Books like The Abandoned, Volume 1

So, despite the fact that I sometimes feel like I've seen it all when it comes to Zombie story lines, the cover was pretty much irresistible. That, and I had really been meaning to read something by Campbell for a while now. That said, I have to admit that the plot definitely felt a little less then original or explained. Maybe it would have felt fresher if I had read it ten years ago when it was published, but a lot of stuff is just glossed over or completely ignored. The zombies are there as a sort of "be careful what you wish for" back drop while all the real focus is on the characters.Because while it did feel a bit unbalanced at times, the characters really are worth the read. They're real people - strong and sassy to a fault - even if they aren't always the smartest people or the people best suited to survive a zombie apocalypse. This book is totally brutal, and sometimes you just have to wonder why you put yourself through it all. I believe it's just a stand alone (despite what goodreads says about it being a volume 1) but I felt like it had punched me in the gut by the time I got to the end.As far as the art goes, I really appreciated how confident everyone was in their sexuality. Despite the fact that most of the characters tend not to wear very much, it's obviously something they are fully OK with and they don't get into any "fuck me now" poses. It was also pretty cool that all the girls were different shapes and sizes and there were quite a few people of color.So if you want to see a super scientific explanation of zombies with almost super human zombie slayers this is not your book. But if you want to see a gang of sexy punk kids trying to survive as best they can against insurmountable odds you should definitely pick this up.