Firstly, the zombies are actually bodies of the dead possessed and animated by the ghosts of the soldiers of the Ancient Egyptian Queen Tyaa (Queen Tiye as it's usually transcribed for no good reason- there are no vowels in the language in which it was originally written).
Secondly, the zombies are fought by competent armed forces like our real ones- so zombies, without magical backing, go down like a bitch. However since they DO have magical backing, they can mount a better fight.
The crux of the story is a continuation of the ancient enmity between Queen Tyaa and her daughter in law Nefertari ("Nefertiti"), "She Whose Beauty Goes On Forever and Ever".
There were two other novels written in the series- American Zombie- sort of a zombie super soldier - and Sister to the Wasteland, the story of a battle between a dead goth girl reanimated as a superhero and Herbert West, Reanimator.
