[1] The book is in the same format as the earlier published Draconomicon, which instead focused on Dragons,[2] and was described as "a super-sized monster ecology" by the Nuketown podcast.

Cordell said that pop culture has "less impact on [his] conceptualizations of the undead", but he did mention The Evil Dead, 28 Days Later and the novel Salem's Lot.

The chapters are named "All About Undead", "Character Options", "Prestige Classes", "Spells", "Equipment", "New Monsters" and "Campaigns".

[11] The chapter also discusses "stranger areas", including the idea of undead citizenship in cosmopolitan cities.

[11] Variant rules are introduced for areas including hauntings and exorcisms, which were received positively, and for undead hunger and appetites.

[12] The section also includes advice on how to combat undead, but according to Casey Smith of D20 Magazine Rack, "veteran players probably won't get much out of this part of the book".

[11] Newquist praised ooze like Blood Animote, while the Nuketown podcast commended the Swarm templates.

[3] Smith praised the Brain in a Jar, swarm-shifter templates, Necropolitan, Revived Fossil and Skulking Cyst,[11] but called the Hulking Corpse and Murk "surprisingly benign".

[11] Mike MacKenzie, of RPGnet, called the Skin Kite and Angel of Decay "ghastly", the Revived Fossil and Necropolitan "less interesting" and the Half Vampire an "extraordinarily bad idea".

[13] The maps were commended by some, being called "useful right out of the box"[3] but Mike MacKenzie, of RPGnet, said they were "basically a Book of Lairs for undead.

He criticized the "unintentionally goofy" images of the Mohrg Barbarian and Wight archer, but commended the "sepia-tinged" work of Wayne England as fitting the book's mood.

"[12] Casey Smith, of D20 Magazine Rack, gave the book 80% "reviewer opinion", averaging with other scores to give an overall grade of 82%.

"[3] Vincent Venturella, of Flames Rising Dot Com, gave the book 3/5 for style, 5/5 for substance and 4/5 overall.

[14] The reviewer from Pyramid commented: "There's a little more campaign advice here than in previous Wizards of the Coast products, though not a whole lot.

Theories on whence they come, examples of cities and religions for the cosmopolitan zombie, and advice on strategy when facing (or being) the dead (especially the self-aware threats) make good reading, but these are sadly brief.