Tuesday, December 23, 2014

30 Days of Christmas - Day 19 - It Just Doesn't Taste Like Christmas by Dane Hatchell

I'm finishing up Dreaming of an Undead Christmas with this post. It just makes sense so that I can hopefully get caught up while still operating with limited reading time.


Genre: Horror/Holiday
Published: December 7, 2011
Pages: 62 (whole book)
Ages: 14+

Synopsis

"It Just Doesn't Taste Like Christmas" begins as children at a home are waiting for a visit from a Department store Santa. He brings more than 'Christmas cheer' to spread as the dead begin to walk on Christmas Eve. Those that survive take refuge in a remote family camp, where fate brings lost love ones together.

Review

I wish I could say that this story sucked me in, that once I started I couldn't put it down until I finished. After all, it wasn't very long. I can't say that though. It's another short story, which is exactly what I was expecting about zombies and Christmas. This story was better developed than "The Last Noel" but not much. I felt most connected to Freddy, the little boy who coined the term "It tastes like Christmas" when he was very young. I even got a little sad when he ran into his friend Brian again after the zombie apocalypse Christmas, but I didn't really care if he lived or died in the end. 

Beyond Freddy, there is a slew of other characters at this family Christmas, and I basically don't even remember their names and I just finished reading the story, except John, the uncle that shows up out of nowhere on Christmas Eve and is just expected to save the day, I guess because of his previous military training. He does live up to expectations. The whole situation felt forced and phony though. For one thing, John's pistol had a laser sight. Do people really put laser sights on their pistols? Especially men with military training? It really just came off feeling really fake to me. 

Overall I give this story 3 out of 5 stars. It didn't really get or hold my attention and I barely related to any of the characters. If you like survivalist zombie stories, you would probably enjoy this though. - Katie 

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