Dreadlocksmile review:First published in 2009, ‘The Breathing Dead’ was Aaron M. Esmonde’s debut release, tapping in to the recently reawakened popularity of the zombie subgenre. The book is a short novella that proudly pays homage to George A. Romero’s contribution to the subject matter.
From the outset the reader is thrust head first into the desperate post-apocalyptic action of a world overrun by the undead. The principal characters of Sam and Jane (no surnames given) are quickly set down, detailing their independent places within this terrifying new world.
Sam, an ex-lorry driver, has been holed up in a deserted school for a number of months, surviving the terrors that are rampaging through the streets outside on his own. Jane, an ex-military scientist responsible for developing a cure behind the genetic make-up of the zombie virus, soon meets up with Sam as she stumbles across the reasonably secured premises of the school.
Sam, after being cooped up in the school for too long, decides to leave the relative security of the building in search of a more stable community of survivors. His frantic search leads him to a fellow survivor named Jack who has struggled through hell to stay alive so far.
Meanwhile, the military are playing out their futile last days in command with a final rescue mission to secure the life of the vice president. When the mission appears to fall to pieces, Frank Marshall falls back on some final and rather drastic measures in attempt to limit the numbers of the undead.
Sam, Jane and a remaining member of the renegade group named Karen are caught up in the military’s final measures. Survival it turns out is not just about keeping out of reach of the flesh eating zombies...
Running for just 69 pages, ‘The Breathing Dead’ is a remarkably short novella that manages to cram in a tonne of action whilst steering itself through a well constructed storyline. Esmonde does not let up on the pace from the moment the first zombie is slaughtered, maintaining a non-stop race through the decaying streets now overrun with the undead.
Characterisation throughout the novel is weak to nonexistent. Obviously somewhat limited by the short length of the tale, Esmonde has opted for a more entertaining storyline rather than being bogged down with a more character driven tale. This does affect the supposedly sentimental deaths within the novel, that deliver little to no impact whatsoever on the reader.
The writing style is clumsy throughout, with a number of annoyingly obvious grammatical errors that throw the reader out of the storyline on each occurrence. For such a short novel, some further proof reading was desperately needed to keep the novel flowing without these annoying errors.
As the tale gets underway, Esmonde frequently loses track of the need to build up a scene with description, which leaves the reader feeling thrust outside of the tale once again. Whole sections of the tale become clumsy and poorly constructed, as if the story was merely sketched out in places.
For an debut release Esmonde has done well , obviously taking on a subject matter that he takes a great amount of pleasure writing about. The actual storyline is very unoriginal, simply pandering towards a fanbase that often lap up similar post-apocalyptic scenarios.
All in all, Esmonde could have played around with the ‘rules’ behind the recently risen undead, to add a flare of originality which would have allowed his novella to stand out from the pack. Instead we are left with another zombie tale that merely plays out the usual zombie tale storyline in an attempt to please the average fan of the genre whilst satisfying the authors own love for the undead. However, Esmonde has produced a very fast paced and action packed novel which will at least keep you entertained for a solid half-hour or so.
Also included within the book, no doubt by way of bulking it out whilst also hopefully whetting the appetites of the readers, are snippets from two potentially forthcoming novels. The two tasters are for ‘You Are the Final Version’ and ‘To Die a King’. The first of these is a sci-fi horror cross-over with an intriguing post-apocalyptic nature surrounding it. The scenario is set within this nine page snippet, offering up a glimpse into the potential for a well thought out and entertaining read.
The second excerpt is less promising, with Esmonde finding himself bogged down in establishing the initial premise for the tale. The character roles and general plot establishment is set down in a clumsy fashion, taking the reader away from the tale within the first few pages. Esmonde completely fails to capture the reader’s imagination at all from this overly complex scenario breakdown, offering up a weak and counterproductive eight page taster for what could ultimately be an enjoyable novel.
Like with the main tale, these two snippets are littered with grammatical errors that show an amateurish and poorly executed publication. Hopefully, if these tales ever see the light of day, then the proof reading will be given a more thorough process.
The book as a whole runs for a total of 110 pages and was first published through K & A Books.
(according to his Facebook page) 