This book is many things, and "good" is one of them - but at what cost? I am only half joking.

All the reviews complaining about its glacial pace and large cast of characters were certainly right, but that doesn't always have to be a bad thing. In this case, I found that it did get frustrating from time to time.

I also found the gore somewhat unnecessarily graphic, which I am personally not a fan of. And I didn't know much about Romero going in, so I kept waiting for an explanation for the zombie plague and felt frustrated when it didn't seem to be coming. It is a testament to the authors' skills that I kept reading despite all of these obstacles.

I will say that the final quarter was a bit of a letdown for several reasons, but I found it inspiring regardless. So was Daniel Kraus' afterword detailing the enormous efforts he went to in order to honour Romero's vision.

The "humanity had to be saved from itself through mass death" vibes were simply not to my liking, but look at me, giving it four stars anyway. This book is too complex to be summed up in a few paragraphs, is what it comes down to.