Try free for 2 months

1 credit a month to use on any title, yours to keep (you’ll use your first credit on this title).
Stream or download thousands of included titles.
Access to exclusive deals and discounts.
AUD $16.45/mo after 2 months. Renews automatically. Cancel anytime.
World War Z cover art

World War Z

By: Max Brooks
Narrated by: Christopher Ragland,Rupert Farley,Nigel Pilkington,Jennifer Woodward,David Thorpe,Adam Sims,Robert Slade
Try for $0.00

AUD $16.45/mo after 2 months. Renews automatically. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $26.99

Buy Now for $26.99

Pay using voucher balance (if applicable) then card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions Of Use and Privacy Notice and authorise Audible to charge your designated credit card or another available credit card on file.

Publisher's Summary

"The end was near." Voices from the Zombie War.

The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched firsthand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet.

He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living - or at least the undead - hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years.

©2012 Max Brooks (P)2012 Audible Ltd

What listeners say about World War Z

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,178
  • 4 Stars
    341
  • 3 Stars
    132
  • 2 Stars
    43
  • 1 Stars
    13
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,104
  • 4 Stars
    274
  • 3 Stars
    99
  • 2 Stars
    34
  • 1 Stars
    13
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,052
  • 4 Stars
    276
  • 3 Stars
    134
  • 2 Stars
    37
  • 1 Stars
    24

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

#NailedIt

If anyone ever tells you the movie is better than the book, you have my permission to slap them. Seriously, it's okay to go right ahead and give them a high-five to their face.

No... I kid. Sadly, it's not cool to slap someone in the face. Let alone for having an opinion, no matter how much you agree or disagree with them.

So, why is this audiobook so good? Because both aspects of the audiobook are brilliant; both the audio and the story.

Firstly, the award for best performance in an audiobook of all time goes to Christopher Ragland, Rupert Farley, Nigel Pilkington, Jennifer Woodward, David Thorpe, Adam Sims and Robert Slade.
Luckily, that is not a physical trophy, otherwise they would have to develop some crazy algorithms to dictate how they shared it between themselves!

In all seriousness, excellent voice acting. This alone added a huge sense of depth and engagement to the story.

The story is fantastic... It isn't one flowing story but simultaneously, it is.

Just so that statement doesn't bend your brain, a better way to explain it would be World War Z is a collection of interviews with survivors of the Zombie outbreak. The survivors are from all different parts of the globe, each discussing their own different experience.

While each experience does not directly interrelate, they indirectly do - usually through referencing the major events that occur and how that event impacted on the current interviewee's specific experience.

So, while separate interviews with unrelated interviewees from different geographic and political backgrounds, the interviews still build upon each other giving a flow to the overall story and a build towards the conclusion.

If you've ever sat on the fence about whether or not to give this book a crack, it's time to stop risking splinters and spend a credit on it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

19 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

The wrong one...

I heard great things. There is a better version, don't waste your time with this one.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Nothing Like The Movie

This is one of my all time favourite novels.
It is nothing like the movie - thank goodness.
This is read by many narrators, and they do a superb job!!! Every character seems real, and the story drags you right in, and you feel everything they feel. Heartwrenching at times. This is awesome

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Couldn’t put it down!!!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I loved the variety of the narrators but, more than anything, I couldn’t get enough of the story -each chapter was so novel and explored the zombie apocalypse from a new and exciting perspective. It was so realistic and really made me think -not so much about the likelihood of the zombie takeover but even if what large scale war on domestic soil would be like for people like myself and my family.
Super entertaining, great pace, I’ve already been recommending this one!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

One of the best books i have ever read or listened

Awesome story. If you like zombies you will love this book. Forget what you have seen in the movie and enjoy the experience of the book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

I can see why American's would love this book

The author takes every chance he gets to give America a pat on the back. This even happens with non American characters. I'd still recommend the book. The vast majority of the stories are great. A lot of the American ones aren't (with the exception of Yonkers and Mets Fan - those are amazing). The amount of USA cocksuckery makes me want to stop the book and not pick it up even though it's almost over. it's that bad.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

fake Australian accent otherwise awesome

Great story.much better than the movie. The different voices and accents were great until I came to the Australian space station commander who sounded like a South African working on an Australian sheep station in the 1930s. Terribly jarring. I wonder if the other accents were equally bad for native speakers. For God's sake get native voice actors to do your foreign accents for you.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Zombie apocalypse, how it should be done

A very different take on the ol’ zombie apocalypse. The use of lots of different voice actors is fantastic. If you enjoy the zombie fad at all, this is a must, and even if you’re getting over it, I reckon it’s still worth a go.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Forget the movie travesty - read the book

What did you like most about World War Z?

A brilliant book - written as a oral history. I really liked the many different performers who lent their voices put this book ahead of the rest.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I would have loved to have had the time to just sit and listen in one go!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

interesting delivery that is just a touch too long

deserves applause for the unique delivery and completing the novel in the first person, but this does become a chore towards the end, almost a yearning to return to familiar narrative structure set in as characters accounts seem to be rehashed over and over again

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.