{"id":5873,"date":"2026-03-21T21:35:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T21:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=5873"},"modified":"2026-03-21T21:35:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T21:35:08","slug":"review-while-rome-burnz-by-michael-stewart-hansen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=5873","title":{"rendered":"Review: While Rome Burnz by Michael Stewart Hansen"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Synopsis:<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a world ravaged by a zombie virus, President Abraham Price sees not catastrophe but opportunity\u2014a chance to expand American power and fill U.S. coffers while other nations collapse into chaos. As the infection spreads across continents and his military wages a ruthless campaign from Afghanistan to the borders of China, Price dismisses warnings from his own Cabinet about nuclear retaliation and the deteriorating situation at home. While Vice President Ariel Perez and Secretary of Homeland Security Elias Rogers desperately plead for resources to protect American citizens from the encroaching hordes, Price remains fixated on his geopolitical chess game\u2014even as Washington D.C. itself falls to the infected. From the White House war room to a struggling gun store where ordinary Americans like John scramble to protect their families, While Rome Burnz reveals a nation torn between a leader\u2019s megalomaniacal ambitions and the brutal reality of survival, where the greatest threat may not be the shambling dead, but the living who refuse to see the fire consuming everything around them.<\/p>\n

Favorite Lines:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone wants to point fingers\u2026The truth is uglier and far more terrifying.\u201d\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was holding them together through sheer force of will, maintaining the routines and rituals that kept them human, that reminded them they were more than just survivors scrambling through wreckage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe memory was a wound that never closed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe turned to face his chief directly; his expression carried a determination that came from some deep place of need and love that transcended duty or mission or survival calculations.\u201d<\/p>\n

My Opinion:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.<\/p>\n

This book drops you straight into chaos\u2014and I mean immediately<\/em>. There\u2019s no slow build, no easing into the world. From the first few pages, you\u2019re thrown into a full-scale collapse scenario where society doesn\u2019t just crack\u2026 it basically implodes overnight.<\/p>\n

What I liked most is how big this story feels. It\u2019s not just one group of survivors trying to make it\u2014it\u2019s global. You\u2019re seeing the outbreak from multiple angles: government breakdown, military operations, families trying to get out before it\u2019s too late, and even underground broadcasts trying to make sense of it all. It almost reads like a mix between a thriller and a documentary of the end of the world.<\/p>\n

The zombie concept itself isn\u2019t reinvented, but the execution feels more grounded and brutal than a lot of others in the genre. The idea that everyone is already infected and only turns after death makes everything feel more inevitable\u2014and honestly more unsettling. It\u2019s not about avoiding infection, it\u2019s about delaying the inevitable as long as possible. That alone adds a layer of tension that carries through the whole book.<\/p>\n

I also appreciated how much attention is given to the human side of things. The scenes with John and his family stood out to me the most. They feel real in a way that a lot of apocalypse stories don\u2019t always hit\u2014worrying about bills, kids, whether to leave, what\u2019s actually safe. It\u2019s not just action, it\u2019s that quiet dread of realizing your normal life is slipping away piece by piece.<\/p>\n

That said, the pacing and writing style can feel a bit heavy at times. There\u2019s a lot of detail\u2014especially in the military and political sections\u2014which makes the world feel expansive, but can also slow things down. It reads almost like you\u2019re being briefed on the end of the world rather than just experiencing it. Some people will love that level of detail, others might find themselves skimming a bit.<\/p>\n

This feels like the start of a much larger story. It\u2019s less about resolution and more about setting the stage\u2014showing just how bad things are going to get. If you like apocalyptic stories that go big and don\u2019t hold back, this one definitely delivers.<\/p>\n

Summary:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Overall, this is a large-scale apocalypse story that throws you straight into the collapse of the world, blending global chaos with smaller, personal survival moments. It\u2019s heavy on detail and world-building, which makes it feel realistic and immersive, though sometimes a bit dense. It\u2019s a strong start to a series that focuses less on action alone and more on the overwhelming scope of everything falling apart\u2014and what that actually feels like to live through. Happy reading!<\/p>\n

Check out While Rome Burnz<\/em> here!<\/a><\/p>\n

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Synopsis: In a world ravaged by a zombie virus, President Abraham Price sees not catastrophe but opportunity\u2014a chance to expand American power and fill U.S. coffers while other nations collapse into chaos. As the infection spreads across continents and his military wages a ruthless campaign from Afghanistan to the borders of China, Price dismisses warnings […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5874,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5873"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}