Review: Night of the Living Dead Christian +giveaway

Publication Date: October 2011
by: Tyndale House Publishers
Genre: Christian Urban Fantasy
Source: review copy from publisher

What does a transformed life actually look like? In his follow-up to the critically acclaimed Imaginary Jesus, Matt Mikalatos tackles this question in an entertaining and thought-provoking way: with monsters! As Christians, we claim to experience Christ’s resurrection power, but we sometimes act like werewolves who can’t control our base desires. Or zombies—90 percent shambling death and 10 percent life. Yet through it all, we are longing to become fully human, the way Christ intended . . . we just can’t seem to figure out how. Night of the Living Dead Christian is the story of Luther, a werewolf on the run, desperate to find someone who can help him conquer his inner beast before it’s too late. By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, this spiritual allegory boldly explores the monstrous underpinnings of our nature and our quest for Christlikeness.

I'm not sure that this book knows quite what it wants to be. At times it was a fun, light romp, and then it would turn super preachy. I guess I would say the flow just wasn't very good.

For the most part, I enjoyed the story. The zombie parts were probably my favorite. The author got pretty creative with his zombies, and it was just fun. I think if he had just let the monsters be a metaphor, and not got quite as heavy-handed, the book would have been better. But then, that's just my personal preference, and of course everyone likes different things about books.

If you're looking for a Christian fiction story where the religion is subtle, this is definitely not the book for you. I felt like I was jarred right out of the story and was reading a different book, like a non-fiction Christian book, at times.

Overall, though, the story was quite fun and very silly, and if you don't mind some preaching in your stories, you'd probably like it a lot.
Grade: C+ 

watch on tyndale.com

Would you like to read Night of the Living Dead Christian?  I have a certificate for a free copy of the book for one lucky winner.  To enter, just leave a comment on this post.  The giveaway will end on December 31st, and I will draw a winner on the 1/1/12.