A Plague of Zombies

An Outlander Novella

By: Diana Gabaldon

Narrated by: Jeff Woodman

In this tale of adventure, murder, snakes, revenge, and zombies, the Royal Governor of Jamaica sends an S.O.S. to London, asking urgently for help in putting down a burgeoning slave rebellion. London replies by sending Lieutenant-Colonel Lord John Grey, with half a battalion of infantry, a company of artillery, and his trusty valet, Tom Byrd.

©2011 Diana Gabaldon (P)2013 Recorded Books

Interesting story!

I liked the story of knowing what happened to lord John on his voyage to Jamaica but overall it was good but not great. King of boring but an interesting story.

3.5 Stars 🌟

This was a short story telling the tale of Lord John Grey and his (unexpected) investigation into a series of uprisings on the island of Jamaica.

Lord John arrives on the island and promptly discovers that things are not exactly what they seem - the Governor is acting oddly and Lord John sees a snake on the dinner table. Then to top things off, there are tales of zombies.

First of all, I really enjoyed the narrator - Jeff Woodman. He did well with the various accents and had a very pleasant style of narrating. The story was interesting, and it took something that at first sounded crazy, and was able to give specifics and background information to make things plausible.

All in all I enjoyed the story but most of all, I enjoyed getting to take a peek back into the world of Lord John. It is always fun to be ablet to see a story from his life.

Interesting story very different

What did you like best about Lord John and the Plague of Zombies? What did you like least?

It was not what I was expecting from Diana Gabaldon, It had the horror paranormal quirkiness. If You're not into zombies, and para-normal you won't like this story. I have enjoyed all of the "Highlander" and "Lord John" series....This is just very different and has is not for everyone who likes Ms Gabaldon's books

What did you like best about this story?

It showed that Ms Gabaldon can stretch her writing to go to the bizarre. I found it really interesting, also how Lord John handled himself under very stressful situations.

What does Jeff Woodman bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I think he did the narration very well the accents of the Jamaicans, British, and Scots were done very well. He was also able to express emotion in his voice which is important.

Was Lord John and the Plague of Zombies worth the listening time?

I enjoyed it because I enjoy paranormal, horror, vampire, zombie, werewolf, etc type stories. I love Jim Butcher, Simon Green, C. Harris, etc. great writers of paranormal fantasy.

Any additional comments?

If you're looking for the dashing romantic Lord John he's still the man but in a very difficult circumstance, and there is sexual innuendo, but not the romantic trysts of other stories. He has a mission to get a problem solved in Jamaica. Solve a murder, and get his soldiers back, from a group who they think are making zombies. There is a twist here and the ultimate bottom line is the British were the ones doing wrong. If you don't like para-normal stay away from this one. otherwise give it a try.

Wishing for a few more details at the end.

Loved it. I do wish it had a litte more at the end. It kinda gave you the feeling of being left with no completed closure of what will then transpire. But she writes so beautifully.

Thrill packed, with real zombies

A short book in the Outlander/ Lord John universe, A Plague of Zombies has Lord John being sent in his military capacity to investigate complaints against the colonial government in Jamaica. A group of escaped slaves has complained about one (or more) of the local officials for misconduct, and the attacks they are mounting threaten to reach revolutionary proportions.

Lord John talks to the governor and finds him and some of his underlings and servants suspicious. During the night the governor’s residence is attacked, and by the next day, the governor has been killed. Lord John’s investigation reveals he has been killed by zombies. He also learns how these zombies are created – in the old-fashioned way using African religious practices. No, these are not your modern zombies resulting from some zombie plague, which would never have been heard of back in the 1700s anyway.

Lord John must find who is creating the zombies, and why (two separate questions). They put him through an ordeal that nearly kills him, but somehow, he survives. And then, he must find a way to punish the offending official for his misconduct and get someone to fill in for the late governor until a new governor can be sent to replace him.

I don’t think this was intended to be a real Halloween-themed novel, but it is definitely a thrill-packed adventure. And, hey – real zombies!

Outlander Offshoot too short

Its a good story, but way to short. When you buy an Outlander book of 45 hours for one credit, then this book of 3 hours for one credit, doesn't seem fair. But anyway, I wish she would have developed this one into a real novel length story. It makes a great Chapter 1. She could've gotten way deep into plantation life, escaped slave stuff, Grey's steamy personal stuff 😉😉, and I love a deep dive into Voodoo.

"rereading" everything

relistening to all the books in anticipation of the 9th big book, bees! love doing this every time.

Zombies

Quite well. done. A good addition to the core story. Another look at Gilles Duncan.

A great little story

These are the stories that make Diana's world richer. John Grey is not easily liked in the big books right off. These stories make him more rounded and likeable.

Good

I like many of the other books in this series better, but that's a high bar to surpass.