Dread Nation ~ Justina Ireland review [@justinaireland @epicreads @harperteen @BalzerandBray]

Dread Nation (#1)
Balzer + Bray
April 03, 2018
455 pages
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Jane McKeene was born two days before the dead began to walk the battlefields of Gettysburg and Chancellorsville—derailing the War Between the States and changing America forever. In this new nation, safety for all depends on the work of a few, and laws like the Native and Negro Reeducation Act require certain children attend combat schools to learn to put down the dead. But there are also opportunities—and Jane is studying to become an Attendant, trained in both weaponry and etiquette to protect the well-to-do. It’s a chance for a better life for Negro girls like Jane. After all, not even being the daughter of a wealthy white Southern woman could save her from society’s expectations.

But that’s not a life Jane wants. Almost finished with her education at Miss Preston’s School of Combat in Baltimore, Jane is set on returning to her Kentucky home and doesn’t pay much mind to the politics of the eastern cities, with their talk of returning America to the glory of its days before the dead rose. But when families around Baltimore County begin to go missing, Jane is caught in the middle of a conspiracy, one that finds her in a desperate fight for her life against some powerful enemies. And the restless dead, it would seem, are the least of her problems.

I love alternate history stories . . . butt I get a bit nervous when the thing they make 'alternate' about history is something we can all (or should all) agree was something good/positive/that needed to happen.

In Jane's America, slavery has ended but things are far from equal. The dead have risen, putting a stop to the War Between the Sates and leaving everyone with a whole new danger, a new enemy. TO keep people safe  the Native and Negro Reeducation Act, declares that Jane (and other African American and Native American children) will be trained to kill the dead. To protect white people. As is their place.

Here is the thing about a novel where character think that way (you know, that racial superiority is a thing and that it makes sense): It is a brilliant way of demonstrating the fallacy of that precise way of thinking. It is easy to see the wrongs when a story is set during the time of slavery in the Untied States, but the injustices can be less obvious when set afterwards.

In Dread Nation author Justina Ireland gives readers a time when slavery was gone, but the dichotomy of how whites and blacks (and 'Natives') is nearly as profound. Without technical slavery there as a backdrop, we are able to see (and hear) more of how the characters think, how they justify the inequality (and wow is a lot of it not only horrible, but also out there - which is worse because it wasn't out there to them).

That's not to say, though, that Dread Nation is only about the societal structure of Jane's America and full of sociopolitical lessons on race and equality. (There's also bits about gender, as well.) It is a fresh and unique sort of historical fiction, zombie book. Much as the 'why' was bad, the idea of the combat schools was pretty awesome.  I like that these people were so sure that they were 'superior' that their plan involved training the 'inferior' people in combat. Yeah.

I really loved how thoroughly different, yet still very similar and recognizable this alternate America was to what happened.

The characters are very well written. There are some that you really, really want to get shot or bitten or something, and others that you want to help defend (whether or not they need it). I appreciated how the relationships developed during the book and how we learned more about the characters and their history.

Knowing what I do now of how and where things are in Jane's time and of her past, and being truly invested in the characters, their stories, and their relationships, I very much want to read Book 2 and find out what happens. And how close - or how very far - things may get to real history.

The Burning World ~ Isaac Marion (earc) review [@isaacinspace @EmilyBestler]

The Burning World (Warm Bodies #2)
Atria/Emily Bestler Books
February 07, 2017
512 pages
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Being alive is hard. Being human is harder. But since his recent recovery from death, R is making progress. He's learning how to read, how to speak, maybe even how to love, and the city's undead population is showing signs of life. R can almost imagine a future with Julie, this girl who restarted his heart—building a new world from the ashes of the old one.

And then helicopters appear on the horizon. Someone is coming to restore order. To silence all this noise. To return things to the way they were, the good old days of stability and control and the strong eating the weak. The plague is ancient and ambitious, and the Dead were never its only weapon.

How do you fight an enemy that's in everyone? Can the world ever really change? With their home overrun by madmen, R, Julie, and their ragged group of refugees plunge into the otherworldly wastelands of America in search of answers. But there are some answers R doesn't want to find. A past life, an old shadow, crawling up from the basement.

Reading The Burning World more than five years after I read Warm Bodies felt a bit like R and his former life: you know you've experienced it, that it's somewhere in your mind, but you can't quite remember it . . . at least, until (maybe) something triggers a recollection. Sure, it might have made for a fuller story if I had Warm Bodies fresh in my mind, but like R kept going forward with his life, you can still enjoy The Burning World without it. (Though, unless you just love spoilers, I wouldn't read it before reading Warm Bodies.)

If Warm Bodies was 'Romeo and Juliet with zombies,' then The Burning World is a tour the world Romeo and Juliet live in - beyond the Capulets and Montagues, beyond even Verona. We get to move beyond R and Julie, the airport and the stadium.

To build a new world, to really spread the cure and save everyone is going to be even harder than they anticipated. There might have been those who didn't believe it was possible, who don't trust R or want him around, but those were known adversaries, what they're up against now is something entirely new.

The Burning World still has danger, insight, snark and some romance, but delves much deeper into the characters' pasts (and not just R's), into how the world got the way it is, how more of that world, outside of Post, now is and if there's any hope of 'saving' it. I really enjoyed that, with all of the revelations, with the new experiences and things they learned about the world, Julie and R's relationship didn't stagnate. We have a much fuller picture of who they each are now and I'm looking forward to what that might mean.

This book was full of new developments, new information, new enemies and even a few new characters and was a great expansion of the tale in Warm Bodies. I liked that we kept those characters, that world and that feeling from the first book but moved beyond that small piece of the world. Knowing more of what is happening - and what happened - really helps you understand the characters and their world better. Not to mention a lot of it makes you think. With everything that we know now, all took place and all that might or can, I am eager to see what happens in Book 3, The Living.





Another Book You May Also Enjoy: The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden #1) by Julie Kagawa








digital copy received for review, from publisher, via NetGalley

The Greatest Zombie Movie Ever ~ Jeff Strand (earc) review [@SourcebooksFire @jeffstrand]

The Greatest Zombie Movie Ever
Sourcebooks Fire
March 01, 2016
272 pages
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The Greatest Zombie Movie Ever is so bad, it could wake the dead…

After producing three horror films that went mostly ignored on YouTube, Justin and his filmmaking buddies decide it's time to make something epic. In fact, they're going to make The Greatest Zombie Movie Ever. They may not have money or a script, but they have passion. And, after a rash text message, they also have the beautiful Alicia Howtz as the lead.

Hemmed in by a one-month timeline and a cast of uncooperative extras, but aching to fulfill Alicia's dreams, Justin must face the sad, sad truth: he may, in actuality, be producing The Worst Zombie Movie Ever.

In the interest of protecting expectations (and gerbils) everywhere, The Greatest Zombie Movie Ever begins with a warning. Readers should know that it's a zombie book but not a zombie book (ie it's about zombies in a movie, but not 'real' brrraaaaiiinsss zombies). It does also warn you that there are going to be some jokes which seems almost misleading. It's not 'jokes' that make The Greatest Zombie Movie Ever so funny.

There are definitely jokes in the book but what's so hilarious are the characters, their plans, their methods, their dialogue, their thoughts and what happens.

Justin and his friends Gabe and Bobby make horror movies. They may not be award caliber but that hasn't stopped Justin from practicing his Oscar acceptance speech or from dreaming big.Now they're going to make The Greatest Zombie Movie Ever. So what if they can't agree on a title, have no script or even story, no cast, no budget and only a month to do it all. It's going to be great.

Somehow, they do seem to be getting things together and actually making a movie but that doesn't stop things from going horribly, comically wrong.

I love The Greatest Zombie Movie Ever so much because much of it's wit is so dry and just part of the story. It doesn't feel like the author (or characters) are trying for jokes, except when it's obvious that they are. The observations on the characters lives, their dilemmas and behavior feel incredibly realistic and accurate.

I love how this story unfolds, who these characters - each unique and well written - are and seeign their movie making process (or lack thereof).

I do, however, want to know what a Rottweiler with a marshmallow is like.



Quotes:

"Justin needed to maintain focus on academics, or the only movie he'd be making would be a documentary about living in a cardboard box in an alley, scavenging half-eaten lizards for his dinner, and burning his hair to stay warm." -pg 110

"In fact, now that he was thinking about it, there had been many, many, many instances in which he'd put his mind to something and the end result had been pain, humiliation, or a combination of the two." -pg 13

"'Stop quoting me back to me,' said Justin, 'I say stuff, and then I say stuff later that contradicts it. I'm aware of that personality trait, and I accept it.'" -pg 63



You Might Also Enjoy: A Year in the Life of  a Complete and Total Genius by Stacey Matson




review copy received, via NetGalley, thanks to the publisher

Deadline ~ Mira Grant (audio) review

Deadline (Newsflesh Trilogy #2)
Orbit/Hachette Audio
June 1, 2011
561 pages
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** Contains spoilers for Feed's ending which !!! I recommend you read so, so much both before looking at this review or Deadline (or its synopsis) but also because it's really good **

Read my Feed review and stay away from Deadline if you haven't read Feed yet :-)

Shaun Mason is a man without a mission. Not even running the news organization he built with his sister has the same urgency as it used to. Playing with dead things just doesn't seem as fun when you've lost as much as he has.

But when a CDC researcher fakes her own death and appears on his doorstep with a ravenous pack of zombies in tow, Shaun has a newfound interest in life. Because she brings news-he may have put down the monster who attacked them, but the conspiracy is far from dead.

Now, Shaun hits the road to find what truth can be found at the end of a shotgun

I think that, somehow, possibly, I liked Deadline better than Feed. Something I didn't expect - or even know to be possible - especially after the ending of Feed.

While Feed set everything up, established the world that Shaun and Georgia lived in, the zombies and how they came to be, Deadline goes deeper. The Kellis-Amberlee virus, two things that together were supposed to - and did - save us from cancer and the common cold, but together led to the living dead is a known fact.

What's not as well known, what Shaun and Georgia were working to uncover is the truth - the truth about just what, Shaun's still finding out and in Deadline it's really something. Something that puts them all in danger: the regular After the End Times crew and a believed-to-be-dead CDC doctor who appears with some startling information. Information it seems someone doesn't want her to share.

I seriously love this book - this series, so far. The world that was already well imagined and built in Feed gets even better, even more firmly established and expanded on here. The characters uncover more and more that while making some things make no sense (on purpose) for a while, makes others make perfect sense.

The action scenes are done very well. I forgot (I think) to mention in the Feed review that the Newsflesh zombies aren't your usual shuffling, moaning zombies; some of them are fast. Their speed leads to great action. The characters don't have the advantage of standing back and, calmly, shooting them all from a distance, sometimes they have zombies, suddenly right on top of them. It adds a lot to the tension and suspense.

Mira Grant came up with, in Deadline, probably one of the best implemented and my favorite ways to keep a not-really-supposed-to-be-around character, around. A character I thought wouldn't be present for this second book and one I was going to miss a lot. It worked better than I first thought it was going to because it was fully, unabashedly part of the story. It was, pretty literally crazy but it worked fantastically.

Now, the ending. Remember how I said that the ending of Feed would make you want to read the next book (i.e. this one) asap? Well, I did. Except, that wanting had nothing on how much this book's ending will leave you wanting to read Book 3 Blackout.

Really. Really. Really. The ending.


Rating: 10/10

Feed ~ MIra Grant (audio) review

Feed (Newsflesh Trilogy #1)
Orbit
May 1, 2010
571 pages
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The year was 2014. We had cured cancer. We had beaten the common cold. But in doing so we created something new, something terrible that no one could stop. The infection spread, virus blocks taking over bodies and minds with one, unstoppable command: FEED. Now, twenty years after the Rising, bloggers Georgia and Shaun Mason are on the trail of the biggest story of their lives - the dark conspiracy behind the infected. The truth will get out, even if it kills them.

Feed is one of the books that I've been meaning to read for about forever but only recently actually did. Even with all of that 'meaning to,' I still, somehow, missed a large chunk of what the book - the trilogy - was about: As the author's own website says, "Feed is a distopian political zombie thriller set in against the backdrop of a national political campaign."

If you took a great political book, a great post-apocalyptic, dystopian zombie book and smooshed them together, you'd have Feed. Oh, and in said post-apocalyptic world, bloggers are now kind of everything (news, entertainment, zombie chasers, or chase-ees).

The zombies give Feed its world, its background; the politics, the campaign gives the big, central plot; and Georgia and Shaun are what bring it together. The strength of Feed is how well the world is built, from the larger 'how it got this way,' to the smaller details of how the day to day works, as well as in the characters and their relationships.

The political side of Feed isn't just there for show. They go along on a campaign, are part of it and that is definitely evident in the story. While it's not the kind of detail someone not interested in politics is likely to find tedious or boring, it's enough to feel real and legitimate.

Georgia, "George," and Shaun haven't grown up in a normal, stable family thanks partially to the times and partially to the situation that led their parents to adopt them both. We see how its affected them. The little things that come up throughout the book, how George reacts to people, how they both are with their parents. As well as the closeness the two of them have with each other. (Though there is that incest-y vibe.)

Their friend Georgette "Buffy" (whose name is chosen for the only acceptable reason it could be), is a brilliant addition to their team and the novel.

It's great that while the zombies are the plot, they also are not, at the same time. The campaign and, as the story progresses, their quest to find - and proclaim - the truth is the story. A world filled with zombies is Shaun, George and Buffy's day to day, without a larger, arching plot line, it wouldn't have worked.

What they're working to uncover - all while staying alive - adds tot he danger, the suspense and the mystery and helps the pacing. It never seems entirely clear who's part of what or what the final outcome witll be.

The ending, oh the ending, leaves you needing to read Book 2, Deadline ASAP.


Rate: 9/10

The Dollhouse Asylum ~ Mary Gray (arc) review

The Dollhouse Asylum
Spencer Hill Press
October 22, 2013
296 pages
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The Dollhouse Asylum is one of those rare books where I have to give the disclaimer I probably would not have finished it, at least not now, had I not been reviewing it.

About The Dollhouse Asylum: Cheyenne -- and the world -- thought that the Living Rot had been contained, that its threat was over. But it's back. So, when she wakes up in an isolated subdivision to news that the virus, that turns people (basically) into zombies, is back but they're safe there . . . and that its Teo the teacher she's in love with who's saved her? Cheyenne fails to truly see a downside.

Teo has built this seeming suburban utopia, free of the infected so that they can be together. It all seems perfect. Cheyenne and Teo and seven other couples all in a subdivision of large home with perfect lawns.

Only, they've all been renamed, each couple given the names of some of the most tragic literary couples. Cheyenne is now "Persephone." Each couple, as well, has to 'prove' themselves. If they can pass the test, they'll receive their reward. If not . . .

If they play it right, then they'll be safe.

But if they play it wrong, they'll die.

I did like the concept of Mary Gray's novel. Placing the characters in this isolated, seemingly secure environment while a large threat loomed outside, only to have them find out there was an unexpected danger inside, held a lot of promise. It was the execution that didn't work.

The characters and their foundations are where I really had the most trouble with the story. Cheyenne and her naivete -- especially where Teo was concerned -- made me want to bang my head on the wall.  While the publisher synopsis describes him as an 'older man' who has her heart, he's really her twenty-four year old teacher; she's eighteen. What the synopsis proposed is different from what the facts proposed, which is different from what was actually in the novel.

Cheyenne is so smitten with Teo, even as it becomes clear he's very much a psychopath, sociopath or both that it's hard, if not impossible, to relate to her. We don't get enough of a foundation for her character to really understand why she would be drawn to someone like him in the first place - let alone so glued to him that she'd refuse to see what's right in front of her. Yes, we get small glimpses of a girl who did not have a lot of friends and whose father wasn't in her life, but that doesn't seem to be enough.

The scene, later in the novel, that's supposed to explain some of Cheyenne's 'falling' for Teo, doesn't seem to mesh with other parts of the story. Another scene in the story made it not make much sense (for Cheyenne's character, life). And I wasn't clear by the end of the novel if they had a 'relationship' or what the actual timeline of it all was.

There was confusion around Marcus and Teo and their lives, as well, but it wasn't as 'big' or as much as with Cheyenne. One event that was mentioned seemed rather major to be talked about so little, though - and did lead to some of my confusion regarding their history.

The events inside Elysian Fields, the subdivision, did hold some allure. It was intriguing trying to figure out how things would unfold and what would happen to the different characters. Some of the minor characters were very minor and I had a difficult time remembering them all, specifically. There was a lot of imagination in the creation of Elysian Fields and how the characters were renamed, the way that played out; in Teo's character in the 'present.'

At times it seemed like the characters could have brought the action all to a close much sooner than they did - and this is where I wish I could have cared for the main characters and understood them better.

If Cheyenne, the Cheyenne and Teo story and even Marcus and Teo's story could have been better established, The Dollhouse Asylum could have been a good book. I couldn't figure out the timeline of the characters' interactions prior to the start of the novel and understand their relationships nor could I get enough of a feel for who they were to connect with them - or, always, understand the glimpses of their past we did get. While the present action was okay, it wasn't enough without solid characters for a really good book.


4/10


received from publisher for an honest review; thank you

Unfed ~ Kristy McKay (earc) review

Unfed (Undead #2)
Chicken House
August 27, 2013
288 pages
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** synopsis contains spoilers for Undead #1 -- my review is HERE **

They thought they'd made it -- survived the Cheery Chomp fiasco, escaped on the bus, held off the zombies, made it out of the castle alive, even found Bobby's mother. But when Roberta ("Bobby"), Smitty, Pete, Alice and Bobby's mother are picked up by another school's bus at the end of Undead, rather than being their salvation, it soon crashes.

Unfed picks up after the end of Undead with the students in a hospital that doesn't seem to be your ordinary hospital, not out of danger yet and without everyone accounted for.

from the synopsis:

But now Bobby's a prisoner in some hospital of horrors, with no clue how she got there. And Smitty is missing. What if he isn't cured after all? Bobby knows she's got to find him, even if it means facing Scotland's hungry hordes -- plus Alice's buckets of snark -- again. And this time, zombies aren't the only evil stressing her out. The brain-dead are bad enough, but how can Bobby stop the big pharma business behind the epidemic? Especially when her own mom works for the company?

Undead, the first book, did a brilliant job setting everything up to seem like it was all going to be neat and resolved, a nice, almost happily ever after before throwing in that twist ending. Unfed does a great job running with that. That start of this second book isn't what I would have expected and is, actually, a bit of a departure from Undead in many ways.

The tone is quite different with the tension ratcheted up a fair amount, along with more drama. There is still definitely the humor and wit that was present in McKay's first tale but things aren't quite as light. There is a different character arrangement to start, Smitty and Bobby had great banter in Undead whereas Bobby and Alice still have that but paired with Pete and lacking Smitty, it's a touch more serious. The situation here was already more serious, too.

That bit of drama, suspense, and 'what's-going-to-happen-to-them' really pulls readers in. You're anxious to find out not only how they're going escape the undead this time, but if they're going to get everyone back in one place, safely and if everyone is, really, on the same side.

Undead managed to do something that isn't always possible: have both threatening, real seeming zombies that truly were dangerous to the characters and fun characters with snarky attitudes. It works even better in Unfed. There may be a bit less of the humor, but that only fits with the development of the plot, with the undead already being known and a present threat to the characters. The characters have retained their personalities and what we liked -- or disliked -- most about them is back.

It was also great to see development of the zombies. They weren't a stagnant thing, or character of the story. How they changed I'll leave for you to find out when you read but it was an interesting bit of the story. It really worked well with the rest of the plot and made for a better tale.

I do hope there's an Unfed #3, I hope to see what happens after the end of Unfed!


Rating: 8/10




 thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my egalley for review

Novella Review Roundup

A Dawn Most Wicked
Harper Teen
June 4, 2013
150 pages
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Something Strange and Deadly #0.5

Daniel Sheridan is an engineer’s apprentice on a haunted Mississippi steamer known as the Sadie Queen. His best friend–the apprentice pilot, Cassidy Cochran–also happens to be the girl he’s pining for…and the captain’s daughter. But when it looks like the Sadie Queen might get taken off the river, Daniel and Cassidy have to do whatever they can to stop the ghosts that plague the ship.

Fortunately, there happens to be a Creole gentleman on board by the name of Joseph Boyer-–and he just might be able to help them…

This prequel gives us Daniel's back story - or some of it. We meet him while he's working on the Sadie Queen, a haunted Mississippi steam boat. If you haven't read Dennard's first book with his character, you may be lost at the start of this novella. Though it's a prequel, things start out assuming readers know who the character is . . .

A Dawn Most Wicked is listed as number zero point five in the Something Strange and Deadly series, but really it's best as a 'go back and read it after you've read the first book' prequel type of book. It's a good read if you haven't already read Something Strange and Deadly, but it's much better if you already have -- if you know Daniel already and have some interest in him.

Verdict: A Dawn Most Wicked is an enjoyable read. A prequel that assumes readers know the character (ie have read Book 1), it's likely a lot more enjoyable if you've read Something Strange and Deadly but a good story on its own.

(Features a preview of A Darkness Strange and Lovely (#2) at the end.)
Rating: 3.5/5



The Prince
Harper Teen
March 5, 2013
64 pages
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The Selection #0.5

Before thirty-five girls were chosen to compete in the Selection...

Before Aspen broke America's heart...

There was another girl in Prince Maxon's life...

Don't miss this thrilling 64-page original novella set in the world of the New York Times bestselling novel The Selection. Also features a teaser to The Elite, Kiera Cass's hotly anticipated sequel to The Selection.

After how I felt about The Selection (my review-ish HERE) it may be surprising that I read this at all, but I was curious. And I actually liked it. Told from Maxon's point-of view we get a bit of lead up into the actual start of The Selection and see how he's feeling about the whole thing.

I do feel the synopsis is a bit misleading because it makes it seem as if the novella is mainly about this 'other girl' when really she just seemed to be one part of it, to me. Not a small part, sure but not the story, either.

I did like seeing Maxon as more than just The Prince as well as some of the lead up into the Selection. It made Maxon seem like more of a whole character. I may have to see what I think of The Elite.

While this one has a preview of The Elite at the end, I think it's one that could be read before or after The Selection -- if you've read The Selection you'll understand more but with the different character POV and being set at the start, it's good for those new to things as well.

Verdict: It's nice to see a bit more of who Maxon is here; how he felt going into the Selection. This one can be read before or after Book 1.

Rating: 3.5/5


Playing Keira
Harper Teen
May 7, 2013
40 pages
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prequel to You Look Different in Real Life

From a breakthrough voice in YA fiction comes a captivating digital-original short story, starring a supporting character from the novel You Look Different in Real Life.

The premise was simple: five kids living their real lives, with a new movie about them every five years. But that was before Keira’s mother walked out, and the cameras captured every heartbreaking detail for the world to see. Now Keira doesn’t even know what “real life” means – she only knows how to pretend to be herself.

Then she meets Garrett on a bus to New York City. At first, Keira creates a fictional identity and enjoys the freedom of being someone totally different. But as their brief connection turns into something more, Keira starts to see what life could be like if she just stopped pretending and accepted the person she really is.

I adored Jennifer Castle's The Beginning of After so I have to admit to having high hopes for her follow-up - and it's prequel novella.  Lucky for me and I suppose you, Playing Keira completely exceeded all of those expectations.

I loved Playing Keira. It's a fantastic little story all on its own. We're drawn into Keira's story, her journey on the bus and this new persona, this new identity she's creating. All the while wondering both why . . . and what's going to happen at the end of the bus ride.

Playing Keira is a great short story whether it's a prequel or not. Even if you don't plan to read You Look Different in Real Life (which, really, why would you not? But if you don't), do yourself a favor and read this. In, really, just a few pages we meet such a great character and learn so much about her, while still wanting to learn so much more.

There aren't a lot of contemporary novels with prequel novellas (at least, that I have seen) so I was surprised to see this one but so glad I stumbled upon it!

Verdict: A pretty amazing short story prequel or no. Great introduction to the character and some of the story for You Look Different in Real Life.

Rating: 4.5/5

Undead ~ Kristy McKay review

Undead
Chicken House
September 1, 2012
272 pages
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I seem to have fantastic luck with books published by Chicken House (and I have a review of another coming soon). From Rachel Ward's Numbers series to Lucy Christopher's Stolen and now Kristy McKay's Undead they've been quite different titles, but ones I've enjoyed immensely.

In Undead, McKay's debut, Bobby is the British-then American-now British again (even she's trying to fully figure it out) new girl with enough to stress about already when her school ski trip goes all kinds of wrong.

The braindead, possible zombified kind of wrong.

The day of the ski trip, when the bus comes to a stop at a roadside restaurant, everyone gets off and heads in for lunch. Everyone, that is, except Bobby, the new girl, who stays behind with rebel-without-a-clue Smitty.

Then hours pass. Snow piles up. Sun goes down. Bobby and Smitty start to flirt. Start to stress. Till finally they see the other kids stumbling back.

But they've changed. And not in a good way. Straight up, they're zombies. So the wheels on the bus better go round and round freakin' fast, because that's the only thing keeping Bobby and Smitty from becoming their classmates' next meal. It's kill or be killed in these hunger games, heads are gonna roll, and homework is most definitely gonna be late.

It'll be up to their band of not so merry misfits to do all that they can to survive this possible-zombie possible-apocalypse. And to not want to kill each other along the way.

Undead is fantastically funny. There's humor in places that I didn't quite expect to bring the funny. Yet, there's also some quite dark moments and more than a few gross ones.

It is a Young Adult book and doesn't stray past that age range/maturity in content but it's not campy or corny, either. There's a great balance of the dark humor the characters use to bring levity to the situation they find themselves in and the heaviness of that situation. (The book dose usually end up a bit more on the lighter side.)

The setting plays into the story and how it develops incredibly well. Really anywhere else, the story wouldn't have worked. The setting not only provides, well, setting in physical locations that make parts of the story possible, it's also key in who Bobby's character is and where she is mentally, emotionally is in Undead and a few smaller things. Usually we thing of settings in dystopian novels effecting characters' lives and the world around them, I loved seeing it here. It's definitely one of the best uses of
setting I've seen -- well, read.

The combination of characters here can seem a bit archetypal (in that you can assign them each a type and they're types quite often present in YA novels. . . and/or horror movies). How they interact with each other and the difference traits in each character that the others seemed to bring out kept them unique.

Bobby may be one of my favorite new-to-the-school girls, too. True Undead isn't set in a school so that makes her situation different right off the bat, but she's not your typical new girl. She wasn't the social butterfly -- or the painfully shy wallflower. She seemed the most well adjusted, not quite well adjusted yet new girl. It was a refreshing change from a lot of novels where new kids to school seem to be one extreme or the other.

The ending had more than one nice (maybe not so nice?) surprise and I'm really exited for the US release of Unfed, the sequel.


Rating: 9/10

Undeadly ~ Michele Vail (earc) review + giveaway

Undeadly (Reaper Diaries #1)
Harlequin Teen
November 20, 2012
272 pages
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** Giveaway at the end of the post **

Molly Bartolucci lives in a world where the existence of zombies -- and those who can create them -- is known, if not always accepted. Necromancy has been a part of life for so long that its history is taught in public schools and Anubis is the god everyone worships.

Still, living in Las Vegas, soon-to-be-sixteen-year-old Molly only knows a few with the power -- and none that are her friends. All she wants is to blend in, something slightly hard to do while working at Big Al's (her father) Zomporium and about to get a whole lot harder.

A dream featuring Anubis tells Molly she's going to be a reaper, then she meets the mysterious (and perhaps annoying) Rath, her brand new boyfriend almost dies at her birthday party, and people she never expected to see show up with some unwelcome news.

In for a whole new life, Molly's going to find out more about reapers, souls, getting into - and maybe out of - trouble than she ever expected.


Michele Vail's debut novel is a zombie novel, but sort of a zombie-lite novel. By which I mean that the zombies aren't 'grr argggh!' evil, eat your brains zombies. They're still dangerous, will still kill people . . . but they can still be kept almost 'tamed'? (In the first scene with a zombie, I thought a bit of 'Fido,' actually.)

I like this type of zombie for Undeadly. With so much focus on the soul, the reapers, the reanimation, Anubis and how everything works, it would be kind of wacky to have Walking Dead type zombies that people like Molly, our protagonist, were studying to bring back.  A Frankenstein type mob with torches and pitchforks (or common sense) would have stopped them already if they were super-murderous zombies. The almost placid zombies works.

Along with the other beings that are a part of this tale, it makes for a very interesting world that Molly and the other characters are a part of.

There was a lot of introduction and explanation in Undeadly, especially in the beginning, that could, at times, take away a bit from what was happening in the story. While the background did help with understanding Undeadly's world, it didn't always feel like the setup and the plot were working together cohesively. One would distract from the other.

Into the second half of the book, when we've found out the basic 'what's of the necromancy, Molly's party and it's immediate aftermath as well as what that means have happened, things got going better for me. I do think that, as this is the first in a series, there was a lot to tell readers, a lot of building to do, so the second book should flow more smoothly from the start.

Undeadly is probably best suited for upper middle grade or younger YA, young teen readers. Both the story line and the character seem to fit that age range best. Those who enjoyed Marlene Perez's Dead Is series, may want to give this a try.



Rating: 7/10

thank you to Michele Vail for making the giveaway possible and to Harlequin Teen & NetGalley for my review galley



Want to win your own, signed, copy of Undeadly by Michele Vail? Enter below:

Zom-B ~ Darren Shan review

Zom-B (Zom-B #1)
Cliff Nielsen, Illustrator
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
October 16, 2012
174 pages
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London's news coverage is filled with reports of zombie attacks in Ireland. People there are being murdered and eaten by zombies that fill the streets at night. B's mother is, of course, terrified by the apparent zombie outbreak and what it could soon mean for London - and her family.

B, though has other worries. Growing up with a father who hates, whose fists drive his point home, B's learned it's easier to go along with his hatred of blacks, Muslims, anyone different than to speak up - than to think anything different. It even gets B in fights at school for having some of the same beliefs, of seeming to.

Things all change when zombies do show up in London, at the school even and B's forced to work with anyone - regardless of skin color or ancestry - able to keep it together enough to stay alive.


Zom-B may not have been what I was expecting. The first half to maybe even two thirds of this, yes, short, novel are a zombie novel in the same way that This Is Not a Test was a zombie book: You know they're coming, you know they're out there, you know something bad will eventually happen but it's all but a contemporary. But, rest assured, there are zombies - and as this is a series, I'm guessing there will be only more to come.

The beginning, almost contemporary part of this book deals a lot with B's father's racism and B's struggle with that. Does going along with your father to avoid his wrath, even agreeing with and/or rationalizing his beliefs mean you really agree with him?

This is a great debate for a character to have (internal or otherwise) and I actually quite liked how condensed, how sparse it was. It felt like we got to see just enough of the relationship between B and B's father to understand B's turmoil. It didn't make B an entirely sympathetic character, nor did it make B an entirely unsympathetic character.

There's a great twist close to the end that I loved and cast most of the rest of the story (earlier parts included) in a different light. I love how it was done - and that it was.

This is the first book in the Zom-B series and it seems to get things set up well for the subsequent books in the series. The ending isn't as frustrating as those of the Larten Crepsley series, by the same author, but it definitely leaves you hanging and curious for Book 2 - Zom-B: Undergroundout in January.


Rating: 8/10

 


thank you to LBYR for my copy of the book to review

This is Not a Test ~ Courtney Summers (arc) review

This is Not a Test
St Martin's Griffin
June 19, 2012
322 pages
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It's a zombie apocalypse and six students are taking shelter in Cortege High. They've barricaded the doors, but the dead who are swarming outside won't stop their pounding

Just one bit from someone who's turned is all it takes to kill a person and bring them back as a mindless, murdering monster . . .  And there's no signs of any help or other survivors.

But for Sloane Price, it doesn't seem that bad. Her life before the world seemingly feel apart was far from picturesque. Now, a girl stuck with five people doing anything they can to survive is just waiting for it all to end. For those things to bring her the end she's waiting for.

As the days drag on, they each find a different reason to carry on . . . but as the tensions rise, with six students alone twenty-four-seven and life or death decisions weighing on them, the violence threatens to make its way inside.


It would be easy to see that Courtney Summers, a writer of contemporary, realistic YA fiction up to this point, had written a novel with a zombie apocalypse and just say that she was jumping on some sort of bandwagon. Oh, how wrong you would be, though.

This is Not a Test while definitely a zombie novel, is the most contemporary, realistic fiction zombie-having novel I've ever read. There are times in the novel when I got so involved in the story and the characters, what was going on inside the school that I forgot the dead were just outside those barricades, outside the doors. Almost.  I say almost because it's always in the back of your mind that the reason Sloane and the others are in the school is because of what's going on outside.

Sometimes, it's just in the way back of your mind.

Sloane has some mystery going on with her - as to just what all is going on with her - and the other characters have things they're not quite being upfront about, either. It adds some tension to the situation (on top of the obvious tension) and allows things to stay interesting as we learn about them while they're trapped in a high school for days on end. It's a less gruesome 'The Walking Dead' meets 'The Breakfast Club.' Pretty awesome, really.

If you love contemporaries but don't usually (or ever) read anything supenatural/paranormal/other, please, please, please don't let the 'zombie apocalypse' put you off of reading hit - you'll miss out on a great contemporary!

And if you only ever read books with zombies or werewolves or vampires or some sort of creature, please do read this! It's fantastic.


Rating: 9/10


Other books you might like: Aftertime by Sophie Littlefield and Trapped by Michael Northrop


thank you to LT's Early Reviewers for my advance copy

Until I Die ~ Amy Plum

Until I Die (Reveants #2)
HarperTeen
May 8, 2012
357 pages
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Likely contains spoilers for Revenants Book One, Die For Me ~ my review

It seems as if Kate and Vincent have gotten past the danger and (most of) the naysayers and can finally be together.  With things calmer, their relationship is able to develop - they can go on dates, get to know each other better without the constant threat of death hanging over them - and truly enjoy their time together.

But, will Vincent be able to fight off the need he feels to sacrifice himself to save humans? When staying alive (or as alive as he is) means keeping his promise to Kate?

As a new enemy emerges, the revenants - and Kate - also have to wonder if the numa are really as gone as they seem, or just biding their time.

Can they all survive this, too?


Until I Die lets readers see Kate and Vincent trying to be just Kate and Vincent without worrying about explaining their supernatural status to the other (Vincent) or having just moved to a new country after the death of their parents (Kate).

It's a bit more slow and steady in the beginning without all of that - the danger, the mystery of who or what Vincent and his friends are, the introduction to the revenants, and then the danger. Likely because of things already being established and the readers getting to get a bit more of Kate and Vincent's relationship, while not at all boring by far, Until I Die does lose some of the allure and intrigue that Die for Me had.

You already know who the players are (well save for a few new ones), what they are and how things work with them. It's not as mysterious. That's not to say we don't learn some great new things in Until I Die both about different characters (some things that I feel a little dumb for not putting together!) and the revenants, of course.

The beginning, while not my favorite part of the book - though I loved Kate and her new friendship because it was cute - was absolutely necessary for readers to see more of who the characters are in their more laid back time. Kate also explores something that seems fairly innocuous when she starts but might be more. It's also necessary because of how brilliantly things come together at the end.

I just love the way things all converge and when you don't quite expect it, either. I loved the way things came together - not all good and not all bad!

While I'll admit I might have been expecting something else in the beginning of Until I Die based on the first book, I do appreciate that there wasn't some tragic event or some brand new character that popped out of the woodwork and stole Vincent's heart (and broke Kate's) leaving them to work out their troubles for most of the book. Allowing them to be together - and their relationship to grow even, was a nice change from what happens in a lot of second-in-the-series-books. So, I maybe didn't love the beginning, but I appreciated that.

(And more Jules, next book?)

Rating: 8/10