Book Review: Dust of the Devil's Land by Bryan Killian

Dust of the Devil's Land by Bryan Killian

258 pages

Published November 2016 by Grand Mal Press

I have to start with some disclosure. The first time I met Bryan Killian he handed me a tattered and and worn copy of my novel Boot Boys of the Wolf Reich and asked me to sign it. Always a great way into a writer's heart, Bryan and I have shared two publishers now, but we approach our novels very differently.I plan and outline in detail, and BK just goes for it. I really enjoyed His short stories in the San Diego Horror Professionals and consider his Vol.1 story to be the best of collection. So I love the guy.

This novel is a follow-up to BK's debut on Deadite press Welcome to Necropolis, a very traditional zombie novel that uses the standard zombie tale tropes like a power cord on a guitar. These types of zombie novels are sorta like AC/DC riffs, they are not complicated, or ground breaking but often powerful. I am not against zombie novels (hell I wrote one myself)but I tend to like the entries that break new ground like M.R.Carey's The Girl with all The Gifts for example. Certainly you actually see the word zombie anywhere.

Dust Of the Devil's land is a Zombie novel with a capital Z. It is certainly one that with be popular and enjoyed by the traditionalists who can't get enough zombie books. It has excellent moments peppered thought-out highlights include a flashback to the early moments of the outbreak for a substitute teacher. All the marks of a a zombie novel are met, government intervention gone wrong, the stress of being locked away (a convention center) and the struggles to survive.

To me the biggest negative of this novel is the idea of two young boys riding out the apocalypse in a tree house is fantastic, but the boys leave the tree house so quickly that the concept is still largely unexplored. The Characters are engaging, the writing is good all around but it comes down to this. Are you burned out on zombies or are you in the can't get enough camp?

Killian is a good writer,and a better person so me personally I am ready to see him move past zombies. He showed growth as writer from book one to his follow-up, now I can't wait to see where he goes next.