Book Review:On Her Majesty's Behalf: The Great Undead War: Book II by Joseph Nassie

On Her Majesty's Behalf: The Great Undead War: Book II (The Great Undead War #2)

by Joseph Nassise

Paperback, 336 pages

Published December 2nd 2014 by Harper Voyager

First things first let me get this out of the way this is the second book in a series and normally I would never start a story in the middle but I jumped at a review copy of this novel because I have been interested in Joesph Nassie's work. I met him briefly during his time as president of the horror writers association and knew his work was well regarded.

It would be easy to dismiss this novel as fitting several genre publishing trends at once. Yes, It is a alternate history zombie steampunk novel. That sounds like it could be super cheezy but it is not. Nassie pulls it off.

I consider this novel to be a great crossover between a Alistair MacLean (Guns of Navarone) novel meets zombie apocalypse. Set against the great war (WW I to us) this novel finds under seige from zombie hordes created by German chemical weapons.

Madman Major Burke is our hero and he is given the job of getting into zombie occupied London to rescue the royal family. There are two styles of zombies Shamblers and Shredders.

This short novel is rare case where I could have handled another hundred pages. The pace is great, the action fast and the vibe feels like a War mission novel when it needs to, and a horror novel when it needs to feel like that. It is well written and seems well researched.

I recommend this series to readers who like adventure fantasy and libraries should have this available for younger readers. They will love it. I intended to go back and read the first book and will be in line when the next one comes out.