Night of the Living Dead Christian: One Man's Ferociously Funny Quest to… (edition 2011)

This book was pretty good. My favorite thing about it was how humorous it was. There were so many great puns, one-liners, and just general humor that even if the story had been bad it would have still been entertaining. And the fact that the story was good made the humor an even bigger plus!

The story deals with monsters - zombies, werewolves, vampires, the whole kit and kaboodle. Which may not seem "right" in christian fiction, but it worked so well. As the story progresses we meet so many great characters. Each one is a bit quirky and even more unique than the last. There are monsters who don't want to be monsters, people trying to kill monsters, people who are unaware of the monsters, and people who are just trying to stay out of the way of the monsters.

What I got from this story is that no one is perfect. We all have faults, but God loves us anyway. Even trying to live a good life we're going to falter, and that's ok. As long as we understand our relationship with God we will still live in his graces.

Overall a pretty good book. Very entertaining and a good message! ( )

Description:

It's a dark October night, and you are patrolling the streets as a neighborhood watchman, when all of a sudden you come upon a startling scene - a mad scientist and his franken-robot messing with a strange machine attached to the streetlights! So what do you do? Well, that's the question Matt asks himself when he finds the pair tinkering with the neighborhood power supply. Unfortunately, he isn't able to stop the mad doctor before he turns on a device that will supposedly call all of the local "werewolves" out of hiding; but when he sees the onslaught of zombies, he knows they were somehow telling the truth, especially when a friend turns out to be a vampire. Now that Matt is in the middle of all this unbelievable chaos, what will he do, who will he trust, and will he survive the Night of the Living Dead Christian?

Review:

I don't think that I have ever read a Christian book that has made me laugh as much as Night of the Living Dead Christian. Matt Mikalatos' metaphor-laden spiritual allegory is a mix between classic Hollywood horror movies and Monty Python-like humor. Every chapter went deeper and deeper into the question of transformation - whether spiritual or supernatural - and described the monstrosity that levels of belief can become; (zombies surrender their minds, have no original thoughts, and are motivated by their own desires, vampires steal the life force of others and are notoriously selfish, werewolves are animalistic, carnal, and uncontrollable, etc...). I found the characters to be well-developed and very funny, especially the zombies and Luther the werewolf, and the plot was constructed nicely and well-executed. I think that the author did a wonderful job tackling the misconceptions about being a Christian, and what it means to be a true Christian. After reading the book, I have actually started relating some of the people in my life to the "monsters" I read about - particularly some of the people I see in church from time to time. I will definitely recommend this book to the teen confirmation class at my church, because there's actually a terrifying amount of truth behind all the metaphor. Overall, this book, although quite a laugh-out-loud riot, was surprisingly full of hope and optimism, and it is definitely a page-turner that readers will enjoy, especially teens and young adults.

Rating: On the Run (4/5)

*** I received this book from Tyndale Blog Network in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

For more information on Night of the Living Dead Christian or Matt Mikalatos' other projects, visit: http://mattmikalatos.com or www.tyndale.com

Want to win a copy?! http://thepaperbackpursuer.blogspot.com/2011/12/review-77-night-of-living-dead.h... ( )

Matt is the only member of his Neighborhood Watch group. He meets a robot and a mad scientist and learns that his neighbors include a werewolf and a vampire. In an attempt to help his friend Luther Ann Martin, the wife-beating werewolf redeem himself and restore his marriage, Mike takes the werewolf to church and finds that it is full of zombies – the living dead. The zombies sport giant study Bibles and believe everything that the study Bible’s author says, thus making it easy for them to continue being dead while having the appearance of being living. They “think they are following Jesus but are actually following a moral system. “ Vampires suck the life out of others, only caring about themselves. Mad Scientists run around trying to help everyone else while ignoring their own families.
This book is funny and it points out some interesting things about the Christian religion.
I received this book free to review from the Tyndale Publicity Team
http://www.tyndale.com/video/296
http://mattmikalatos.com
www.tyndale.com
I also received a certificate for a free copy of this book to give away to a follower of my blog!
Please follow my blog and leave a comment to enter my drawing for a free copy of this book!
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What can I say about this book?

I truly did understand the author's analogies of Christians lacking in today's world, and comparing them to zombies, werewolves and vampires.All well and good.

However, unless one delves into the study material at the end of the book, which I fear younger readers will not do, then this is nothing more than a funny, comical Christian oriented book. And I fear the author is merely cashing in on the whole vampire craze of modern teens and young adults in America.

The message he brings is an important one. And if one already knows where to look with the analogies, the book is excellent. But I fear it is those who are reading it, simply as a fictional comedy, who will not benefit.

Therefore, I give this book three stars.

And while I can't give it my thumbs up, neither will I give it a thumbs down. I believe the intent was good.

****Disclosure: This book was provided by Tyndale Publishing free of charge in exchange for an independent and non-biased review. ( )