I'm a huge fan of Diana Gabaldon, but I have got to learn patience and stop messing around with her Lord John Grey novels and short stories. Except for The Scottish Prisoner, which did feature my favorite fictional crush, I'm always left disappointed and a bit baffled as to why I even pick these books up to begin with. However, I was kind of excited to read this short story. Gabaldon's books are usually rooted in reality, I wanted to see how she would explain zombies.
This short story was very disjointed. The mystery and it's resolution were lack luster and underwhelming like the whole plot was forced together under the premise of zombies to fit some unidentified, unknown unifying topic*. I felt the characters where forced into situations that they would normally run away from. And while I think I understand how the zombies were created, the odd situations the characters were placed in, the lack of resolution to the murder and the un-zombification of people left me disappointed.
Overall, "A Plague of Zombies" gets a thumbs down from me. The one plus, on my Nook, the story is only 64 pages long, the remaining pages are the title page, author's notes and an 11 page sneak peek at Written in My Own Heart's Blood, the long awaited 8th book in the Outlander series. The first part of the excerpt picks up right after Jamie returns to Philiadelphia. And includes a delightfully awkward confrontation between Lord John and Jamie regarding Lord John's relationship with Claire. Can't wait for June!
"A Plague of Zombies"
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The Scottish Prisoner
Buy The Scottish Prisoner from Amazon.com
Written in My Own Heart's Blood
Pre-Order Written in My Own Heart's Blood from Amazon.com
*This novella has been a part of a couple anthologies according to Gabaldon's web site. Perhaps surrounded with other like tales, it would make more sense.