girl with All the Gifts
This is Not a Test
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
And of course Kirkman's The Walking Dead
March 13, 2022
This is an outstanding, character driven zombie novel that gripped me from start to finish.
It's not the usual guts and gore you'd expect in the genre, but it's still very much action packed. Its focus mainly lies on the characters and their struggle to make it in a world still ravaged by a deadly virus, 20 years after it all went downhill.
We follow Finn, a "positive" who is kicked out of his home in New York, as he sets on a quest to find his place in this messed-up world and the struggles he encounters along the way.
Highly recommend to all fans of zombie tales, especially if you don't mind a bit more brains and heart instead of blood and gore.
It's not the usual guts and gore you'd expect in the genre, but it's still very much action packed. Its focus mainly lies on the characters and their struggle to make it in a world still ravaged by a deadly virus, 20 years after it all went downhill.
We follow Finn, a "positive" who is kicked out of his home in New York, as he sets on a quest to find his place in this messed-up world and the struggles he encounters along the way.
Highly recommend to all fans of zombie tales, especially if you don't mind a bit more brains and heart instead of blood and gore.
January 18, 2016
See Finn and his parents. See Finn leave New York. See Finn fight off a scary woman. See Finn meet a man traveling with young girls. See Finn fight off scary man. See Finn fail to develop worldliness. See Finn act like dumb Knight in Shiny Armor. See Finn get beat forty different times. See carol wish she could slap some sense into Finn.
Serves me right, you say. What am I doing reading zombie books and expecting great literature? Because zombies are Other, but they were people, and it is fascinating to see how authors and their characters cope with survival, identity, and fear. If you don’t think there haven’t been some great zombie literature books, then you need to read farther into the genre.
I thought Wellington would be a good novelist, as I had recently encountered his short stories in the triptych The End is Nigh/Come. I thought his stories interesting; fun, fast, and with a concept that strikes right to the heart of the Other/Us concept–people who have been exposed to zombies are put into internment camps until time runs out on the virus-exposure limits (and if that doesn’t just put you in mind of USA’s Japanese internment camps and Guantanamo Bay, then you should go look up allegory).
The plot is broken up into three major sections. There’s a brief introduction to Finn and his life in New York City, twenty years after the zombie apocalypse. He characterizes people into “first generation” that lived through the massive upheaval and everyone born after. After leaving NYC, he is rescued by a scavenger and his carload of young girls. This is the most zombie-centered section of the book, and feels a great deal like a Mad Max survivalist scenario. After escaping his rescuer, the group drives to Ohio, to the government camp. Then it is internment camp time, followed by an escape and a shot at a new life. Really, it isn’t about the zombies as much a young person’s coming-of-age in three parts. And I really think this young person needs a solid slap upside the head because he seems immune to the effects of experience.
Although I didn’t much care for Finn–he never really matured or recognized any kind of subtlety of thought–I did enjoy the personalities of the side characters. Grizzled mad Kate, faithful Ike, and Kylie, the troubled young woman, all hailed from central casting, but at least I found their realism a refreshing contrast to Finn’s persistent ignorance. Surprisingly, I rather appreciated the sociopathic side characters as well, although the fact that they were there and Finn continued to be surprised by them was irritating.
The combination of Finn’s character and the dull, point-by-point writing is what ended my interest in the story. It wasn’t bad so much as utterly boring. I literally was forcing myself to pick up the book and read. It was a challenge to figure out why I didn’t like it, because on the whole, Wellington is far more competent than many zombie-story writers (Rhiannon Frater, I’m looking at you). I believe it partly narrows down to the plodding description, Finn’s lack of introspection and a storytelling style that tends towards describing as if one is telling someone else about a movie they watched last week. It tends to follow a formula: Finn sees something. Someone explains to Finn what he is seeing. Finn then re-observes the scene with this knowledge. We move on to something else Finn doesn’t understand.
Behind the spoiler, I’m going to put some examples of the writing. They really aren’t spoilerific, but I’m avoiding the wall ‘o text, because the proof is in the puddin.'
Overall, I found it a disappointing entry into the zombie oeuvre (oh yes; I said that). Good thing The Walking Dead returns soon, so I can get my fix through television and go back to reading serious books.
October 18, 2015
I read this book in early January and it is still one of my favorite books of the year. Thought I'd add my review here to share my love. This is one of those books that you don't want it to end.
Not a zombie fan? Me neither. I enjoy Walking Dead, (not to the same degree as my teenage son), but then it isn’t about the zombies, is it? It’s about people surviving in a post-apocalyptic world, the politics and the break-down of society. The zombie killings are for the fun of it, yes? So I wasn’t thinking, yay, David Wellington's Positive is the book for me. It has Zombies in the blurb.
However, it was the book for me. Wellington has cleverly put a new spin on an overstuffed genre. There’s heart in Positive, solid characters, and a storyline that doesn’t dawdle along examining all the minutiae which bogs down some of these post-apocalyptic stories. It’s the book Walking Dead viewers should read when they still want zombies, but need a fresh take. The only thing I didn’t love about the book was that it ended. I didn’t want to leave the characters or the Positive world behind.
Positive drops us into Manhattan, where society has a certain normality about it now the zombie apocalypse is into its second generation of survivors This younger generation know nothing else except this world of struggling survival. When their parents tell them it was better in our day, it absolutely is the truth. Within Manhattan, they are fairly safe, although this zombie virus can sometimes gestate for up to twenty-one years. If you are unfortunate enough to be born to someone who suddenly turns zombie, like our protagonist Finn, whose mother goes Zombie, you are tattooed with a positive sign and segregated from the population until the expiration of the incubation period.
Finn, meant to be delivered to a camp in another state to wait out his time, has his transport ambushed. He is left alone to survive in the treacherous territory outside the safety of Manhattan. In order to stay alive, he must throw his lot in with scavengers and various people who have adapted to the constant threat of death. It’s a road trip of epic adventure and drama, as Finn realizes zombies may not be the worst enemies he must face.
Wellington is an accomplished writer with a great story to tell in the ilk of The Passage, The Road, and even Stephen King’s The Stand. For all those zombie and horror snobs, jump in to this novel and get your reading hands bloodied, so to speak. You may be surprised how enjoyable the genre is when you’re in the hands of a talented writer. I still may not be a zombie fan, but I’m now firmly a David Wellington fan.
If you are a post apocalyptic fan, this is for you even if you're not a zombie fan.
I received a copy of this book from Harper Collins for an honest review. Thank you to the wonderful book-loving people there.
Not a zombie fan? Me neither. I enjoy Walking Dead, (not to the same degree as my teenage son), but then it isn’t about the zombies, is it? It’s about people surviving in a post-apocalyptic world, the politics and the break-down of society. The zombie killings are for the fun of it, yes? So I wasn’t thinking, yay, David Wellington's Positive is the book for me. It has Zombies in the blurb.
However, it was the book for me. Wellington has cleverly put a new spin on an overstuffed genre. There’s heart in Positive, solid characters, and a storyline that doesn’t dawdle along examining all the minutiae which bogs down some of these post-apocalyptic stories. It’s the book Walking Dead viewers should read when they still want zombies, but need a fresh take. The only thing I didn’t love about the book was that it ended. I didn’t want to leave the characters or the Positive world behind.
Positive drops us into Manhattan, where society has a certain normality about it now the zombie apocalypse is into its second generation of survivors This younger generation know nothing else except this world of struggling survival. When their parents tell them it was better in our day, it absolutely is the truth. Within Manhattan, they are fairly safe, although this zombie virus can sometimes gestate for up to twenty-one years. If you are unfortunate enough to be born to someone who suddenly turns zombie, like our protagonist Finn, whose mother goes Zombie, you are tattooed with a positive sign and segregated from the population until the expiration of the incubation period.
Finn, meant to be delivered to a camp in another state to wait out his time, has his transport ambushed. He is left alone to survive in the treacherous territory outside the safety of Manhattan. In order to stay alive, he must throw his lot in with scavengers and various people who have adapted to the constant threat of death. It’s a road trip of epic adventure and drama, as Finn realizes zombies may not be the worst enemies he must face.
Wellington is an accomplished writer with a great story to tell in the ilk of The Passage, The Road, and even Stephen King’s The Stand. For all those zombie and horror snobs, jump in to this novel and get your reading hands bloodied, so to speak. You may be surprised how enjoyable the genre is when you’re in the hands of a talented writer. I still may not be a zombie fan, but I’m now firmly a David Wellington fan.
If you are a post apocalyptic fan, this is for you even if you're not a zombie fan.
I received a copy of this book from Harper Collins for an honest review. Thank you to the wonderful book-loving people there.
May 15, 2015
My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars
‘It grows in the dark part of your head like a fungus. All the while eating holes in your brain until it’s a sponge full of virus […] That was what had happened to my mom. For twenty years, ever since the crisis, she’d been dying inside. A little more every day.
And maybe it had been happening to me, too.’
Finn has lived within the sheltered gates since he was born. The world outside is a complete mystery, yet the stories he’s heard has made him thankful for his safe and sheltered life. The safety is shattered when his mother spontaneously turns and he’s forced out into the mysterious world with a new tattoo; a plus sign on the top of his sign marking him as possibly infected. His only hope is to get to the military camp in Ohio where he can live out his final two years of incubation before he can be accepted back into safety. But two years is a very long time for someone who doesn’t know how the world truly is.
The way an author handles the scientific aspects of a post-apocalyptic novel is key. Some authors handle it head on and explain in minute detail and others leave their characters in the dark and simply focus on the survival side of living in the new world. Both work, but if you’re going to attempt to explain the scientific side of things, it best make sense. In this world, it’s been twenty years since the initial outbreak and no one has seen a zombie in fifteen years. Once infected with the zombie virus, the incubation period is apparently anything from twenty seconds to twenty years. So, you get bit, you might be good only for the next hour or you could be fine for the next twenty years, but nobody knows for sure. Since the outbreak happened twenty years ago, I’m not sure exactly how they’ve been able to successfully test that theory. It also isn’t explained how the outbreak happened to begin with, so the science of Positive was definitely lacking for me. One specific line about killing a zombie by stabbing him in the liver also had me baffled. Come on! Zombies don’t give a shit about their livers.
Also lacking, was the character development. Our narrator, Finn, is an extremely naive individual when we’re first introduced. Positive acts as his coming-of-age story in a world falling apart at the seams. He’s forced to figure out quickly how to survive and how to adapt his mind to the concept of how things truly work outside of the gates of New York City. In that regards, this story reminded me a lot of Ashfall with our young, male narrator forced to adapt to the new world around him. Obviously, all that was missing were the zombies. Similarly was the fact that both stories focused on the part where humans turn into a whole other type of monster as well. The issue with Finn was how quickly he managed to shed himself of his naivety. It could be said that the things he was forced to experience could speed along that process but it just didn’t feel like genuine progression.
The portrayal of female characters was pretty appalling as well. Positive has two main female characters for the most part; one played the role of enemy and the other was meek and submissive (there was one strong female that made a brief appearance but it wasn’t enough to satisfy me in regards to the way the rest of the females were portrayed). The submissive one, well, I suppose it could be argued that she was strong in her own way and got Finn and the rest of their party out of a few sticky situations. It could also be argued that being a victim of abuse led her to this mind frame and that it couldn’t be helped but... Was it really so much to ask that we couldn’t get one strong female main character in this giant 450 page story?
Unfortunately, even setting aside the issues I personally had with Positive, what really lessened my enjoyment of this story was the fact that I have read so many stories in this same genre that were simply so much better. Positive didn’t manage to bring anything new to the genre and didn’t have much in the way of originality, but newcomers to post-apocalyptic stories will likely find more enjoyment than I did.
I received this book free from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
‘It grows in the dark part of your head like a fungus. All the while eating holes in your brain until it’s a sponge full of virus […] That was what had happened to my mom. For twenty years, ever since the crisis, she’d been dying inside. A little more every day.
And maybe it had been happening to me, too.’
Finn has lived within the sheltered gates since he was born. The world outside is a complete mystery, yet the stories he’s heard has made him thankful for his safe and sheltered life. The safety is shattered when his mother spontaneously turns and he’s forced out into the mysterious world with a new tattoo; a plus sign on the top of his sign marking him as possibly infected. His only hope is to get to the military camp in Ohio where he can live out his final two years of incubation before he can be accepted back into safety. But two years is a very long time for someone who doesn’t know how the world truly is.
The way an author handles the scientific aspects of a post-apocalyptic novel is key. Some authors handle it head on and explain in minute detail and others leave their characters in the dark and simply focus on the survival side of living in the new world. Both work, but if you’re going to attempt to explain the scientific side of things, it best make sense. In this world, it’s been twenty years since the initial outbreak and no one has seen a zombie in fifteen years. Once infected with the zombie virus, the incubation period is apparently anything from twenty seconds to twenty years. So, you get bit, you might be good only for the next hour or you could be fine for the next twenty years, but nobody knows for sure. Since the outbreak happened twenty years ago, I’m not sure exactly how they’ve been able to successfully test that theory. It also isn’t explained how the outbreak happened to begin with, so the science of Positive was definitely lacking for me. One specific line about killing a zombie by stabbing him in the liver also had me baffled. Come on! Zombies don’t give a shit about their livers.
Also lacking, was the character development. Our narrator, Finn, is an extremely naive individual when we’re first introduced. Positive acts as his coming-of-age story in a world falling apart at the seams. He’s forced to figure out quickly how to survive and how to adapt his mind to the concept of how things truly work outside of the gates of New York City. In that regards, this story reminded me a lot of Ashfall with our young, male narrator forced to adapt to the new world around him. Obviously, all that was missing were the zombies. Similarly was the fact that both stories focused on the part where humans turn into a whole other type of monster as well. The issue with Finn was how quickly he managed to shed himself of his naivety. It could be said that the things he was forced to experience could speed along that process but it just didn’t feel like genuine progression.
The portrayal of female characters was pretty appalling as well. Positive has two main female characters for the most part; one played the role of enemy and the other was meek and submissive (there was one strong female that made a brief appearance but it wasn’t enough to satisfy me in regards to the way the rest of the females were portrayed). The submissive one, well, I suppose it could be argued that she was strong in her own way and got Finn and the rest of their party out of a few sticky situations. It could also be argued that being a victim of abuse led her to this mind frame and that it couldn’t be helped but... Was it really so much to ask that we couldn’t get one strong female main character in this giant 450 page story?
Unfortunately, even setting aside the issues I personally had with Positive, what really lessened my enjoyment of this story was the fact that I have read so many stories in this same genre that were simply so much better. Positive didn’t manage to bring anything new to the genre and didn’t have much in the way of originality, but newcomers to post-apocalyptic stories will likely find more enjoyment than I did.
I received this book free from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
April 23, 2015
About 3.5 stars.
In a way, this book kind of reminded me of Julie Kagawa's Blood of Eden series but instead of vampires, we have zombies and people who have tested positive for the zombie virus. Positive is a new spin on the zombie apocalypse story. In Positive, the zombie apocalypse occurred about 20 years earlier. People live in the relative safety of walled cities. Our hero hails from Manhattan, where the subways are flooded and provide some fishing for our hero Finn and his buddy Ike. The zombie virus is also a different take on the old zombie story. Now it can take anywhere from exposure to 20 years for the zombie virus to manifest and turn a person into a snarling flesh-eating killer. When Finn's mother goes zombie, the whole family is tested and Finn is sent to a medical camp in Ohio. He doesn't get there right away because his ride is killed by a very scary lady.
Finn begins his voyage across the US looking for that medical center where all will be good. On his way he learns about the world outside Manhattan. This is a journey story and each step along the way builds Finn's character. From what he sees of the world, he knows what kind of man he doesn't want to become.
I liked Finn's character. For someone with so little life experience, he was a quick learner and even quicker to react to situations. I loved how he treated his "family" and wanted to keep the girls safe, especially Kylie. Kylie was a strong character as well considering what she had gone through with Adare.
Positive kept me reading way into the night. The last part of the book was intense and I couldn't put the book down. I look forward to reading more books by this author in the future.
Thank you to Edelweiss and Harper Voyager for a review copy of this book.
In a way, this book kind of reminded me of Julie Kagawa's Blood of Eden series but instead of vampires, we have zombies and people who have tested positive for the zombie virus. Positive is a new spin on the zombie apocalypse story. In Positive, the zombie apocalypse occurred about 20 years earlier. People live in the relative safety of walled cities. Our hero hails from Manhattan, where the subways are flooded and provide some fishing for our hero Finn and his buddy Ike. The zombie virus is also a different take on the old zombie story. Now it can take anywhere from exposure to 20 years for the zombie virus to manifest and turn a person into a snarling flesh-eating killer. When Finn's mother goes zombie, the whole family is tested and Finn is sent to a medical camp in Ohio. He doesn't get there right away because his ride is killed by a very scary lady.
Finn begins his voyage across the US looking for that medical center where all will be good. On his way he learns about the world outside Manhattan. This is a journey story and each step along the way builds Finn's character. From what he sees of the world, he knows what kind of man he doesn't want to become.
I liked Finn's character. For someone with so little life experience, he was a quick learner and even quicker to react to situations. I loved how he treated his "family" and wanted to keep the girls safe, especially Kylie. Kylie was a strong character as well considering what she had gone through with Adare.
Positive kept me reading way into the night. The last part of the book was intense and I couldn't put the book down. I look forward to reading more books by this author in the future.
Thank you to Edelweiss and Harper Voyager for a review copy of this book.
July 21, 2015
4 Stars
Positive by David Wellington was a pleasant surprise. I have truly been tired of the whole flesh eating, walking dead zombie scene. I cannot stomach another teen angst post apocalyptic puke fest. I am as turned off to the genre-gone-pop culture now, as much as I was once turned off to vampires a la Twilight. I am just bored of reading the same thing over and over again.
Wellington does this one right in that he gives us a protagonist worth routing for and a person worth caring about. Finnegan(Stones) is a young man that has his whole life turned upside down when he tests for and is subsequently marked as a Positive. A person that could one day simply zombie out. I really liked the growth that he under goes and the way we see him become a man worthy of his name. Kylie, the small female lead is also easy to identify with and she shows great growth as well.
Positive works because it is a well written story. A lot happens in this book and we are given quite a lot of backstory and world building giving this book some meat and potatoes. There are several good side characters that add to the color. I thoroughly enjoyed this book from cover to cover and was satisfied with my read. To me this is a big fat deal because I get have had my fill of the genre lately. It is easy to recommend this book.
Now a seriously long digression.
I have a serious problem with the genre. With our society. With my neighbors. And with my family and friends. Modern man...25,000 years of written record. Evolution. Expansion. Education. Humans are supposed to be an enlightened species. We are supposed to have morals, compassion, and empathy. We are supposed to be evolving and becoming more. Yet like in this book, all books, movies, television, and even the nightly news, when the shit hits the fan we immediately become something worse than the actual monsters portrayed. We kill each other. We rape our women. Fuck we rape our children. Never in these incidents are we anything less than sickening animals. I have a serious problem with this and wonder if it will ever be different. I have a serious problem believing in a real society when underneath all, we sucks.
Oh well. Sorry for that.
Positive by David Wellington was a pleasant surprise. I have truly been tired of the whole flesh eating, walking dead zombie scene. I cannot stomach another teen angst post apocalyptic puke fest. I am as turned off to the genre-gone-pop culture now, as much as I was once turned off to vampires a la Twilight. I am just bored of reading the same thing over and over again.
Wellington does this one right in that he gives us a protagonist worth routing for and a person worth caring about. Finnegan(Stones) is a young man that has his whole life turned upside down when he tests for and is subsequently marked as a Positive. A person that could one day simply zombie out. I really liked the growth that he under goes and the way we see him become a man worthy of his name. Kylie, the small female lead is also easy to identify with and she shows great growth as well.
Positive works because it is a well written story. A lot happens in this book and we are given quite a lot of backstory and world building giving this book some meat and potatoes. There are several good side characters that add to the color. I thoroughly enjoyed this book from cover to cover and was satisfied with my read. To me this is a big fat deal because I get have had my fill of the genre lately. It is easy to recommend this book.
Now a seriously long digression.
I have a serious problem with the genre. With our society. With my neighbors. And with my family and friends. Modern man...25,000 years of written record. Evolution. Expansion. Education. Humans are supposed to be an enlightened species. We are supposed to have morals, compassion, and empathy. We are supposed to be evolving and becoming more. Yet like in this book, all books, movies, television, and even the nightly news, when the shit hits the fan we immediately become something worse than the actual monsters portrayed. We kill each other. We rape our women. Fuck we rape our children. Never in these incidents are we anything less than sickening animals. I have a serious problem with this and wonder if it will ever be different. I have a serious problem believing in a real society when underneath all, we sucks.
Oh well. Sorry for that.
June 25, 2015
The premise of the book was unique, but the author chose to fill his zombie world with the worst genre cliches imaginable. You've got The Hero (alternate title of this book should be 'Finnegan Explains It All'), The Princess (a sex slave, of course, with typical rape victim emotional issues), The Castle (aka, let's steal Alexandria from The Walking Dead, wall and all, and just run with it), and in between there's a whole host of lawless baddies (including both soldiers and pirates) who only exist to pound it into your head that The Zombies Are Not the Real Monsters (hint: we are). Finn, the obnoxiously smarmy, wise-beyond-his-years-in-such-a-special-way protagonist, has all of the answers and all of the right moves, even when he doesn't or shouldn't because he is a fucking 19-year old kid who's never been out in the world alone. What he should be is dead, given the carnage he's thrust into, but oh no - instead everyone he meets looks up to him with unquestioning, wide-eyed adulation. Pedophile looters see him as the son they never had. Underage sex slaves want him to be their protector. Even his arch enemy respects him so much that they go to absurd lengths just to tangle with him over and over. Physical pain does not stop him; emotional trauma is simply chicken soup for his shiny, indomitable soul. All of his ideas are amazing, save for the token Bad Decisions that lead him into necessary Close Calls and Brushes with Danger.
Mark my words, unless you really love Walking Dead fan fiction and Marty Stu is your ultimate hero, you will hate the shit out of this book.
Mark my words, unless you really love Walking Dead fan fiction and Marty Stu is your ultimate hero, you will hate the shit out of this book.
April 25, 2015
It has been awhile since I’ve been so engrossed in a zombie book. Wellington does a tremendous job adding subtle twists to the genre while delivering increasing tension as the adventure unfolds. Not many zombie stories are about the post-post apocalypse, and I was fascinated at how this second generation of survivors survived. The concept of how the virus incubates was very clever and presented a new kind of unsuspecting horror.
I loved our main character, Finn, and the main female lead, Kylie. Very subtle character growth on both of their parts, but each scene showed change, and in the end I was moved because of the realistic and courageous way they learned to embrace life.
The short chapters were great for how easy they were to read before bed, often forcing me to read just one more, and one more. Each one, while short packed, is filled with purpose in a way that only gifted, experienced storytellers can.
I love that this book was long enough to give us an epic adventure from a walled off New York to the open wasteland of the Midwest. This is the kind of survival adventure I love. His description of zombie encounters was terrifying. I only wish there were more. The focus left zombies almost entirely midway through — maybe that was for the best, but I missed their role.
I think people who are tired of mediocre zombie fiction will love the freshness of this tale and seek out more David Wellington stories, ASAP.
I was sent a review copy as part of the HarperVoyager Super Readers program in return for an honest review. This has been the best book they’ve sent me!
Reviewed at Adventures in SciFi Publishing
I loved our main character, Finn, and the main female lead, Kylie. Very subtle character growth on both of their parts, but each scene showed change, and in the end I was moved because of the realistic and courageous way they learned to embrace life.
The short chapters were great for how easy they were to read before bed, often forcing me to read just one more, and one more. Each one, while short packed, is filled with purpose in a way that only gifted, experienced storytellers can.
I love that this book was long enough to give us an epic adventure from a walled off New York to the open wasteland of the Midwest. This is the kind of survival adventure I love. His description of zombie encounters was terrifying. I only wish there were more. The focus left zombies almost entirely midway through — maybe that was for the best, but I missed their role.
I think people who are tired of mediocre zombie fiction will love the freshness of this tale and seek out more David Wellington stories, ASAP.
I was sent a review copy as part of the HarperVoyager Super Readers program in return for an honest review. This has been the best book they’ve sent me!
Reviewed at Adventures in SciFi Publishing
December 16, 2016
I haven't much to say about this one, except it's lengthy. Or at least it feels a lot longer than one might expect. It's not that it's bad, it's just not all that captivating either. At times it could be a 2,5-3 stars read, but in the end it wasn't for me.
May 8, 2022
If I am reading scifi set on earth, I expect a semblance of recognizable science. The world building and science in Positive are nonsensical. I had similar issues with Partials (see my review). These passages are just a few that didn't work for me.
It's been twenty years since the initial outbreak. Scientists couldn't possibly know that the zombie virus will
The final straw that lead to a 1-star rating … I am beyond tired of rape and violence being used as a flimsy plot device. The world fell apart, things are really bad, but how to convey that to readers? Oh, I've got it! Let's have lawless men rape little girls! Enough. Seriously.
If you wanted to like this book, but found it lacking, you might enjoy:
✱ The Reapers are the Angels
✱ This is Not a Test
✱ Please Remain Calm
✱ The Girl with All the Gifts
If you liked this book, you might also enjoy:
✱ California
✱ City of Savages
✱ Partials Sequence
✱ In the After series
It's been twenty years since the initial outbreak. Scientists couldn't possibly know that the zombie virus will
The final straw that lead to a 1-star rating … I am beyond tired of rape and violence being used as a flimsy plot device. The world fell apart, things are really bad, but how to convey that to readers? Oh, I've got it! Let's have lawless men rape little girls! Enough. Seriously.
If you wanted to like this book, but found it lacking, you might enjoy:
✱ The Reapers are the Angels
✱ This is Not a Test
✱ Please Remain Calm
✱ The Girl with All the Gifts
If you liked this book, you might also enjoy:
✱ California
✱ City of Savages
✱ Partials Sequence
✱ In the After series
January 9, 2015
I am noticing in myself a sinking feeling - an automatic 'here we go again' feeling that until now I haven't really been able to put my finger on.
I noticed it when I read a recent John Varley novel, and then I felt it again when I was about halfway through The Rule of Three by Eric Walters and hadn't encountered a single female character who wasn't useless. I looked up the author. "Oh I see," I thought. Guy author, not young, experienced science fiction writer. (Varley I already knew. Varley is exceptionally old. His women are either Barbarella or Mamie Eisenhower, and I probably knew that going in.)
So when I opened "Positive," and saw a fairly extensive "also by" list, indicating a not-young author (who was male), it occurred to me that I might be in for more of the same. Nobody likes to admit making assumptions based on two or three data points, but when you read as much as I do you can't help perceiving patterns. And this is a pattern: male sci-fi authors over the age of 40 writing bullshit female characters.
OF COURSE it isn't universal. OF COURSE some of the greatest women of all time have been written by men over 40.
But when the slave girl turns on her master and flat-out murders his ass, saving the main character's life (or at least his balls), and then turns to him and says, "What do we do now, hero? You're our new leader," well, that author is not doing much for the reputation of middle-aged male sci-fi writers.
Otherwise, this is not bad post-zombie-apocalypse fiction. The plot has an episodic Old-West kind of structure, a little bit Firefly, a little A Boy and His Dog. Main character's name is Finn, hence slavery, journey, etc. (Although if we're doing that, this makes the slave girl Jim, and as divisive as Twain's characterization of Jim has proven over the years, replacing a black slave with a girl slave does not seem like a good choice...either.) The zombies are silent and slow and relentless. There's an underlying sense that the main character doesn't really know the score, giving the book a little vibration of sympathetic dread.
But damned if every female character is not evil, willfully helpless, or neutered by age. Frustrating.
I noticed it when I read a recent John Varley novel, and then I felt it again when I was about halfway through The Rule of Three by Eric Walters and hadn't encountered a single female character who wasn't useless. I looked up the author. "Oh I see," I thought. Guy author, not young, experienced science fiction writer. (Varley I already knew. Varley is exceptionally old. His women are either Barbarella or Mamie Eisenhower, and I probably knew that going in.)
So when I opened "Positive," and saw a fairly extensive "also by" list, indicating a not-young author (who was male), it occurred to me that I might be in for more of the same. Nobody likes to admit making assumptions based on two or three data points, but when you read as much as I do you can't help perceiving patterns. And this is a pattern: male sci-fi authors over the age of 40 writing bullshit female characters.
OF COURSE it isn't universal. OF COURSE some of the greatest women of all time have been written by men over 40.
But when the slave girl turns on her master and flat-out murders his ass, saving the main character's life (or at least his balls), and then turns to him and says, "What do we do now, hero? You're our new leader," well, that author is not doing much for the reputation of middle-aged male sci-fi writers.
Otherwise, this is not bad post-zombie-apocalypse fiction. The plot has an episodic Old-West kind of structure, a little bit Firefly, a little A Boy and His Dog. Main character's name is Finn, hence slavery, journey, etc. (Although if we're doing that, this makes the slave girl Jim, and as divisive as Twain's characterization of Jim has proven over the years, replacing a black slave with a girl slave does not seem like a good choice...either.) The zombies are silent and slow and relentless. There's an underlying sense that the main character doesn't really know the score, giving the book a little vibration of sympathetic dread.
But damned if every female character is not evil, willfully helpless, or neutered by age. Frustrating.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 2, 2015
4.6
New York City, Manhattan at leaf is still holding on. The surrounding cities are left to rot. The zombies, control them, living in the crumbling ruins. Manhattan is semi safe, not having seen a zombie in over 15 years. The island is a sort of safe zone, but still few dare to go down to street level, old fears die hard. When a young second generation boy catches a strange cockroach type thing and brings it home for dinner his whole word changes.
Positives, people exposed to the virus are sent outside the safe zone to go to a camp set up by the Government. A place where they are treated and hopefully survive the incubation period. This poor teen boy was thrown out, and his escort to the camp was dead, murdered. He takes off towards the camp where he thinks his life will be put back together. To bad his path leads him to horrors he couldn’t even contemplate. Life in the wilds, is not pretty it’s filled with survivors and most have not made it because of their kindness, it was their ruthlessness. The gangsters, murderers, pedophiles, thieves, and crazies all jockey for control.
There are some good moments, little seconds of happiness. Friendships, trust and even love still fight to find cracks in the pavement to grow and bloom. The flowers get trampled poisoned and burned but they still reach for the sun.
I loved this horror novel it was just right for this reader. I was sickened by many of the events, the characters and the truths. Just when I thought I couldn’t take anymore gloom a brief rainbow came out and I followed it. This author has won a loyal fan here.
New York City, Manhattan at leaf is still holding on. The surrounding cities are left to rot. The zombies, control them, living in the crumbling ruins. Manhattan is semi safe, not having seen a zombie in over 15 years. The island is a sort of safe zone, but still few dare to go down to street level, old fears die hard. When a young second generation boy catches a strange cockroach type thing and brings it home for dinner his whole word changes.
Positives, people exposed to the virus are sent outside the safe zone to go to a camp set up by the Government. A place where they are treated and hopefully survive the incubation period. This poor teen boy was thrown out, and his escort to the camp was dead, murdered. He takes off towards the camp where he thinks his life will be put back together. To bad his path leads him to horrors he couldn’t even contemplate. Life in the wilds, is not pretty it’s filled with survivors and most have not made it because of their kindness, it was their ruthlessness. The gangsters, murderers, pedophiles, thieves, and crazies all jockey for control.
There are some good moments, little seconds of happiness. Friendships, trust and even love still fight to find cracks in the pavement to grow and bloom. The flowers get trampled poisoned and burned but they still reach for the sun.
I loved this horror novel it was just right for this reader. I was sickened by many of the events, the characters and the truths. Just when I thought I couldn’t take anymore gloom a brief rainbow came out and I followed it. This author has won a loyal fan here.
November 22, 2015
As far as post-apocalyptic books go this is a good book. I found the world really believable. It takes place twenty years after most of the population has been decimated. So I could understand the rest of the human race's need to loot and fight each other. If you are living day by day just trying to survive and it is a dog eat world than you may have to kill just to survive as only the strongest and smartest survive.
In this book it really is the humans that are the strongest presence and not the zombies. So if you are a zombie fan than you may be disappointed with the lack of zombies. Also, I found that this book could have been shortened at about 150 pages to even 200 pages and it would have been fine. It takes a while to build up the pacing of the story. However the ending does make up for some of the lack of action.
In this book it really is the humans that are the strongest presence and not the zombies. So if you are a zombie fan than you may be disappointed with the lack of zombies. Also, I found that this book could have been shortened at about 150 pages to even 200 pages and it would have been fine. It takes a while to build up the pacing of the story. However the ending does make up for some of the lack of action.
May 23, 2015
Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy:
POSITIVE's post apocalyptic America is a scary place: walled cities that are barely surviving, a terrifying death cult moving in from the west, and endless stretches of open road with zombies at every turn. It's a wild, wild ride.
Finnegan is exiled from New York at 18, but he still feels very much like a child. He is a second-generation survivor, and he doesn't understand why the first-generation are so quick to panic. When he is thrust from the relative safety of Manhattan island into the wilds, he has a steep learning curve to deal with. I loved how little things showed how sheltered he was: thinking Ohio is two hours away from Manhattan, not understanding family pictures, and more. As he meets people, more nasty than good, he quickly learns how difficult it is to survive after the world has ended.
By the end of the book though, he has matured and turned into a leader of his fellow Positives, people who have been exposed to the zombie virus and could change at any time. His evolution feels natural and realistic, with Finn doubting himself along the way and struggling to keep this eclectic group of people together. I think what suprised me most about the book is that no matter how devastatingly horrible things got, by the time I put it down I felt really good about it. In the end, it's a pretty positive book.
Wellington's writing style is quick and chilling, with short little chapters that keep the story moving. It makes it easy to keep up with the pace. Even when there is a slower portion of the story, Finn's safety is never guaranteed. Whether he is being held by a slave driver or in the hands of the benevolent government, it's a dangerous world to live in and the pressure never lets off.
Filled with truly horrific, evil characters (other humans, honestly), POSITIVE is not for the faint of heart but is a wonderfully original take on the post-zombie world. So many books concentrate on the apocalypse; it's refreshing to see what happens when it's time to try to rebuild. Highly recommended for both zombie and post-apocalyptic lovers.
POSITIVE's post apocalyptic America is a scary place: walled cities that are barely surviving, a terrifying death cult moving in from the west, and endless stretches of open road with zombies at every turn. It's a wild, wild ride.
Finnegan is exiled from New York at 18, but he still feels very much like a child. He is a second-generation survivor, and he doesn't understand why the first-generation are so quick to panic. When he is thrust from the relative safety of Manhattan island into the wilds, he has a steep learning curve to deal with. I loved how little things showed how sheltered he was: thinking Ohio is two hours away from Manhattan, not understanding family pictures, and more. As he meets people, more nasty than good, he quickly learns how difficult it is to survive after the world has ended.
By the end of the book though, he has matured and turned into a leader of his fellow Positives, people who have been exposed to the zombie virus and could change at any time. His evolution feels natural and realistic, with Finn doubting himself along the way and struggling to keep this eclectic group of people together. I think what suprised me most about the book is that no matter how devastatingly horrible things got, by the time I put it down I felt really good about it. In the end, it's a pretty positive book.
Wellington's writing style is quick and chilling, with short little chapters that keep the story moving. It makes it easy to keep up with the pace. Even when there is a slower portion of the story, Finn's safety is never guaranteed. Whether he is being held by a slave driver or in the hands of the benevolent government, it's a dangerous world to live in and the pressure never lets off.
Filled with truly horrific, evil characters (other humans, honestly), POSITIVE is not for the faint of heart but is a wonderfully original take on the post-zombie world. So many books concentrate on the apocalypse; it's refreshing to see what happens when it's time to try to rebuild. Highly recommended for both zombie and post-apocalyptic lovers.
October 31, 2020
Too long and unoriginal. Before reviewing, I had to check and see if this was categorized as Christian fic. It isn't but probably should be, seeing as how 3/4 of it is a retelling of Moses leading his people out of Egypt to the Promised Land. With a healthy dose of The Walking Dead's hell-is-other-survivors trope, but still.
The setting is a post-zombie apocalypse America. Finnigan aka Finn, aka Stones, is living in what's left of NYC when a traumatic event exposes him to the zombie virus. Finn is now a positive, exposed but not yet zombieing out, and is thus exiled from the city and must make his way to a national medical facility in Ohio (a leftover institution from the first days after the outbreak). Thus begins the first section of this book where Finn is exposed to the cold, cruel world and learns what he's made of and what choices he can live with. The "biblical" section begins when he finally arrives at the medical facility, which turns out to be nothing more than a government internment camp where positives like Finn are enslaved into repairing military equipment. Finn inspires the positives to revolt (very Marxy of him) and becomesMoses the defacto leader of 500 people, leading them on a long and dangerous journey across the desert wastelands of America toward the promised land West. They discover a town, completely abandoned and hidden behind dense trees, with a nearby river flowing with clean water - the Land of Milk and Honey indeed. Naturally, they have to fight a religious cult who worships a golden calf Death as a god. These pagans want to destroy the settlers, just because they can't stand to leave the Good, peace loving people of the world alone.
Ultimately, this story demanded a lot of leaps of logic while asking you to overlook gaping plot holes. There's better zombie books... and better Bible retellings too, I'm sure.
The setting is a post-zombie apocalypse America. Finnigan aka Finn, aka Stones, is living in what's left of NYC when a traumatic event exposes him to the zombie virus. Finn is now a positive, exposed but not yet zombieing out, and is thus exiled from the city and must make his way to a national medical facility in Ohio (a leftover institution from the first days after the outbreak). Thus begins the first section of this book where Finn is exposed to the cold, cruel world and learns what he's made of and what choices he can live with. The "biblical" section begins when he finally arrives at the medical facility, which turns out to be nothing more than a government internment camp where positives like Finn are enslaved into repairing military equipment. Finn inspires the positives to revolt (very Marxy of him) and becomes
Ultimately, this story demanded a lot of leaps of logic while asking you to overlook gaping plot holes. There's better zombie books... and better Bible retellings too, I'm sure.
June 3, 2021
❐ Overall Rating 3¾⭐ | Narration 😍 = Amazing
❐ Narrated by Nick Podehl
❐ Listening Length: 15H 13M
❐ Dystopian
❐ Zombie Apocalypse
❐ Cult Worship
I read this one on a whim...I mean it doesn’t have the best reviews. I DNF’d a book right before this one...and the one before that didn’t really impress me too much either, and then I saw this was available...I thought, why not, I’ll give it a try. And oddly enough it actually held my attention.
It has its issues...it’s too long by far, plus there is quite a few aspects that are rather unbelievable...but it had one thing going for it...and that is Nick Podehl. His narration is amazing...he is definitely one of my all-time favs.
I also kind of liked the characters, and I wanted Finn to make it, so I was invested in his story...overall this is an interesting take on the zombie apocalypse...that was weirdly entertaining.
🅒🅐🅦🅟🅘🅛🅔 7.00/❿
🅒haracters ￫ 8
🅐tmosphere ￫ 7
🅦riting ￫ 6.5
🅟lot ￫ 6.5
🅘ntrigue ￫ 7
🅛ogic ￫ 5.5
🅔njoyment ￫ 8.5
❐ Narrated by Nick Podehl
❐ Listening Length: 15H 13M
❐ Dystopian
❐ Zombie Apocalypse
❐ Cult Worship
I read this one on a whim...I mean it doesn’t have the best reviews. I DNF’d a book right before this one...and the one before that didn’t really impress me too much either, and then I saw this was available...I thought, why not, I’ll give it a try. And oddly enough it actually held my attention.
It has its issues...it’s too long by far, plus there is quite a few aspects that are rather unbelievable...but it had one thing going for it...and that is Nick Podehl. His narration is amazing...he is definitely one of my all-time favs.
I also kind of liked the characters, and I wanted Finn to make it, so I was invested in his story...overall this is an interesting take on the zombie apocalypse...that was weirdly entertaining.
🅒🅐🅦🅟🅘🅛🅔 7.00/❿
🅒haracters ￫ 8
🅐tmosphere ￫ 7
🅦riting ￫ 6.5
🅟lot ￫ 6.5
🅘ntrigue ￫ 7
🅛ogic ￫ 5.5
🅔njoyment ￫ 8.5
March 26, 2016
Overall, an excellent end-of-the-world thriller. Lots of smart things to say about the way civilization falls apart and then potentially gets reborn.
July 29, 2015
[SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST 120 or so PAGES]
This is a terrible book. The story is exciting, I'll give it that. And the setting started out promising but then devolved into the most tired sensationalist tropes about post-apocalyptic worlds and the wild people who inhabit the unreclaimed countryside outside the safe places.
The worst thing about the book is the characters and how they react to the main character. The main character is such a Marty Stu--he is a soft city boy who's never seen a zombie or fought in his life and when he gets attacked in the wilderness by one of the most feared road pirates, manages to fight his way away (cutting her in the process, which she later tells him no man has ever managed to do before??). Then he gets taken in by the most respected of the "looters" who scavenge the abandoned country, who for some reason decides that this pathetic kid he found treed by some zombies is going to be his son-figure and immediately starts protecting and helping him, even sacrificing his dignity to save the kid when he screws up.
Then there are "the girls"--the teenagers that this looter guy carts around with him. The main character first sees them as all the same, scared little dull-eyed kids, and though he says he later came to know them as individuals, there was no evidence of this in the 100+ pages I managed to read. They are differentiated only by name and by the fact that one of them is the littlest; when one of them died, I had no idea whether she'd even been mentioned before. The narrator never even tells us how many there are. The one exception, of course, is the inevitable love interest, who is a mysteriously broken girl who volunteers her life story in their very first conversation (leading with "I was raped."). It's distressing how /immediately/ the main character's feelings toward this girl go to romantic, especially when she is probably still a teenager and he's like 20 years old. Not saying it's an impossible age range but she's part of a group of child sex slaves that includes 12-year-olds and, when the main character sees them as basically all the same person, the fact that he's interested in boning one of them is troubling.
But the author probably didn't think that logic all the way through--because he didn't appear to have thought about any of the main character's other choices or attitudes. He uses the main character, who was raised in a sheltered city safe zone, as a tool to introduce the readers to this exciting wild uncivilized setting through newcomer's eyes and to make sure the readers are as shocked as they should be at all the brutalities here. The main character's naivety is clumsily done and unbelievable. He's /surprised/ when the looter he's riding with picks one of his girls to have sex with that night; like dude, why else did you think he was carting around a bunch of teenage girls? /I/ knew what was going on from the moment the narrator said there were girls in the backseat. And for someone who was raised in a post-zombie world, hearing stories from the "first generation" who were alive when everything went to hell (and who he bashes all the time for still being traumatized, while his own generation is much better adjusted), the main character is ridiculously scandalized every time any of the typical apocalypse things happen. AND YET the main character and his protector are clearly more civilized and smarter than all the other looters, who are obsessed with collecting fancy clothing and decorating their trucks to look scary, etc. etc.
Everything culminates when one of the faceless girls gets bitten by a zombie (after a fierce fight in which the main character, despite having frozen up useless in just about every other action up to this point) and has to be shot. The main character LOSES HIS SHIT at this and is furious at the looter. I REFUSE to believe that a kid who grew up in a world where 99% of the population are still zombies, where his community has such strict anti-infection protocols that even someone who is POSSIBLY EXPOSED to the virus is cast out immediately, would think of the act of shooting a girl whose face and arm have been half chewed off by zombies before your very eyes as anything but a logical necessity. Not only is the main character mad about it, but later on when the looter is punishing the main character for insubordination, Love Interest comes in, tells Looter he was wrong to shoot the obviously infected girl, and shoots him, screaming "pedophile" at him (which she is clearly bothered by but up to now had accepted as a matter of course). Then she frees Main Character and tells him "You are the leader now."
And that's where I said "I can't do any more of this."
This is a terrible book. The story is exciting, I'll give it that. And the setting started out promising but then devolved into the most tired sensationalist tropes about post-apocalyptic worlds and the wild people who inhabit the unreclaimed countryside outside the safe places.
The worst thing about the book is the characters and how they react to the main character. The main character is such a Marty Stu--he is a soft city boy who's never seen a zombie or fought in his life and when he gets attacked in the wilderness by one of the most feared road pirates, manages to fight his way away (cutting her in the process, which she later tells him no man has ever managed to do before??). Then he gets taken in by the most respected of the "looters" who scavenge the abandoned country, who for some reason decides that this pathetic kid he found treed by some zombies is going to be his son-figure and immediately starts protecting and helping him, even sacrificing his dignity to save the kid when he screws up.
Then there are "the girls"--the teenagers that this looter guy carts around with him. The main character first sees them as all the same, scared little dull-eyed kids, and though he says he later came to know them as individuals, there was no evidence of this in the 100+ pages I managed to read. They are differentiated only by name and by the fact that one of them is the littlest; when one of them died, I had no idea whether she'd even been mentioned before. The narrator never even tells us how many there are. The one exception, of course, is the inevitable love interest, who is a mysteriously broken girl who volunteers her life story in their very first conversation (leading with "I was raped."). It's distressing how /immediately/ the main character's feelings toward this girl go to romantic, especially when she is probably still a teenager and he's like 20 years old. Not saying it's an impossible age range but she's part of a group of child sex slaves that includes 12-year-olds and, when the main character sees them as basically all the same person, the fact that he's interested in boning one of them is troubling.
But the author probably didn't think that logic all the way through--because he didn't appear to have thought about any of the main character's other choices or attitudes. He uses the main character, who was raised in a sheltered city safe zone, as a tool to introduce the readers to this exciting wild uncivilized setting through newcomer's eyes and to make sure the readers are as shocked as they should be at all the brutalities here. The main character's naivety is clumsily done and unbelievable. He's /surprised/ when the looter he's riding with picks one of his girls to have sex with that night; like dude, why else did you think he was carting around a bunch of teenage girls? /I/ knew what was going on from the moment the narrator said there were girls in the backseat. And for someone who was raised in a post-zombie world, hearing stories from the "first generation" who were alive when everything went to hell (and who he bashes all the time for still being traumatized, while his own generation is much better adjusted), the main character is ridiculously scandalized every time any of the typical apocalypse things happen. AND YET the main character and his protector are clearly more civilized and smarter than all the other looters, who are obsessed with collecting fancy clothing and decorating their trucks to look scary, etc. etc.
Everything culminates when one of the faceless girls gets bitten by a zombie (after a fierce fight in which the main character, despite having frozen up useless in just about every other action up to this point) and has to be shot. The main character LOSES HIS SHIT at this and is furious at the looter. I REFUSE to believe that a kid who grew up in a world where 99% of the population are still zombies, where his community has such strict anti-infection protocols that even someone who is POSSIBLY EXPOSED to the virus is cast out immediately, would think of the act of shooting a girl whose face and arm have been half chewed off by zombies before your very eyes as anything but a logical necessity. Not only is the main character mad about it, but later on when the looter is punishing the main character for insubordination, Love Interest comes in, tells Looter he was wrong to shoot the obviously infected girl, and shoots him, screaming "pedophile" at him (which she is clearly bothered by but up to now had accepted as a matter of course). Then she frees Main Character and tells him "You are the leader now."
And that's where I said "I can't do any more of this."
July 22, 2016
Another YA zombie book, with noble heroes and bad people doing bad things to them. I found this to be pretty gritty in parts, though, above the typical YA glossings, and I appreciated the Mad Max feel to the first traveling sections. I also liked how the main character, Finn, never gave up and persevered against all odds to do what he thought was right, even if it was the "stupid" choice. It wasn't the most realistic portrayal of survival but it was engaging.
August 20, 2015
Joanie. Joanie. Joanie. And Tasha. Dystopia's finest. This is a good one. Sometime I thought I wanted to linger where he was a bit longer "to see what it was like" but in the end...yes. Not a literary work if genius but GREAT apocalypse stuff. Read soon. Very worthwhile.
June 13, 2023
DNF 30%
Yawn fest.
Yawn fest.
November 24, 2015
3.5 Stars
Anyone who knows me, knows that I will read just about anything that grabs from the blurb and cover. Positive was one of those and I was thankful to be given an arc of this book.
Positive is a post-apocalyptic book. Twenty years after the virus and zombies took over the world. Two generations left in the world - 1st generation (those who were able to live through it all) and 2nd generation (those who born after it and expected to continue on).
We follow Finn through his journey once he is kicked out of his area and was to be sent to a medical camp. Only that doesn't happen and he is forced to figure out the world as he never knew and how to survive it.
I enjoyed reading about Finn's journey and everything that he and his "band of misfits" are forced upon after some unsettling instances. However, at times I felt the writing was too mundane and dragged on a bit. But overall, it showed how the characters progressed and survived everything they came upon.
Do not expect a whole lot of zombie appearances but there are some. This book is more about the perseverance of a young boy thriving through the most difficult times. While the character development was lacking a bit, you still grasp what they writer is trying to portray. You will still find yourself turning pages and wondering what happens next.
It was good story. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.
Anyone who knows me, knows that I will read just about anything that grabs from the blurb and cover. Positive was one of those and I was thankful to be given an arc of this book.
Positive is a post-apocalyptic book. Twenty years after the virus and zombies took over the world. Two generations left in the world - 1st generation (those who were able to live through it all) and 2nd generation (those who born after it and expected to continue on).
We follow Finn through his journey once he is kicked out of his area and was to be sent to a medical camp. Only that doesn't happen and he is forced to figure out the world as he never knew and how to survive it.
I enjoyed reading about Finn's journey and everything that he and his "band of misfits" are forced upon after some unsettling instances. However, at times I felt the writing was too mundane and dragged on a bit. But overall, it showed how the characters progressed and survived everything they came upon.
Do not expect a whole lot of zombie appearances but there are some. This book is more about the perseverance of a young boy thriving through the most difficult times. While the character development was lacking a bit, you still grasp what they writer is trying to portray. You will still find yourself turning pages and wondering what happens next.
It was good story. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.
June 1, 2016
Predictable junk. A blight (among many) on zombie fiction, with a hero who only makes noble decisions, and villains who can only be terribad.
I'm not exactly sure how books like this continue to be written. Who wants to read a story where the hero makes only noble decisions? Who wants to write a book like that?
Young Finn is intelligent beyond reason, with wisdom beyond his years. At one point this sheltered boy has the novel idea of "we need to store some seeds", something that even his "team of gardeners" didn't think of... because, you know, he's the hero and it would never occur to a "team of gardeners" that having seeds to plant things might be a good idea.
The irony of the book is that the real zombies in the story are the author's supporting characters who don't do anything except make Finn look really smart and accomplished by their abject stupidity. He's smarter than the looters, the crime bosses, the separatists, the guards, the government... even his gardeners!
In the end, even his lone "bad" decision in the book is both noble, and as we later read, actually the correct decision, because, of course it is.. he's Finn.
It reads like a YA novel, with characters that would appeal to a 12 year old reader, but the author loves to throw in adult language, rape, murder etc. to make it seem like it's written for adults.
It's predicable drivel on a page.
I'm not exactly sure how books like this continue to be written. Who wants to read a story where the hero makes only noble decisions? Who wants to write a book like that?
Young Finn is intelligent beyond reason, with wisdom beyond his years. At one point this sheltered boy has the novel idea of "we need to store some seeds", something that even his "team of gardeners" didn't think of... because, you know, he's the hero and it would never occur to a "team of gardeners" that having seeds to plant things might be a good idea.
The irony of the book is that the real zombies in the story are the author's supporting characters who don't do anything except make Finn look really smart and accomplished by their abject stupidity. He's smarter than the looters, the crime bosses, the separatists, the guards, the government... even his gardeners!
In the end, even his lone "bad" decision in the book is both noble, and as we later read, actually the correct decision, because, of course it is.. he's Finn.
It reads like a YA novel, with characters that would appeal to a 12 year old reader, but the author loves to throw in adult language, rape, murder etc. to make it seem like it's written for adults.
It's predicable drivel on a page.
May 7, 2015
This was just plain bad.
Seriously, one of the most comically horrible pieces I have ever read.
The best way to have made it bearable is to have ended it on the first page.
The only thing that was worse than the writing was the characters in the book. And NEVER have I been turned off by the protagonist more than by what was in this.
I know it's a zombie book..., well no it wasn't really..., it was a survival book...., well no it wasn't that either and to be honest I ain't sure what the hell kind of book it was...., but back to my point I know it was a book that was suppose to be an apocalyptic zombie survival book and therefore some leaps in imagination and intelligence must be made by the reader to get into it - but in this book you couldn't fly a plane across the reality canyon.
Seriously. Stay well away.
Seriously, one of the most comically horrible pieces I have ever read.
The best way to have made it bearable is to have ended it on the first page.
The only thing that was worse than the writing was the characters in the book. And NEVER have I been turned off by the protagonist more than by what was in this.
I know it's a zombie book..., well no it wasn't really..., it was a survival book...., well no it wasn't that either and to be honest I ain't sure what the hell kind of book it was...., but back to my point I know it was a book that was suppose to be an apocalyptic zombie survival book and therefore some leaps in imagination and intelligence must be made by the reader to get into it - but in this book you couldn't fly a plane across the reality canyon.
Seriously. Stay well away.
October 8, 2018
Hackneyed, derivative garbage. Adds nothing new or novel to the genre. Borrows from many other better novels, and probably most telling, from the Fallout game series for (originally) computer and later consoles (specifically Fallout: New Vegas). The ‘play-style’ of the protagonist is ‘paragon of virtue,’ despite growing up as the second generation in a dystopia. Not even a slightly crooked bone in his body, even to the point of absurdity. Ended up skimming a lot because it was just so terribly predictable. Glad I picked it up at the library. The writing is also bad; it makes the last dud I read, ‘The Fireman,’ by Joe Hill (which was also terrible) seem good. Bad luck lately!
October 3, 2016
I was torn between "OK" and "I like it" for this book, but, in the end, I don't think I ever really cared about thr characters. Sure, I was rooting for them and appreciated the growth.
June 16, 2024
A decent zombie book but I have read better ones. The main character was likable but I was a bit bored. Okay read!
April 27, 2020
This is an okay novel, but nothing spectacular. It’s just a nice way to spend a couple nights listening to. It came out of the shoot Like gangbusters, but it really lost steam at the end.
Nick Podehl is the narrator for the audiobook and he was wonderful at his job.
3 stars
Nick Podehl is the narrator for the audiobook and he was wonderful at his job.
3 stars
July 23, 2017
Usually when you come across a zombie story, it takes place during the outbreak or maybe a few years into it. Positive is the story of the zombie apocalypse decades after it wrecked havoc on humanity. Finn has no clue what it was like out there in the world when the zombies started popping up. He doesn’t know what it’s like to fight of hordes, be terrified all the time, or watch people get attacked. He grew up in a city that’s well protected from zombies. They grow their own food, and lead a normal life. However, when his mom suddenly becomes a zombie, Finn’s life is forever changed. Since the zombie virus can remain dormant for up to 20 years, they have no way of knowing whether of not his mother came in contact with the virus before, during, or after her pregnancy with Finn. So, to be on the safe side, the authorities tattoo Finn’s hand, marking him a “positive” to let others know that he may be infected, and they ship him off to a positives only camp. However, when he goes to meet the government escort, they’re dead, and Finn is left to navigate the hostile world alone, in the hopes of surviving long enough to find the camp.
Like I said, usually you read about a current zombie outbreak, or maybe something that is relatively recent. However, you have generations that were around before there were areas that could contain it’s population and keep the zombies out. Then you have Finn’s generation who are completely oblivious to what’s going on in the world. So, needless to say, Finn comes across some very unpleasant things while on the road. He comes across road pirates, looters, military who treat him like the scum of the earth, and has some harsh realities thrown in his face. It took a while for Finn to grow up and stop being naive but I was proud of the progress he made by the end of the story.
I don’t want to say too much and give away all the key points of the story but I will say that the final conflict of the novel was very well written. Normally you have this huge build up throughout the whole book and then when the moment finally comes, it’s over in the blink of an eye. The author took his time playing out the final scene, it went on for chapters. It was very well thought out and I really like the fact that he took the time to really give it the attention and detail it deserved because you knew the story was building up to this moment.
I have actually had this book sitting on my shelf for a couple of years now and I feel bad that I haven’t read it sooner. I’m not a huge zombie person and I wasn’t overly sure if I’d ever be in the mood for a novel where a kid walks through Zombie-land for hundreds of pages. However, it kind of has more to do with humanity and who he comes in contact with, than it did the actual zombies. Don’t get me wrong, they were still there, but I was always more afraid of the living characters than the undead ones. I think because of that, I was really invested in the story.
Like I said, usually you read about a current zombie outbreak, or maybe something that is relatively recent. However, you have generations that were around before there were areas that could contain it’s population and keep the zombies out. Then you have Finn’s generation who are completely oblivious to what’s going on in the world. So, needless to say, Finn comes across some very unpleasant things while on the road. He comes across road pirates, looters, military who treat him like the scum of the earth, and has some harsh realities thrown in his face. It took a while for Finn to grow up and stop being naive but I was proud of the progress he made by the end of the story.
I don’t want to say too much and give away all the key points of the story but I will say that the final conflict of the novel was very well written. Normally you have this huge build up throughout the whole book and then when the moment finally comes, it’s over in the blink of an eye. The author took his time playing out the final scene, it went on for chapters. It was very well thought out and I really like the fact that he took the time to really give it the attention and detail it deserved because you knew the story was building up to this moment.
I have actually had this book sitting on my shelf for a couple of years now and I feel bad that I haven’t read it sooner. I’m not a huge zombie person and I wasn’t overly sure if I’d ever be in the mood for a novel where a kid walks through Zombie-land for hundreds of pages. However, it kind of has more to do with humanity and who he comes in contact with, than it did the actual zombies. Don’t get me wrong, they were still there, but I was always more afraid of the living characters than the undead ones. I think because of that, I was really invested in the story.
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