By the blood of heroes

I very much enjoyed this book. A mash-up of steampunk, zombies, alternate history and boys-own war story, it was perhaps in serious danger of over-egging the pudding, but fortunately the author avoids that and instead manages to create a fast moving, rip-roaring yarn.

The creation of ‘corpse gas' by German scientists has driven the Great War to last much longer than perhaps it should. Reanimated corpses of both German and Allied soldiers attack the Allies, forcing the war into a nightmarish stalemate. Other zombie soldiers seem to have held on to their personality, the most famous of these being The Bloody Red Baron, Von Richtofen himself, who plays a major part in this book. It's the Baron who sets the events of this tale off, as he shoots down American flying Ace Major Jack Freeman. Freeman's half-brother, Captain Michael Burke and his team of fighting men is dispatched to rescue him, as Freeman is more important than a normal soldier...

Nassise creates a fascinating tale that, while fantastic, feels grounded and credible. Some of the characters in Burke's squad are somewhat underdeveloped, and the novel isn't quite as clever as Kim Newman's The Bloody Red Baron, which it will invariably be compared to. It is however a lot of fun, and Nassise has a steady and assured style of writing that makes his prose a pleasure to read. I would recommend it to fans of alt-history and steampunk novels, especially if they enjoy a bit of horror too!

7.5/10