So this book is
apart of a three part series about the post zombie apocalyptic world taking
place approximately one hundred years after our time. The main character is
Mary, a teenager of unknown age, who has grown up in a remote village
surrounded by a two-layer chain link fence to fend off the zombies.
I would best
describe this book as a survival-thriller with well written action scenes. What
bugged me the most, however, was some of the characters and their interactions
are not written very well.
For example,
there's a scene where the main character's best friend becomes
uncharacteristically angry almost to the point of insanity. This is supposed to
be an intense scene and is supposed to shock the audience that this side of the
character exists. But the problem is this is the longest scene of dialogue with
the character. For all we know she's actually like this all the time. It's like
that with a lot of the characters. I think it needed more exposition to
introduce all the characters as they are instead of waiting for them to be
dynamic when we can't see how they're being dynamic.
The characters
motivations are never fully explained either. Some are kind of explained, but
then thrown to the side for us to just assume that the character is either
indecisive or inconsiderate. Two characters especially just abandon and treat
the main character like a social leper for no reason.
There are also
some pointless plot turns that go nowhere. For example, the village is run by a
group of nuns simply called "the Sisterhood" who live in a big
cathedral in the middle of the village. At some point Mary joins them and they
treat her like a pariah. Again, it's never explained why. There are hints here
and there that the Sisters have secrets and such and Mary gets nosy and tries
to investigate. The head Sister pretty much tells her to mind her own business
because she is afraid Mary will bring destruction onto the village because of
her curiosity. This is sort of setting it up as an allusion to the Greek myth
Pandora's Box. But Mary ultimately has nothing to do with the imminent doom of
the village, so all that build up was pretty much for nothing and the secrets
of the Sisters is never revealed either.
I did enjoy the
way the story was written and it was paced very well, despite skipping some
well needed character development. But what makes the story a thriller were the
scary zombie scenes. I personally think zombie books are scarier than zombie
movies because people are naturally more scared of what they can't see. So with
a book your mind will produce the scarier image of a zombie than a movie studio
can.
There is a love
triangle going on in the story and it might confuse readers about whom the book
is supposed to be intended for. I think it's for both genders. It's just not
advertised very well. There’s a girl on the front cover and a review calling it
a romance on the back. The book does have its emotional moments and it is
through the point of view of a teenage girl. It's not going to attract the male
demographic very well. So girls who love zombies will enjoy it and I think guys,
who give it a chance, will enjoy it too because it's not over the top and girly
about the romance. They can simply enjoy it for the zombie action and the
gritty description of the scary scenes.
This
book does get dark and scary. It's not Rob Zombie scary movies dark, it's more
elegantly written and the description of the zombies juxtaposed with the
description of the emotions makes it gothic. There are scenes where the
emotional description is over the top to where it doesn't make sense. Those are
few and far in between, however.
I would recommend
this book to people sixteen (at the youngest) and up, because given the age and
mentality of the main character, it was written for a younger audience than myself.
Despite that I did enjoy the book and it kept my attention through-out. At
times I couldn't put it down because the action scenes are really cool.
Overall, I would
give this book 7 out of 10.
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