Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I started this book hoping for a continuation of World War Z, and at first I really thought I'd found it... but by the time I got halfway through Chapter 4 it was clear that I wasn't going to get it. Max Brooks was told, in no uncertain terms, by his publisher that deciding to set the outbreak in China was going to cause problems for it - and for him - in the future, if for no other reason than that it would all but guarantee a ban on the book in the mainland. The fact that he based it on the SARS outbreak (and the CCP's poor handling of it) actually made things worse, not better, in that regard, despite how much more realistic and believable the story became thereby. Keith Taylor was clearly cowed by that possibility, and instead rewrote the book so that the outbreak started in Russia - and specifically because of Putin's own policy decisions. But I could handle that - it was still a believable scenario, and I could roll with it. Then, however, came Chapter 4. Writing about contemporary politics in a novel intending for general audiences is always tricky to do. The temptation to write your political enemies as awful people barely concealing their awfulness behind a public mask will always be there, coloring your narrative decisions - but the moment you give in, you break immersion for people who don't share your politics. The safest route is always to avoid politics entirely - something Brooks mostly did in WWZ - but if it can't be avoided it is *paramount* to be even-handed in your depiction of people meant to represent the opposing side. And Chapter 4 proved that Taylor was unable to do this. Worse, he does it in such a way that it feels like he was actually taking shots at his opposition - that is, at Republican voters. Let's ignore the fact that both of his examples are hilariously wrong - it's worse than that, actually: the second example is so far wrong that I can quote Democratic politicians *at the time he was writing this* speaking directly against his examples. The fact is that neither of the claims he's making here are in any way necessary to the plot of a zombie story, and it is unwise to include them in the context of "it's just this character's opinion!" for the reason I gave; as such, *the only reason an author would include them would be to take shots at his political foes.* I'm done with this book, and I don't recommend it for anyone who isn't a partisan Democrat. The only writing sin Keith Taylor doesn't commit here is naming real politicians - and he might do that later on in the book... *Scratch that* - he makes his character directly quote President Trump. It's not quite the same as directly *naming* a real politician, but quoting one (in a similar context, no less!) is close enough for my taste. I'm done, and I probably won't read much further from Keith Taylor - if he can't control his political urges as a writer, I don't think I'll get much out of his work in the future.