Book Review: Your Brother’s Blood by David Towsey

Your Brother’s Blood by David Towsey

Genre: Fantasy

Series: Book 1 of The Walkin’

Date of Publication: August 29, 2013

Author Information: Website | Twitter

I usually start off my reviews with an explanation of what initially drew me to the book, and in this case it was the words “Zombies” and “Western” used to describe it that had me tripping over my feet for the opportunity to check it out. To date, I’ve only read a few titles from relatively new speculative fiction imprint Jo Fletcher, but they’ve already set themselves apart in my mind as a very special publisher, thanks to books like Your Brother’s Blood which mix elements of sci-fi and fantasy with many other genres. Here, the result is something completely new and different, but I was also surprised to find this “Zombie-Western” to be quite literary and elegant at the same time.

The book is actually set hundreds of years into the future after an oft referred to but unknown apocalyptic event, and pockets of humanity now live ruggedly in small communities spread out across a vast and arid land in a style reminiscent of the Old West. A war is currently being waged between two armies, and caught in between them is the complicated matter of the dead who come back to life, those referred to as “the Walkin'”.

Thomas grew up in Barkley, and at thirty-two years old he’d left to fight a war only to die and wake up again. He knows going home will put his wife and child in danger, but the pull towards love and family is too great; in the end his arrival in town sends him on the run again, with his daughter Mary in tow. It becomes a race against time as they try to evade their pursuers, because Barkley’s zealots do not suffer the wicked or their spawn to live.

Other than a very few exceptions, I don’t think I’ve come across many zombie stories that are told from the perspective of the undead, so this immediately makes Your Brother’s Blood stand out for me. As a Walkin’, Thomas’ heart does not beat, nor does he bleed or feel a thing, but he does possess emotions, intelligence, and awareness of everything around him. He remembers Mary even though he hasn’t seen her in a long time, and his love and devotion to her leads to many sad and touching scenes between father and daughter.

In this and many other ways, Your Brother’s Blood is not a typical zombie novel; in fact, it shares very few similarities with other books in this horror sub-genre. Towsey’s zombies aren’t the mindless, shambling and brains-craving kind to be feared, and much of my enjoyment was actually the result of how much I sympathized with Thomas and related to his concerns for Mary. It’s definitely a story that tugs at your heartstrings, but on the flip side there’s also a sense of danger and urgency, for at the heart of this plot is the desperate-chase-across-the-wasteland factor that’s so characteristic of classic Westerns.

There’s just such a strange but unique mix of elements here, making this a special book unlike anything I’ve read before. There’s just enough detail in this book to make you wonder things like, what happened to result in this post-apocalyptic world, and what’s “in the blood” that makes a person more liable to rise as a Walkin’ when they die? I’m hoping future installments will explore these questions, but I’d be okay too if some things are left as mysteries.

It’s always interesting to me when I see authors take what’s familiar and shake things up, creating imaginative characters and new worlds that lead to speculation. This was an enjoyable debut from David Towsey that not only surprised me with its originality, but also had a lot more feeling than I expected. I recommend it to anyone looking for something that’s different, resonant and not “just another zombie book”.