What: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot: Escaping the Dead by WJ Lundy
Rating: Four Zombie Heads
Where: Any device with the Audible application
Price: Free with Audible trial membership
$6.95 without membership
Before I get into the review, I should be clear up front and mention a couple of things. First, I received this copy of WTF for free from the author to evaluate. Second, this was a copy from Audible and is my first experience with what used to called a book on tape.
Let me address the second part first. I see some major pluses and minuses with the audio format. On the plus side, I was able to enjoy the book while driving around town, something that is generally frowned upon with traditional print media. Second, and this is really more about the Audible application than the audio format itself, I was able to listen seamlessly on different devices. I used my iPhone in the car, and switched to my iPod to finish the book while lying in bed Sunday morning. The app had my place bookmarked and picked up on the iPod right where I left off on the iPhone. Pretty cool.
The minuses for me are related to personal preference. When I read a book, I ‘hear’ a different voice for each character. With the audio format all I heard was the voice of the narrator, who sometimes changed his voice, cadence or accent to suit the character – but that was based largely on HIS interpretation of the character. He lapsed in and out a few times as well – sometimes the Hispanic character had an accent, sometimes he didn’t. The narrator himself had a bit of a southern whang to his voice so that further affected the characters. I found that hard to get past, though after several minutes of listening I didn’t notice it as much. Still, every time I turned it on there was an adjustment period. It’s pretty clear to me that a good narrator can make or break an Audible experience.
Outside of the format, WTF was a good story. Set in Afghanistan at the onset of a zombie outbreak, the language and descriptions of the action suck you in. It didn’t take much to visualize what was going on. When Lundy describes the car running around town shooting at zoms I had visions of action ala Blackhawk Down in my head. The chaos and action made for quick chapters, and I found myself sitting in my garage after making a food run – rather than taking the food inside – because I wanted to finish the current chapter.
The total length of the audio book was 2 hours, and I suspect I would have read it myself faster than that. While it was on the short side, it introduces a universe I want to know more about. How did it start? Was it intentional or accidental? Has it spread beyond the region in the book or is it localized to the rough and isolated terrain of Afghanistan? Most importantly, what happens next? None of these questions are answered here, which is of course designed to make you buy the next book.
Really, that is one of my criteria for rating something 4 zombie heads. If I finish the book and I want more, that’s a component in a 4ZH rating. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot ends in a spot where I definitely wasn’t ready to end the story. I definitely will be reading the next installment.
In summary, I really liked the story and I want to read more. I’m not entirely sold on the Audible format. I can see that it really has some merit, but at the same time outside of some specific scenarios like driving I don’t know that I would listen to a book over reading it. Maybe when I run…I like my music when I run, but maybe I need to give a book a try sometime while I’m staying in shape for ZPOC.
I’m on the last book so far and it is a pretty awesome read 🙂