Question What do you guys think about the zombie themed novels?

Discussion in 'Novel General' started by fwlm, Apr 16, 2021.

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  1. fwlm

    fwlm Well-Known Member

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    I'm here thinking of random things and I thought of a few things about zombie novels and I'd like to hear your opinion about it.

    Well, we generally have 2 types of zombies:
    The dead - Corpses that reanimates and crave food(generally human meat).
    The undead - Monsters that are born from corpses and hate the living(especially humans for some reason).

    In some novels we have:
    - Zombies appearing out of nowhere and spreading rapidly, oftentimes in all countries at the same time, which in this case I think was a premeditated attack, otherwise, things wouldn't make sense.
    - A percentage of the population suddenly dies without motive and become zombies, generally more than half. (I personally think this one is kinda unfair to those who die).

    That said, what I would like to ask is:
    What are your opinions on the above?
    Which kind of zombies do you prefer?
    What are your thoughts about the people around you dying and turning into zombies? (Especially the scenario they die without reason).
    What are your favorite/unfavorite tropes about it?
    Do you think if it happened in our world, society would collapse or we would control it with some damage made? (If the trope about a percentage suddenly zombifying happened, it would probably collapse instantly). :sweating_profusely:

    Sorry for the jumpy text and for the grammar mistakes.
    Thank you to everyone who replied.
     
  2. The Hamster Overlord

    The Hamster Overlord Mad scientist/Revered wizard/Alleged antichrist

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    Because a zombie apocalypse has to be fair, right?
    Honestly, I'd think it would depend on the zombies. If they could be killed by conventional ways: a bullet in the head and such, and if they could only spread the disease through biting, it would end up being controlled somehow, eventually. We'd likely go back to dark ages and die out slowly, but a few generations would survive and live
     
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  3. Greater thunder

    Greater thunder Well-Known Member

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    A lot of the times "zombies" are actually people struck by an exotic virus and not undead monsters at all though.
     
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  4. nightbutterfly

    nightbutterfly Well-Known Member

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    rarely read zombie novels, they're scary
     
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  5. KhayDesu

    KhayDesu ❀Rᴇᴀᴅιɴԍ Eɴтнusιᴀsт❀ | ★ᴅᴇsu~★ | ✿Loquᴀcιous✿『☕』

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    Hm~ desuu....I've played Plague Inc Premium before and there was a scenario where you get to create an apocalypse, by first starting out as an disease and you can activate it by using points desuuu~
    ~
    What i think about the world Suddenly getting infected and being annihialated in a few months is tad bit unrealistic if you ask me, this isn't the Middle Ages with swords and shields and castles and people have horrible hygiene, we have cutting edge technology, ans military prowess as a whole (if you watch recent documentaries on new weaponry you'd understand) And making a cure/ vaccine is quite realistic (as proven by recent pandemic, that as long as unnecessary politics is removed you can create a vaccine as long as you have proper funding and personnel, and procedures would be quite loose because scientists would have a lot of human test subjects)

    ~ Fuuu~~ that was tiring desu~ onto the next

    About the zombies, hmmm~ if yoh ask me which is better it would probably be
    'the dead' ofcourse if you think realistically its more plausible than the undead which is like magic itself desuu~:blob_pompom:

    ~

    MY favorite zombie move trope would be the 'DIY Customized Weaponry' where Mc takes everyday objects That you can find at an store and turn it into a zombie killing-machine desuuuu :blobhero: (I remember Alice from Resident evil using coins and loading it into a shotgun bullet and the coins act as a shrapnel)
     
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  6. fwlm

    fwlm Well-Known Member

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    Well, they aren't even given a chance.:cry:

    Indeed, unless all major cities around the world got infected at the same time(improbable unless it was an intentional attack by some world-ending organization, aliens, or some fantastical being/reason), we would most likely be fine.

    Discarding a planned attack and non-scientific means, the only way I imagine things would go wrong is if everybody on Earth was infected, but instead of dying because of infection, we would live normally but when dead, we would rise and walk around until our bodies rot, like in The Walking Dead.

    Creative MCs truly is a treat.

    Truly? I'm more of a visual person, I rarely get scared reading novels. (But get easily scared by images:blobscream::blob_teary:).
     
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  7. ToastedRossi

    ToastedRossi Well-Known Member

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    I have yet to read any zombie web novels I particularly like yet so I'll have to add a criticism instead: Chinese zombie apocalypse stories are terrible. They tend not to be about zombies, and I don't find that to be a problem as most of the good zombie stories aren't about zombies either. The problem is that they're not about people either. Instead they're just an excuse for giving modern-era people (who don't even behave like modern people) superpowers and a venue for using said powers. The only good ones I've come across are the ones that take zombie apocalypse characters and forcibly place them in a different setting (see "Heroic Wife Reborn").
     
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  8. AliceShiki

    AliceShiki 『Ms. Tree』『Magical Girl of Love and Justice』

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    I don't like zombie stories much, because they usually fall under one of two categories:

    A) Zombies are slow, sluggish and easily killable, while they only spread the virus through biting.
    B) Zombies are fast, dangerous, resilient, and might even spread the virus through the air.

    In case A, I don't think there is any threat at all. The "apocalypse" would be contained in days by the Police and Military. The zombies just don't stand a chance.
    In case B, humanity is doomed and basically the only thing that can save the main characters is good old plot armor.

    Either way, it feels like the story is extremely pointless because I either can't feel the threat or I feel like the threat is impossible to beat... So I tend to dislike them in general.
     
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  9. fwlm

    fwlm Well-Known Member

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    Well, from my reading I learned that the majority of Chinese novels that take place in the modern world are garbage. The MC is either a saint and everyone else is a devil(except some beautiful women, of course!) or a hypocritical thing that does whatever he wants and thinks himself the best.

    In the context of zombies made by a scientific means (virus and the likes), the zombies are literally dead bodies that can move and it makes sense they are this way.

    Zombie Hardcore Mode!!!

    Indeed, in the case of A, we would probably use the most radical methods possible to curb it at its earliest.
    In the case of B, chances are that resistance would only delay the inevitable.

    Right? The authors often make society fall extremely easy and fast, making the survival of the MC seems something inconceivable and if they were not the main character, they would be dead 10 minutes into the story.
     
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  10. ToastedRossi

    ToastedRossi Well-Known Member

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    I haven't had any problem finding good books set in the modern era so that's not it.
     
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  11. prasantbagale

    prasantbagale Well-Known Member

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    I love to read the novel with zombies centered theme. Any recommendations?
     
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  12. fwlm

    fwlm Well-Known Member

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    Really? Would you be so kind as to recommend a few, please? :aww::aww:
     
  13. Fluffums

    Fluffums 【R-18 Researcher】【Seeker of Moe】

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    It depends! We recently got to see a pandemic, so I would think it really depend on how it spreads... and the incubation period. The longer the incubation period for a zombie virus, the harder to curb the spread, and in the case of a long period (2+ weeks) the world would probably be decimated to the point where countries simply couldn't function anymore and smaller groups of people would have to band together in rural areas and slowly try to recover civilization. If it's a faster incubation period, like... minutes to hours from being infected to becoming a zombie, even if half the world ended up infected most countries would still be able to function as countries to an extent.

    It's trickier when you have the concept of evolving zombies, or if there's a mastermind behind the whole thing who is still active while everyone tries to deal with it, or if the leader of a given country is just incompetent to the point that he actively prevents local authorities from dealing with it properly. In fact, I think it would be interesting to see a story where it can be easily handled, but the leaders keep messing up because it's politically inconvenient to acknowledge there's a problem or be strict enough to prevent the spread, so it snowballs out of control.

    Of course, that could never happen in reality. :whistle:
     
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  14. ToastedRossi

    ToastedRossi Well-Known Member

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    I don't read all that many modern novels and I'd normally count books that are set in the 20th century as well. Still, here's a few set in the 21st century that I like:

    一路彩虹 aka. 炒钱高手在花都
    狐狸的本命年法则
    Yeah, these two books aren't translated, but at least the latter of them has a manhua so it might be more accessible to non-Chinese readers. The first is about business and high finance and it honestly has some pretty good character material. The second is a magical girl friend romance novel, and it's rarest of rarities: a romance novel written by a male writer but with a female protagonist.

    I Work Hard Every Day To Make My Husband Bankrupt
    It's a neat little comedy about the production side of the entertainment industry. It has some strong themes about fulfilling dreams and it's not nearly as silly as the premise might lead you to believe.

    After Exchanging Shadows
    This is probably the best of the acting novels I've read. It's a lesbian romance and the characters do a good job of selling the story.
     
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  15. nightbutterfly

    nightbutterfly Well-Known Member

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    both reading and visual. scary :cry:
     
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  16. fwlm

    fwlm Well-Known Member

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    Now that you mentioned it, the idea of a zombie virus with a long incubation period would be interesting. Imagine the chaos caused by not knowing if people around you are infected.

    Tricky indeed.
    And I don't know what people would do, but if the authorities/leadership proved themselves incompetent I would try and fend for myself, who knows, maybe I'm an MC and would survive.:cool:

    I hope so.:blobfearful:
     
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