The Prequel to Alice in Deadland

Off With Their Heads is a set of short stories that tell what happened during The Rising (when the undead Biters caused the apocalypse) for the main characters in the Alice in Deadland duology. It covers the tales of Dr. Protima, who is the Queen of the Biters; Chen, the Red Guards General; Alice’s parents; and the young man, Neil, who would become the bunny-eared zombie. There’s a lot of confusion, misdirection, mistrust, and government cover-ups that happen in the early days of the outbreak and this set of stories weaves each of their stories together, while providing some additional details about how the world ended up so destroyed at the start of book #1, Alice in Deadland.

It’s been a decade since I read the first two books, so I’ve forgotten most of the details, and I found that while this book’s description claims that Off With Their heads can be read before the other two books, I had a difficult time connecting with the individuals in each story because I was missing the importance of who they are (until my memory triggered and I remembered pieces of the earlier stories). I don’t recommend reading this first, you will be left feeling unfulfilled. Start with Alice in Deadland first.

The stories were interesting, and I’m an easy-to-please zombie fan, but I did find it a little difficult to read due to the editing issues. At the beginning, the term “shambling gait” was used several times to describe how the Biters walked, which got a little annoying, and the repetitive use of Protima’s name over and over instead of using she or her started to drive me a little mad. However, if you’re able to overlook these types of issues and take this book for what it is (light zombie read), then you’ll find it rather enjoyable. The descriptions of fighting off Biters were appropriately gory, and the characters are written to be likable and interesting. It has some continuity issues, but they are easily ignored.

I think that my feelings on this prequel book reflect more on my growth as a reader than it does on Mainak Dhar because 20’s me loved Alice in Deadland, but she was an inexperienced reader, and my tastes and expectations have grown over the last 10 years.

I gave this book a 4 out of 5. I have conflicting thoughts and feelings on this one, and I had some issues with it, but I’m going to give it a 4 simply because by the time I reached the last page, I was thoroughly enjoying myself and ended up wanting to re-read Alice in Deadland.

If you’d like to read more about Off With Their heads by Mainak Dhar, check it out on Goodreads.

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