Wesley Chu wrote “Typhoon” in 2019, and the book is an official part of “The Walking Dead” comic universe, not in the “The Walking Dead” TV show’s universe.
“Typhoon” is set in China, a few months after the virus spread around the country and the world. The virus has decimated the world, and it has caused dead people to come back to life as zombies.
A group of around 3,000 people live in a place called The Beacon, they are one of the last few major settlements of survivors in China.
Among the survivors is Elena Anderson, an American student trapped in China at the beginning of the outbreak, and her boyfriend Chen Wenzhu (Zhu), a local farmer who moved to the city before the outbreak.
The Beacon is run by Secretary Guo, one of the last known living members of the Chinese government, and his second in command, a former military man, Wangfa. Another man, Hengyen, leads the settlements’ scavenging teams that Elena and Zhu are a part of.
Many other characters fill out the book as they all try to survive in this terrifying and cruel new world. The Zombies are a massive threat, but as so often goes, humanity is the biggest threat to itself.
A massive ‘Typhoon’ of tens of thousands of zombies are on a collision course with The Beacon, and the survivors have to choose between diverting the dead, fighting the dead head on as they inevitably surround the compound, or in a last ditch effort, completely abandon The Beacon in search of a new sanctuary.
The final few chapters are filled with life and death fights that will forever change the history of China and the human race alike. Not everyone makes it out alive, but those who do will have earned their right to live in this incredibly dangerous and unforgiving world.
The book includes several words and phrases in Mandarin Chinese, so I feel like I’m learning something as I read. ‘Jiangshi’ is the word used to describe the zombies, based on Chinese legends of vampires and undead creatures.
The main comic series is the American perspective of this global catastrophe, so seeing the Chinese perspective and how their people and government dealt with the living dead is very interesting to read about.
The most populous country in the world suffered the same fate as America, but due to its large population, the situation was ten times worse.
Except for their police force and military, there are drastically fewer guns in the country, so the survivors are forced to use very close-range weapons like swords, knives and spears.
The main comic series had its survivors deal with large amounts of the dead, but nothing compares to the hurricane, or ‘Typhoon’ of the dead that the survivors in China face.
“The Walking Dead: Typhoon” was extremely entertaining, and for fans of “The Walking Dead” comics or shows, I highly recommend reading it.