The Devil's Plague
Author(s): Mark Beynon
Publisher: Abaddon Books
Publication Date: 2007
Name of Reviewer: Mark ‘Wally' Wall
Review: Oliver Cromwell made a pact with the Devil, who gave him a demon army, called the Kryfangan, in return for his soul. The Kryfangan, in turn, helped out Mr. Cromwell with fighting his battles against the Royalist army, led by Charles Stuart, who is the heir to the throne. The only catch is, that the people they kill don't stay dead for very long. The risen dead have a hatred for humanity and their makers and it's down to Charles and his merry troupe of thespians to clear up the mess Cromwell has left behind. The Devil's Plague is a very historically accurate affair and ties in nicely with The Great Plague of 1665 and other notable events of that era. It also progresses to a great twist at the end, set somewhere in the 1940's.
This book is a nice, un-taxing, read and can be devoured in a weekend, but this doesn't detract from the fact that it's a good romp and a nice bend on the zombie genre.
Zombie Fear Factor: 3 Brains out of 5
The zombies in this story are relentless in numbers and although there is the added fear of the Kryfangan looming over Charles Stuart's head, there is no point in the book where I thought the characters were in a truly dangerous situation. As it's such a short book, the fear factor is hard to build up; when in the next chapter everything is hunky-dorey again. As this is related to a certain point in history, if you're savvy with your Civil War era knowledge, you can kind of guess the outcome of the book from half way through.
Zombie Behaviour: 4 Brains out of 5
These are definitely your common, all garden, Romero type zombies. The shambling works when there are masses of them. They don't talk, they don't use tools and the only thing that's driving them on is hatred. With guns not as widely available in the sixteen hundreds, apart from the odd musket and flint lock pistol, swords, flails and axes seemed to be the weapon of choice for our rag tag band of actors and blows to the head would finish off a zombie indefinitely. As with the Kryfangan; these were more demons/horsemen of the apocalypse types and it took a lot more to take them down.
Zombie Threat: 5 Brains out of 5
The Great Plague wiped out millions of people and with this story being directly linked to that, I can safely say that the zombie threat was at its highest. They swept through villages and towns and killed all who crossed their path. Charles' ‘army' are a strong knit group, who manage to stick together and come up with a plan to eradicate the threat of the zombie hoard.
Gore Content: 2 stars
Gore Content: 2 Brains out of 5
The Devil's Plague doesn't concentrate on the gore so much. It's more about the way the story ties in with historical events. There are a few gory scenes, but nothing compared to Words of Their Roaring. Although the gore content is low, this does not detract from the story at all and pretty much slips by unnoticed.
Overall Quality: 4 Brains out of 5
I would buy this book, as it gives a great new perspective on the zombie genre. The Tomes of the Dead series seem to be a brilliant source of material for the zombie novel fan and take the walking dead to a new level of creativity. As always, I would recommend this book to a fellow zombie fan, as all works of zombie should be enjoyed and shared. Abaddon Books seem to know what they are doing with the Tomes of the Dead series and I'm looking forward to my next delve into their catalogue.
Back to the Book Reviews Page...
