It is 1793. An infantry company under Captain James Lawrence is bored with idle village life in Wiltshire and passes the time trading rumors and speculation. They are excited about the prospect of sailing to the continent to join the fight against the French. However, their hopes are dashed when the captain announces they are to join their regiment and head to Norfolk, where they are expected to quell riotous behavior in the countryside. The new assignment takes the soldiers by surprise, especially because their rumor mill had been abuzz with strange stories from Norfolk—which they had dismissed—about a great evil walking the land. As the regiment arrives at its posts in Downham and Stowlham, it is about to stumble into something dark, terrifying, and never seen before. Will the soldiers survive it? Find out in The Corpse War of 1793: A Soldier’s Account by Brandon Fisichella.

This historical page-turner will hook you from cover to cover. If you are looking for a horror novel flavored with action, adventure, suspense, and thrills, The Corpse War of 1793 by Brandon Fisichella is a must-read. At first, it was quiet, but as the story picked up pace, I was hurled into a visceral, nerve-racking, fast-paced race for survival filled with bloody chaos. The vivid depictions took me back to late eighteenth-century England, dropping me right in the middle of all the action in the market town of Stowlham, from the market square to the interiors of the houses and the soldiers’ uniforms and weapons. The first-person perspective allowed me to interact with the characters and the story’s setting through the protagonist’s lens. This helped me understand a lot about the codes soldiers lived by during that era and their way of life.

In The Corpse War of 1793: A Soldier's Account by Brandon Fisichella, a young soldier dreams of exploits in battle, but he is stationed at a garrison that experiences no fighting. He has always wanted to be at the battle front, but he learns that there is something more dreadful than the French: the walking dead. It is an apocalypse that is advancing faster than the unnamed British infantryman could have anticipated. He escapes from the zombies after witnessing the brutal killing of his comrades. He successfully flees the town and joins the army formed by General Tomlinson, which is quickly growing in numbers. Will they stand a chance against the zombies at the decisive Battle of Stowlham?

Brandon Fisichella excels in creating an irresistible character in the narrator, and he characterizes the psychological toll of surviving the war through the narrator’s guilt. The world of the soldiers is written with fascinating, often disturbing details, like John, whose fate contributes to the pathos in the story. He is flogged most severely for blasphemy, dishonesty, disrespecting his officers, and spreading 'disquieting lies' among the men. Characters like the pragmatic Sergeant Wilkes and the noble Captain Lawrence are well-portrayed to underline the rigidity in military hierarchy. The Corpse War of 1793 will appeal to fans of The Walking Dead, with the grim details in the writing, like the chatter of teeth, and the discovery that headshots don’t stop the zombies, only the total dismemberment of their bodies. This book ticks every box for what I look for in horror: the gruesome details, the erosion of humanity, and the terrifying suspense of what can happen next.

The Corpse War of 1793: A Soldier's Account by Brandon Fisichella is a war tale told from the first-person narrative, and it follows the redcoats in one of their most harrowing wars. The soldier has always wanted to make history on the warfront, but he is stationed at a garrison with little action. His boredom is transformed into dread when they hear rumors of the “walking corpses” that quickly reach their post in Norfolk. At first, the soldiers dismiss the news as superstition until a sentry is found in an alley, devoured and soaked in blood. The market town of Stowlham is overrun by flesh-eating corpses that transform the living with every single bite. The unnamed private escapes to warn the army of the impending danger, and what follows is mobilization for a war no one has ever fought before.

Brandon Fisichella’s The Corpse War of 1793 is a great read for fans of horror and tales of zombies or revenants. The military details of the period are cleverly mixed with the horror spread by the walking corpses. The author gives authenticity to the story with language appropriate for the period. The story is a supernatural tale that is grounded in historical realism. The narrative voice is gripping, and I found myself enjoying the guilt-wracked, unreliable narrator who is the complete opposite of characters like John, the soldier who suffers terrible punishment for spreading “disquieting lies.” The imagery left me feeling as though the events unfolded before my eyes, with the smoke of burning Stowlham and scenes of gory fights with the revenants. The author’s clever use of language and the fully drawn characters make this a worthy read.

The Corpse War of 1793: A Soldier's Account by Brandon Fisichella relates a soldier's tale of horror, unmatched in the annals of military history. Rather than serving honorably in the war against the French, the Sergeant finds himself guarding a small village in Britain. His boredom soon comes to an end when rumors of the village being occupied by the "living dead" become more than rumor or high-level storytelling. The need for more troops becomes apparent, and the Sergeant barely escapes the zombies' clutches as the lone survivor from his unit. Wounded, he joins the larger armed force to serve as the only eyewitness and advise the regiment on its plan to eliminate the monsters. This plan fails to account for the monsters' tactical acumen and near-invincibility.

I absolutely love horror stories that expand and/or enhance the standard descriptives and public acceptance of monsters' abilities and liabilities, be they zombies, vampires, werewolves, or any other established or invented creature. I am also a fan of credibility, historical accuracy, and an overall sense of reality; verisimilitude in all fiction stories, especially horror, speculative science fiction, and historical aspects to any story. Brandon Fisichella applies his background and education to historical events, especially noteworthy in his descriptions of the eighteenth-century British Army, from uniforms and weaponry to Army and Naval tactics. Add all of that to a keen sense of fundamental skills in fictional characterization. These plotlines keep the reader eager to turn the pages, and you've got a bestseller waiting to explode across the market.