'Death Hulk' - Matthew Sprange (Review and Giveaway!)

Zombies on the high seas! Now there's a line I probably won't get to use too often...
Captain Havelock's 'Whirlwind' is dispatched from Spithead to hunt down and capture the French warship 'Elita' which has been sinking British merchant shipping. However, once the 'Whirlwind' makes it to the coast of Africa it becomes clear that they are being hunted and not by the 'Elita'. Captain Havelock must face a deathly enemy from the deep who is determined to make him pay for the sins of his Grandfather...
Abaddon Books deliver a swashbuckling tale and horror and honour, like 'Pirates of the Carribbean' with an '18' certificate. You can almost hear the plummy accents of the British Officers and the zombies are suitably evil (although they're talking zombies again, I'd like to see some zombies that don't talk for a change). There are some gripping sea battles and Sprange shows that he is an author who isn't afraid of doing his research. While I saw the final scene coming, it was dragged out such that it was a very tense few pages leading up to the climax. Room is left for a sequel and I would certainly be interested to see what happens next (if it does).
The only issue I had was that, for a relatively short book, the zombies didn't show up until about halfway through. While this lends more authenticity to the opening chapters, zombie fans may feel cheated out of 'zombie time.'
Overall though, another worthy addition to the Abaddon library, the 'Tomes of the Dead' series is swiftly turning into one of my favourites.

Seven and a Half out of Ten


Win 'Death Hulk' and 'The Words of Their Roaring'!

You like free books and I'm pretty sure you wouldn't turn your nose up at free zombie books... Well, thanks to the good folks at Abaddon Books I have copies of 'Death Hulk' and 'The Words of Their Roaring' to give to one lucky person. I enjoyed them both and I reckon you will too.
Fancy it? All you have to do is send an email to graemesfantasybookreview@(no-spam)yahoo.co.uk (remove the 'no spam' bit) telling me who you are, where you live and what forum(s) you frequent. I'll let you know who won next Tuesday...
Good luck!