XOM-B

February 24, 2014
In the prologue, set in 2052, of this solid zombie thriller from Robinson (Island 731), 10 attack helicopters wipe out unarmed protesters near Manhattan’s Grand Central Station in what’s billed as a preemptive strike intended to kill them “before they even think about killing us.” Delaying the reveal of who exactly is attacking whom works, and the mystery continues as the action moves forward a year and a scientist steals a vial with a virus that could kill billions. The main action, set in 2074, focuses on the struggles of a narrator with the portentous name of Freeman to survive an onslaught of zombies with the aid of a protector, Heap, whom Freeman has never seen without an elaborate exoskeleton. Freeman knows little about his world or its immediate past, when beings known as the Masters enslaved humanity. The resolution isn’t the author’s strongest, and the escaping the undead scenes get a bit repetitive. Agent: Scott Miller, Trident Media Group.

March 15, 2014
Earlier in the 28th century, a ruthless Master race killed billions of people it had enslaved, only to see the genocide victims arise as zombies and turn on their tormentors. Now able to overturn their captors, the still-living former slaves are threatened by both flesh-eaters and surviving Masters looking to retake power. Yes, another living-dead tale. But to Robinson's credit, he treats the genre with a light hand and even a touch of comic-book charm. At the heart of the story is a newly created quasi-human named Freeman. A curious combination of naivete and supersophisticated nanomachine parts, Freeman can instantly differentiate among 76 different smells and call upon a full range of optical powers but knows nothing about simple feelings and sensations. Drawing on elements of The Wizard of Oz, Star Wars and Sam Raimi's Evil Dead movies, Robinson's novel proceeds at a nonstop pace as the former slaves survive one cliffhanger after another. Among those counting on Freeman to lead them into a new age of freedom are Heap, his loyal, heavily armored friend, who once worked on the Masters' security force; Mohr, a peace-and-love-spouting councilman who programmed Freeman; and Luscious, a red-haired and red-shoed girl with whom Freeman discovers love and music. Certain tropes prevail: You still have to shoot zombies in the head to permanently kill them. But in this tale, the massive number of lost souls can create earthquakes merely by moving around underground. The author of Secondworld (2012) and Island 731 (2013) offers a fresh twist on the zombie apocalypse.

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April 15, 2014
In the mid-twenty-first century, an uprising leads to a completely different societal landscape, in which a plague is spreading across the world. A remarkably intelligent former slave called Freeman searches for a cure to the disease, which is spread by a bite from beings similar in appearance to zombies. In the course of his search, Freeman stumbles upon the creators of the virus, a cabal within the government whose members call themselves the Masters and which has a shocking plan for expanding its powers. In a compelling narrative full of stunning surprises, Robinson, best known for his thrillers and adventure novels, shows that his fertile imagination is equally well suited to sf. This is an exciting, richly complex blend of dystopian fiction and mainstream sf, and as such, it will attract a wide variety of readers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)