Darkness Falling by Peter Crowther: Review Posted by Tiffany at 5:43 AM

Title: Darkness Falling
Author: Peter Crowther  
Published: September 27th, 2011 by Angry Robot
Pages: 400
Series: Forever Twilight #1 
Buy: Amazon/ Book Depo/ Powell's 
Source: NetGalley
Rating: 4.5/5
Synopsis: It was a typical all-American backwater – until the night the monsters came.
When four employees of KMRT Radio investigate an unearthly light that cuts off communication with the outside world, they discover that something has taken the place of their friends and fellow townfolk, and imbued them with malign intentions. Little do they know, the phenomenon is not unique to the town of Jesman’s Bend… (from Angry Robot's site) Goodreads synopsis gives stuff away, stay away from it!


Review: I knew the second that I read the praise from Steven Erikson in the front of my egalley ("If I'm going to have anyone tell me about the end of the world, it will have to be Peter") that I was going to love this book. If you are a fan of fantasy, then you have probably read something by Erikson. There is nothing I love more than picking up a random book that looks like it has potential and finding the endorsement of an author that I already love. It's like confirmation of my good taste. This book definitely did not disappoint. I'll start off with a warning: there are a few disturbing elements to this book. One of the main characters is a serial killer (yes, the choice of characters is insane and wonderful) and there are allusions to sexual abuse in his past, by his mother. There are probably only a few sentences, no drawn-out graphic scenes, but it is disturbing. Other than that, I didn't really see anything that would make me label it as inappropriate for teens. Now, on to the good stuff! The book focuses on four different characters (one is a set of four characters, actually) and switches back and forth between them. The first is a middle-aged man who is fighting with his wife on a plane because he is ogling other women (and then the other survivors on the plane). The second is a young man who happens to be a serial killer, as he is in the process of killing another girl. The third is a group of people working at a radio station. The fourth is a woman who appears to be completely insane. We get a little bit window of what was going on for each of the people right before the "event" and then follow them as they try to figure out what the heck is going on. I love, love, loved the first third of the book. It was so tense, eerie, creepy. They are wondering around, trying to figure out what has happened, and there are no clues. In fact, there are no feasible theories at all. It's not like most apocalyptic stories where there are choices; nuclear bomb, EMP, germ warfare, invasion. The characters are completely baffled, and so was (am?) I. Just when you think you can't stand the tension anymore, that things can't get any creepier, they do. In fact, they get freaking terrifying. I was reading this in the middle of the day and I was still creeped out. I moved away from the windows, locked the doors, and wished I had a baseball bat. I haven't read a book that scared me this much in years. Probably not since I bought an adult horror anthology when I was about 10 and read through it. (I guess I thought that it would be about as scary as Fear Street. Couldn't sleep for years.) I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it was fast-paced and absorbing, but there was one little downside. I didn't like the characters from the radio station. I don't know why, but I just never really connected with them. Maybe it's because they're the only group with nobody "odd"? However, there is plenty of room for character development (two more books, yay!) so maybe they'll grow on me. If you are a fan of apocalyptic stories, horror stories, or amazing combinations of characters stuck together then do yourself a favor and go get this book. I can't put words to how much I enjoyed it, and I can't wait for everyone I know to read it so that I have someone to talk to about it! Also- yes, I know that the cover is cheesy. Please disregard it.

P.S. If you've read this, what did you think? How long will Virgil make it?!

Dust and Decay by Jonathan Maberry: Review Posted by Tiffany at 7:30 AM

Title: Dust and Decay
Author: Jonathan Maberry (site)
Published: August 30th, 2010 by Simon & Schuster
Pages: 528
Buy: Amazon/ Book Depo/ Powell's 
Series: Benny Imura #2
Source: GalleyGrab
Rating: 3.5/5
Synopsis: Six months have passed since the terrifying battle with Charlie Pink-eye and the Motor City Hammer in the zombie-infested mountains of the Rot & Ruin. It’s also six months since Benny Imura and Nix Riley saw something in the air that changed their lives. Now, after months of rigorous training with Benny’s zombie-hunter brother Tom, Benny and Nix are ready to leave their home forever and search for a better future. Lilah the Lost Girl and Benny’s best friend Lou Chong are going with them.  In the great Rot & Ruin everything wants to kill you. Everything…and not everyone in Benny’s small band of travelers will make it out alive. 

Sounds easy. Sounds wonderful. Except that everything that can go wrong does. Before they can even leave there is a shocking zombie attack in town. But as soon as they step into the Rot & Ruin they are pursued by the living dead, wild animals, insane murderers and the horrors of Gameland –where teenagers are forced to fight for their lives in the zombie pits. Worst of all…could the evil Charlie Pink-eye still be alive? 

(Goodreads)


Review: Dust and Decay starts off half a year after Rot & Ruin. Tom Imura has been training his brother and his brother's friends so that they can go look for the jet they saw in the first book. They start off on their cross-country trip, but then everything goes NUTS. I'm going to warn you now that the mystery of the plane is not solved in this book. Instead, old enemies come back to cause more trouble and not everyone makes it out alive. Once again, the characters in this book felt so young. I would think that growing up in a world where zombies have taken over most of the planet would make the teens a little less naive, a little less whiny, but that is not the case. The book also had a really slow start (like the first one). The magic of Maberry's zombie series is that you start out thinking "are these kids ever going to shut up?" and then suddenly everything goes crazy and you can't fly through the pages fast enough. Things started to get interesting halfway through and, by the last third, I could not tear myself away. There's something about this series that makes me reluctant to give it a 5 star rating. I think it's the fact that the younger characters are a bit annoying. They step up to the plate when things get tough, but that didn't quite redeem them in my eyes. For plot and action scenes, I'd definitely give this five stars. Characters would be more like 2.5 or 3. This evens out nicely to a 3.5. I'm wondering if maybe he's just dumbing down the characters a bit too much because it's YA, so I'm going to give his adult book, Patient Zero, a try and see if it has all of the good and none of the bad that I've seen in the Rot & Ruin series. Read my review of Rot and Ruin here.

P.S. How amazing are these covers?!

Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick: Review Posted by Tiffany at 12:43 PM

Title: Ashes

Author: Ilsa J. Bick (site)

Published: September 6th, 2011 by  Egmont USA

Pages: 480

Buy: Amazon / Book Depository 

Rating: 5/5

Source: NetGalley
Synopsis: A cataclysmic event. An army of "The Changed."
Can one teen really survive on her own?

An electromagnetic pulse sweeps through the sky, destroying every electronic device and killing billions. For those spared, it's a question of who can be trusted and who is no longer human...

Desperate to find out what happened and to avoid the Changed, Alex meets up with Tom---a young army veteran---and Ellie, a young girl whose grandfather was killed by the electromagnetic pulse.
This improvised family will have to use every ounce of courage they have just to survive

 (Goodreads)

Review: I'm going to warn you right now; I am completely in love with this book. If you want my review summed up in four words, here you go: GO BUY THIS NOW! The book starts just before The Event. Alex's life is pretty much horrible. There is enough story there that I was almost sorry to see the apocalypse start. It's the first apocalyptic book that really made me feel the sense of interruption that a person would experience if the world suddenly crashed and burned. Alex isn't just your typical teenager who suddenly has to find the strength and courage to survive. She's already been through hell and then the world ends. Another thing that makes her an amazing character; she isn't perfect. She has bad thoughts about people, runs from her problems, loses patience with annoying children. She felt very real, fleshed out. The other characters that we meet are just as realistic, if not quite as fully formed. She definitely manages to avoid the stereotypes, too. I can't wait to get to know the supporting cast better (if they're even still alive, that is).

When The Event happens, we have no idea what exactly has happened. The reader is left just as much in the dark as the main character, giving the whole story a sense of terrified waiting. You think you've guessed what happened, sketched out where you think the story is going to go, and then they make a terrifying discovery at a campsite. This book is truly scary, creepy and tense throughout. The characters are not given an easy path. Nobody is safe, nothing goes as planned. I loved every minute of it. I can't believe it cut off when it did! I suppose 500-ish pages is a bit much for YA, but it felt like 150. I scoured the author's website as soon as I finished the book, looking for clues about the sequel. Alas, there were none. We are given the titles of books two and three: Shadows and Monsters and that's it. I am dying for a release date, a blurb, anything.

Ashes is a dark, terrifying book about a girl whose life is a living hell..... and then the world ends. I would suggest this book to anyone with eyeballs in their head. Please go out and support this author! I need many, many more books for Ilsa J. Bick.

Rebirth by Sophie Littlefield: Review Posted by Tiffany at 6:50 AM

Title: Rebirth
Author: Sophie Littlefield (site)
Published: July 26th, 2011 by Luna

Pages: 384

Buy: Amazon / Book Depository 

Rating: 4.5/5

Source: NetGalley
Synopsis: Civilization has fallen, leaving California an unforgiving, decimated place. But Cass Dollar beat terrible odds to get her missing daughter back—she and Ruthie will be happy.

Yet with the first winter, Cass is reminded that happiness is fleeting in Aftertime. Ruthie retreats into silence.

Flesh—eating Beaters still dominate the landscape. And Smoke, Cass's lover and strength, departs on a quest for vengeance, one that may end him even if he returns.

The survivalist community Cass has planted roots in is breaking apart, too. Its leader, Dor, implores Cass to help him recover his own lost daughter, taken by the totalitarian Rebuilders. And soon Cass finds herself thrust into the dark heart of an organization promising humanity's rebirth—at all costs.

Bound to two men blazing divergent paths across a savage land, Cass must overcome the darkness in her wounded heart, or lose those she loves forever. (Goodreads)

Review: Sophie Littlefield has gained a lifelong fan in me. I've even added her crime series to my To-Read list and I never read crime novels. Rebirth was even better than Aftertime. It was one of those books that won't let you go when you are away from it. I kept thinking about the characters, wondering what was going to happen when a certain secret came out, going over my favorite scenes again and again, wishing I could pull the car over and just read. It bordered on obsession. I haven't had a book and it's characters grip me this hard since I read Stacia Kane's Downsiders series. I still wonder about them sometimes. As soon as I'm caught up on the books I need to read, I'll be re-reading that series.

Rebirth continues a short time after the conclusion of Afterlife. Cass has managed to make a nice little life for herself, but everything crashes down around her pretty quickly. This is partly brought on my her self-destructive behavior and partly by a message from the Rebuilders. It broke my heart to see her finally happy and then have it  explode. She makes a Bad Decision and then continues to make it worse and worse until I thought I was going to cry. You're in her head the whole time, so you see why she's doing these things. You get a glimpse at her twisted logic, but what she doesn't realize is that all of these decisions are based upon the (flawed) assumption that she is worthless. It drove me nuts! (But in a good way). One thing that was different about this second book was the change in perspectives. We got to learn a lot more about some of the other characters in the series (sadly, not the one that I  really wanted to learn more about). It made the situation she was creating even more tense and sad for the reader. I got to see what he was thinking too, watched as he slowly began to change his feelings...which is going to lead to a very interesting showdown in the next book. Yes, I suppose this has all been very cryptic, but I don't want to give it away. Go read the book! I can't wait for the third, I was very disappointed to not have any resolution to a certain problem at the end of Rebirth. Things are about to get very, very complicated and I can not wait!

My review for the first book, Aftertime, is here.

Aftertime by Sophie Littlefield: Review Posted by Tiffany at 6:50 PM

Title: Aftertime

Author: Sophie Littlefield (site)

Published: Feb 15th, 2011 by Luna

Pages: 384

Buy: Amazon / Book Depository 

Rating: 4.5/5

Source: NetGalley
Synopsis: Someone once said that all apocalypses are experienced locally. In the case of Cass Dollar, the nightmare occurred with the violent abduction of two-year-old Ruthie, which she vividly remembers. Only later is young Cass assaulted also by the vague, twisting memories of a much wider conflagration that she herself only narrowly survived. A government experiment had turned the entire California landscape into the hunting grounds of zombie Beaters, but Cass can only think of the helpless toddler she is missing. A deeply arresting paperback original. (Goodreads)




Review: One thing that I'd like to make clear from the start is that this is NOT a YA book. I was under the impression that it was, but quickly realized that I had been mistaken. I would not recommend this for younger teens, probably not anyone under 18. Then again, I knew girls who were reading V.C Andrews at 14 and this is nothing compared to that, so make up your own mind. I will warn you that there is sexual content (short but explicit) and the heroine is a very damaged individual. However, she is a fantastic writer and I would recommend her YA series (which I haven't read yet) if you're curious.

On to the actual review now! I picked this book up after the sequel became available on NetGalley. This is my first book by Sophie Littlefield, but it most certainly won't be my last. I love the way she writes, her characters, the actual story... she's pretty much blown me away here. Yes, this is a post-apocalyptic zombie book. But these zombies aren't hungry for your brains. These zombies like to eat skin. They like to peel the skin off of a living person and eat it. Yes, this is just as horrifying and disgusting as it sounds. Littlefield has a way of never letting you grow accustomed to the world her characters are living in. There is no getting used to the horrifying creatures that hunt them. The details of the attacks are not spared, but described every time. This isn't to add shock value or unnecessary gore. It keeps you connected to the main character and what she's experiencing. She never gets used to seeing the people around her have their epidermis peeled away by ravenous (and fast, good lord I hate the fast ones!) monsters, so neither does the reader. I felt a little bit terrified, a bit sick with fear every time Cass stepped foot outside, waiting for another attack. It's not every book that can make you feel so connected to the characters and their situations.

Speaking of characters, Cass was amazing. She was definitely damaged, she hadn't been a very good person before the apocalypse, and I'm not sure that she's a good person now. Learning about her past was painful. Watching her make mistakes was painful. Following along as she tried to fix these mistakes was both heartbreaking and uplifting. She felt so real. Was she based on a real person or did Sophie Littlefield just spend a hell of a lot of time getting to know this character? I have no idea, but the result is amazing. Cass doesn't just suddenly find the strength she needs to overcome her problems. She stumbles repeatedly, making her journey difficult but realistic.

I became completely immersed in this book. I stayed up all night to finish it and had nightmares once I was done (not a great book for reading before bed). I would say that I can't wait for the sequel, but I really couldn't. I picked it up as soon as I got out of bed and read it in one day. Review coming soon for the second book, Rebirth.

Generation Dead by Daniel Waters: Review Posted by Michaela at 4:31 PM

Title: Generation Dead
Author: Daniel Waters
Published: May 6th 2008 by Hyperion
Pages: 392
Price: Amazon $6.80, Book Depository $8.98
Series: Generation Dead: Kiss of Life, Generation Dead: Passing Strange
Source: Bought
Rating: 2/5
Synopsis: Phoebe Kendall is just your typical Goth girl with a crush. He’s strong and silent…and dead.

All over the country, a strange phenomenon is occurring. Some teenagers who die aren't staying dead. But when they come back to life, they are no longer the same. Feared and misunderstood, they are doing their best to blend into a society that doesn’t want them.
The administration at Oakvale High attempts to be more welcoming of the “differently biotic." But the students don’t want to take classes or eat in the cafeteria next to someone who isn’t breathing. And there are no laws that exist to protect the “living impaired” from the people who want them to disappear—for good.
When Phoebe falls for Tommy Williams, the leader of the dead kids, no one can believe it; not her best friend, Margi, and especially not her neighbor, Adam, the star of the football team. Adam has feelings for Phoebe that run much deeper than just friendship; he would do anything for her. But what if protecting Tommy is the one thing that would make her happy? (Goodreads)

Initial Thoughts: I was pretty psyched about this book. I had heard great things about the short story set in this world, and I figured that the book would match up to my expectations.


Review: It did not.

I was not impressed with the characters. They lacked depth, and the speech sounded a little too forced for teenagers in everyday life. I doubt that many of them would be so calm about zombies going to school with them. Even though they seemed very polite, I would be carrying a machete with me at all times in case a sudden appetite for human flesh overcame them. In the book, there were very few people who were actually like, "Guys, seriously, they're dead. What are they doing in a high school?" Sure, there were tons of kids who ignored them, and some that didn't like them, but most of them were not alarmed at all. A shockingly large number were zombie activists.

The main character was not very likable, either, in my opinion. I thought she was kind of dull, and I had no clue why she would fall in love with a dead kid when she had an awesome neighbor who was obsessed with her (Don't worry, this isn't giving anything away. This is said in one of the first chapters). The plot was a little slow moving for about half the book, but the last half was pretty engaging.

None of these things really bothered me as much as the hidden lectures did. At least eighty percent of the book was spent trying to say that zombies deserve the same rights as humans do, and I really don't believe this. Call me evil if you want, but I think zombies are made for chopping, not for loving. I wouldn't mind so much if it was only a little bit of  "differently biotic" rights discussions, but the amount of this content in the book was distracting, and it made it hard for me to get into. Also, I was a little surprised that a zombie could be killed just by being shot. I would think that they would have to be chopped into a zillion little pieces.

I don't think that everyone would feel this way about the book - I'm sure lots of you wouldn't mind these hidden lessons - but I really prefer to keep my politics out of my reading unless I'm reading for that reason. I know that I would probably love this book if I didn't hate being lectured to so much. If you don't mind equal rights rants, than you should really give this book a try. In addition, I don't mean to trash the book - it was certainly not the worst I've ever read, and without the lecturing, I would have really liked it. It was just not my cup of tea. If you'd rather keep your nose in a book with traditionally terrifying zombies, I recommend sticking to Carrie Ryan's books.





Quick Review: There was a lot of talk about equal zombie rights, which was pretty distracting. The characters were a little dull, but if you look past that, this could be a really great book. I recommend it to
people who like current issues in their reading. It wasn't exactly my cup of tea, but if it sounds like yours, be sure to give it a try.

Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry: Review Posted by Tiffany at 11:18 AM

Title: Rot and Ruin
Author: Jonathan Maberry (site)
Published: October 5th, 2010 by Simon & Schuster
Pages: 458
Price: $11.99 Book Depository $12.23 Amazon 

Series: Benny Imura #1
Source: Bought
Rating: 3.5/5
Synopsis: In the zombie-infested, post-apocalyptic America where Benny Imura lives, every teenager must find a job by the time they turn fifteen or get their rations cut in half. Benny doesn't want to apprentice as a zombie hunter with his boring older brother Tom, but he has no choice. He expects a tedious job whacking zoms for cash, but what he gets is a vocation that will teach him what it means to be human. (Goodreads)


Initial Thoughts: I was really excited about this book when it started popping up on Waiting on Wednesdays. I love post-apocalyptic stories, especially those involving zombies. It looked like it would be a very comic book-ish story about to brothers who hunt zombies.


Review: This book really surprised me. I was expecting gritty, action-filled zombie fighting action. What I got was an oddly sensitive, philosophical story about a hunter who believes that zombies should be treated with respect and his brother, who is (for most of the story) a very whiny, immature kid. Since this is a bit different from any other zombie books out right now, it took some adjustment. Once I switched gears and settled into the book, I really enjoyed it. The world that it was set in was fairly terrifying, but not for the usual reasons. There was more exploration of and focus on the crumbling of civilization and its effect on those who grew up Before, the zombies almost took a backseat to the evil that is mankind.

Every kid has to get a job in their mid-teens or lose their food rations. Benny Imura is trying to avoid apprenticing to his brother, who doesn't buy into the glamorous lifestyle of the other hunters, who tell gory and exciting stories about killing lots of zombies. His brother is very quiet and reserved about his hunting. Rumor has it that he's killed many more than the other hunters, but Benny doesn't believe it. A huge chunk of the story is the two brothers' struggle to come to terms with one another. This is a struggle because Benny is a selfish, short-sighted little punk. For the first half of the book, I really wanted to strangle Benny, the MC. The way he treated Nix and his stubborn refusal to believe anything good about his older brother was infuriating. However, once he got out into the real world and started learning more about his brother and the way he hunted, he began to grow up a bit. By the end of the novel, I rather liked him.

It took me a long time to figure out just what I thought about this book. I was expecting more of a horror movie zombie feel, but what I got was more of a Carrie Ryan For Boys feel. It had the same vibe, but without a lot of the emotional, romantic, girly stuff (which I LOVE, by the way). My first thought on putting the book down was, "My little brother is going to love this." In fact, I think that this would be a great book for guys, from middle grade to mid-teen. The relationships between him and his friends and the maturity of the MC for most of the book made this feel a bit too young for older readers, but maybe I'm underestimating the immaturity of teenage guys (haha).

Quick Review: Instead of the action packed, gritty adventure I was expecting, I got a thoughtful story (still full of action) about two brothers who have survived the zombie apocalypse, but lost each other in the process. There was plenty of adventure for the easily bored reader and plenty of character development for the reader seeking a story with depth. I thoroughly enjoyed it and have added it to my Good For Reluctant Readers, Especially Boys list.

A Thousand Flowers by Margo Lanagan: A Zombies vs Unicorns story Posted by Michaela at 12:59 PM

Summary: A man is accused of a crime he doesn't commit, and a princess gets pregnant. There is really no other way to summarize this without giving everything away.

Okay, Tiffany was all up in arms about Justine Larbalestier spoiling something big about this story (In fact, she went and ripped that badger to pieces. At least I don't have to worry about that anymore.), but honestly, I'm kind of glad about being warned. I won't give it away here, but just a heads up, there is a big spoiler in the introduction to this story.

Anyway, I really can't decide whether I like this story or not. I adored the way the story was written, but the content was rather strange. There was a common theme between her story and her book, Tender Morsels. Still, this was one of my favorites. The characters were good, and I can't think of anything I didn't like besides the plot. I give this a solid four out of five campers saved, and it actually pushed me even further into Team Zombie. Sorry, unicorn lovers. My chances of converting are getting pretty slim.

Bougainvillea by Carrie Ryan: a Zombies vs Unicorns story Posted by Michaela at 12:41 PM

Summary: When the mudo come, Iza's father is prepared. He takes them to Curacao, an island where they stave off the undead on the shores. But how long can they stay safe?

I loved this story. It's set in the same world as The Forest of Hands and Teeth, but it's right after the Return. The main character remembers things from before the zombies came, which I think is really cool, because you're able to see how things are compared to life today. This was beautifully written, and the ending was TREMENDOUS. I definitely recommend this story to lovers of TFHT as well as any person with eyes and the ability to read. Five out of five campers saved, and firmly rooted in Team Zombie.

Love Will Tear us Apart by Alaya Dawn Johnson: a Zombies vs. Unicorns story Posted by Michaela at 4:27 PM

Summary: Boy meets (zombie) boy. (Sorry for taking your summary here, Tiffany. I just don't know of any other way to summarize this.)

Okay, sorry it's taken so long for me to get this review up. Things are quite hectic around this edge of the forest since that badger moved in and started causing all this trouble. You leave one severed limb out on your lawn and everything falls apart.

Anyway, this story kind of surprised me. I did not expect this "boy meets boy" thing, but I did enjoy the writing style. There were a lot of f-bombs dropped, though, so it might not be best for younger readers. There were quite a few plot holes that I noticed, but over all it was pretty good. I give this 3.7 out of 5 campers saved. This didn't influence my current standing very much, so I am still firmly rooted in Team Zombie.

The Highest Justice by Garth Nix (A Zombies vs. Unicorns installation) Posted by Michaela at 2:14 PM

Summary: A princess goes back to a castle (after using a unicorn to revive her dead mother) in order to avenge her death.


You don't realize how much it hurts me to say this, but I was not very fond of this story. I thought it was drawn out and didn't have much of a story line. The characters didn't have as much dimension as they did in his other works (and yes, I know that character development is very hard in short stories, but I just didn't buy it here). Tiffany thinks I'm insane, and who knows, I might be.


I loved Garth Nix's book, Shade's Children. It was tremendous. This story didn't really live up to my expectations, and it kills me. It could very well be that I just hyped myself up too much.


No matter the reason for my disappointment, I feel like this was a poor start to this anthology. therefore, I am firmly planted on Team Zombie, not only because I was already a little biased toward the undead, but because this story really made me think poorly of unicorns. I am going to have to give this a two out of five campers saved.

Zombies vs. Unicorns Posted by Tiffany at 10:32 AM

Title: Zombies vs. Unicorns
Editors: Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier
Authors: Alaya Dawn Johnson, Maureen Johnson, Carrie Ryan, Scott Westerfeld, Meg Cabot, Garth Nix, Kathleen Duey, Margo Lanagan, Naomi Novik, Diana Peterfreund, Libba Bray, Cassandra Clare
Published: September 10th, 2010 by Margaret K. McElderry
Pages: 432
Price: $11.49 Book Depository $11.55 Amazon 
Rating: 5/5
Synopsis: It's a question as old as time itself: which is better, the zombie or the unicorn? In this anthology, edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier (unicorn and zombie, respectively), strong arguments are made for both sides in the form of short stories. Half of the stories portray the strengths--for good and evil--of unicorns and half show the good (and really, really bad-ass) side of zombies. Contributors include many bestselling teen authors, including Cassandra Clare, Libba Bray, Maureen Johnson, Meg Cabot, Scott Westerfeld, and Margo Lanagan. This anthology will have everyone asking: Team Zombie or Team Unicorn? (Goodreads)


Quick Review: This was a FANTASTIC anthology! If you don't have it yet, GO OUT AND BUY IT RIGHT NOW. Some stories are better than others, but they're all on the scale of Great to Freakin' Amazing. I wanted to be Team Unicorn, but I'm afraid Team Zombie has me. I'll do a quick story-by-story. WARNING: Do not read the blurbs at the beginning of the story. For Lanagan's story, Justine Larbalestier completely gave away the ending. I've never been so mad! I can't believe no one made her take that out. There is a quote by Cherie Priest, but no story. I would've loved to see her contribution! I also wish that Holly Black had put one of her stories in. I'm guessing there were just too many amazing stories.

1. "The Highest Justice" by Garth Nix. Girl tries to avenge her mother's death. If you haven't read Nix before, you are really missing out. He's one of my favorite authors of all time and I couldn't believe that he was in this anthology. The unicorn in this one is a real bad-ass. The story had the typical dark, dangerous feel of his Sabriel series. One of the best in the anthology.
2. "Love Will Tears Us Apart" by Alaya Dawn Johnson. Boy meets (zombie) boy. This was probably my least favorite, which isn't saying much. It was still great. If I had to sum it in two words, they would be: "cute" and "funny". My problem with it was that I didn't see what he saw in the zombie guy. I don't know why he would throw everything away for him. More insight into what the soldier was thinking would have been better. Also, tons of f bombs in this one.
3. "Purity Test" by Naomi Novik. Down-on-her-luck New Yorker gets drafted into rescuing unicorns. This one overturns some common misconceptions about unicorns. A smart-ass unicorn practically forces a homeless girl to help rescue some unicorns. The heroine was no nonsense, only helping to get the unicorn off her back. Novik's Temeraire series was fantastic, you should check it out. A funny story, but not one of the best.
4. "Bouganvillea" by Carrie Ryan. The daughter of a ruler in post-apocalyptic times learns that no one is truly safe. This one has the beautiful, haunting writing that I've come to expect from Carrie Ryan, and seems to be set in the same world, but that's where the similarities end. This just might be my favorite story, although it's hard to pick one. I loved the pace- everything was perfectly wrapped up by the end, nothing dragged. There wasn't the feeling that you were missing out if you hadn't read her other work, it was entirely self-contained. I don't want to give anything away, but the main character was great! So much stronger than her female characters usually are. I would love to see her reappear in Ryan's other series.
5. "A Thousand Flowers" by Margo Lanagan. A commoner finds a princess who has been attacked and is blamed for the attack.  One of the editors completely gives away the ending, which is meant to be a shock to the reader, before you even start the story. I'm not sure that if would've been quite so obvious if I hadn't read Tender Morsels, Lanagan's novel, but it's still  stupid. As in her novel, the writing is beautiful, some of the subject matter disturbing, the finished product a vague, beautiful, sad tale. Not really appropriate...for anyone. Why is Lanagan so fixated on that particular topic? I do not enjoy reading about it at all. Her stories are always a bit brutal, which (I suppose) is realistic for the time period. Don't let younger teens read this one.
6. "The Children of the Revolution" by Maureen Johnson. American student stuck without funds in England is hired to babysit some very bizarre children. I always enjoy Johnson's short stories and this one was no exception. The story would have been better if you didn't know from the start that it's a zombie story, but I suppose that was unavoidable. I love that they were poking fun at some of the crazy cult/religions out there right now. Very fun.
7. "The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn" by Diana Peterfreud. Girl whose cousins were killed by a unicorn ends up saving and raising a baby unicorn.  Rampant has been at the top of my list for a while now. I love the idea, but I've been afraid that the execution would be a bit cheesy. After reading this short story set in the same world, I can't wait to get to it. Her family's strict religious beliefs made her story so much more interesting.  I would love to read more about her. There was a huge cliffhanger ending. I'm hoping that she appears in the novels, I need some closure! One of my favorites from the anthology.
8. "Inoculata" by Scott Westerfeld. A group of kids living on a farm in zombie-infested America long to escape their tiny world.  One thing that bugged me: it took me forever to figure out the sex of the main character. This one is different in that the main characters are all young, rebellious, basically idiotic teens who don't seem to take the zombie threat seriously. I would love to see where this one is going, I'm hoping that he continues their story. I have tons of other questions and comments, but I don't want to give anything away. A great story! I love Scott Westerfeld.
9. "Princess Prettypants" by Meg Cabot.  Stereotypical unicorn ends up in modern day America. I don't read a lot of her books, because they always sound so stupid, but when I do get sucked in I'm always surprised by how much I enjoy them. This story was no exception. The best thing about her writing is her cast of oddball characters. Best line: "You might want to rethink your decision to not hand over your cell phone to me, Spank. Or my unicorn is going to smash in your face." A great story with a unicorn who turns out to be not nearly as lame as she first appears.
10. "Cold Hands" by Cassandra Clare. Story of two lovers who live in a town under a curse that brings all the dead back as peaceful zombies. This was a crazy story. I loved the cursed town, the zombies who pretty much just walk around and watch, and the general creepy feel of everything. About the romance: I can't decide if it was very romantic or very creepy. I would love to see a series set in this same town. This was another of my favorites.
11. "The Third Virgin" by Kathleen Duey. Soul-stealing unicorn wanders the earth alone. This was a very sad story, with a crazy murderous unicorn. It was good, but I'm still left feeling that there wasn't a lot of resolution.
12. "Prom Night" by Libba Bray. Teens and children police and run a small town in the middle of the desert after all of the adults have been infected. This was another desperate, sad story. Everyone is striving so hard for normalcy, but you know that their days are numbered. I would like to know why only the adults were infected, and also why she decides not to address the problem that is revealed at the end of the book. Surely she should at least try?! A very good story.

And so begins my journey.... Posted by Michaela at 5:52 PM

If you enjoy having free time, do not join theatre. That is all.

With that out of the way, I have just finished Clockwork Angel (review on the way, I promise) and I can't wait to get my hands on Zombies vs. Unicorns, potentially the greatest anthology I will ever read. In fact, I am so excited that I have decided to log my journey through the stories on here, and I can't stop believing now (although it will definitely be hard to get all of my reviews up on time.)

That was a bit sketchy. To elaborate, I am going to post a review of each individual story with my current standing in this war (zombies or unicorns), as well as my expectations for the next story.

In closing, I will say that my expectations for Garth Nix's "The Highest Justice" because of his book, Shade's Children, that I read in third grade. It was tremendous. I can only hope that this story is just as good (though I don't know if that's possible, seeing as it is about unicorns instead of zombies, but I'll give it a try.)

World War Z by Max Brooks: Review Posted by Tiffany at 7:11 PM

Title: World War Z
Author: Max Brooks (site)
Published: October 16, 2007 by Three Rivers Press
Pages: 352 (Paperback)
Price: $9.99 Book Depository $10.17 Amazon
Rating: 5/5
Synopsis: The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years. 

Ranging from the now infamous village of New Dachang in the United Federation of China, where the epidemiological trail began with the twelve-year-old Patient Zero, to the unnamed northern forests where untold numbers sought a terrible and temporary refuge in the cold, to the United States of Southern Africa, where the Redeker Plan provided hope for humanity at an unspeakable price, to the west-of-the-Rockies redoubt where the North American tide finally started to turn, this invaluable chronicle reflects the full scope and duration of the Zombie War. 

Most of all, the book captures with haunting immediacy the human dimension of this epochal event. Facing the often raw and vivid nature of these personal accounts requires a degree of courage on the part of the reader, but the effort is invaluable because, as Mr. Brooks says in his introduction, "By excluding the human factor, aren't we risking the kind of personal detachment from history that may, heaven forbid, lead us one day to repeat it? And in the end, isn't the human factor the only true difference between us and the enemy we now refer to as 'the living dead'?" 

Note: Some of the numerical and factual material contained in this edition was previously published under the auspices of the United Nations Postwar Commission. (Goodreads)

Initial Thoughts: I almost didn't pick this book up, mostly because the whole zombie element is a bit played down on the cover. However, after reading the small text, I couldn't wait to get started. A first-person account of the zombie apocalypse? With witnesses from all over the world? Written as a serious 'documentary' by the son of Mel Brooks? Yes, please!


Review: The first thing that surprised me about this book was how scary it was. One of the best things about zombie movies is that there's always some comedy mixed it, mostly unintentional. (The exception being those fast ones in 28 Days Later, so freakin' scary) I generally avoid Horror novels, due to my overactive imagination. I'm one of those people who become completely immersed in what they're reading. It takes me a while to disconnect from a good book. Needless to say, there was much contemplation of my home's defensibility and my odds of making it to the car and getting out of the neighborhood if a zombie horde started smashing in. (Not great; big window in the living room near the garage door, bedroom all the way upstairs.) If I'd really thought this through, I'd have realized that my imagination wouldn't add in funny zombie hijinks, it would take the tone of the novel and amplify it. The fact that I had to run to my car and lock the doors real fast when I left the house is an indicator of how thoroughly engrossing this novel was. It's written seriously, with reports from everywhere. The cultural information is the book is amazing. He must have done a heck of a lot of research. I enjoyed reading about the different cultures as much as the zombies. It really felt like I was reading the accounts of WWZ survivors. There were snapshots of both military and civilian experiences, starting in China where the zombies originated and ending on the sea, where most of the survivors were. The stories didn't all connect together, giving it a more realistic feel. It wasn't until about halfway through the novel that you began to see the overall story come together. I loved the different ways the governments responded; this guy has spent a LOT of time contemplating the ramifications of a Zombie Apocalypse.


Quick Review: World War Z a creepy and realistic read. The civilian stories were heartbreaking, the military accounts sometimes cold and clinical, and the overall feel was very realistic and terrifying. You'll definitely think about coming up with a Zombie Emergency Plan.

Also By This Author:

On Deck: World War Z by Max Brooks Posted by Tiffany at 7:25 PM

So far, I absolutely love this book. It's not YA, but it is (so far) not anything that would be completely inappropriate for YA readers. I'm really surprised by this one. I thought it would be your typical zombie apocalypse survival story, but it feels very much like the documentary that it's supposed to be. The journalist has stayed out of the story so far, every character is different (no convenient links between each one), and the snapshots we're given of the different cultures and their different reactions feel really authentic. I can't believe how much I'm learning about other countries. This has been optioned for a movie, but it would be AMAZING as a TV series, with each episode being a different character and story. Review coming soon.

The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan (Review) Posted by Tiffany at 12:17 PM

 The Dead-Tossed Waves

 Carrie Ryan

404 pages (Hardcover)

Gabry lives a quiet life, secure in her town next to the sea and behind the Barrier. She's content to let her friends dream of the Dark City up the coast while she watches from the top of her lighthouse. Home is all she's ever known, and all she needs for happiness.

But life after the Return is never safe, and there are threats even the Barrier can't hold back.

Gabry's mother thought she left her secrets behind in the Forest of Hands and Teeth, but like the dead in their world, secrets don't stay buried. And now, Gabry's world is crumbling.

One night beyond the Barrier...

One boy Gabry's known forever and one veiled in mystery...

One reckless moment, and half of Gabry's generation is dead, the other half imprisoned.

Gabry knows only one thing: if she is to have any hope of a future, she must face the forest of her mother's past. (synopsis from Carrie Ryan's site)


This isn't your typical paranormal YA romance. You know: a somewhat shy girl meets a mysterious (and incredibly handsome) guy at school and falls for him, but he has a dark secret and, besides, what about that nice normal guy she liked before? It's a bit more 'shy girl really likes her best friend's brother, but is a bit more concerned about the flesh-eating zombies that are constantly trying to break into their village and kill everyone.' In other words, there's romance but there's also  a world full of zombies and teenagers being recruited into zombie-fighting armies and cults that worship those zombies. The romance is beautiful, that perfect combination of aching suspense and  sweetness, nothing dirty or overly sexual. The plot started a bit slow and then was nice and fast. The author didn't coddle the reader by having the characters manage to slide through everything without being harmed. Elias and his backstory added a lot to the overall story of the novel. His revelation towards the end was amazing and unexpected, tying TDTW to The Forest of Hands and Teeth and tying up some loose ends in the first novel. The ending set it up for at least one more book, which could go in a number of different directions. The Dark and Hollow Places has been announced, a companion novel to TDTW. It's not clear yet whether it will continue Gabry's story or be more of a parallel story that ties in at the end. Either way, I can't wait to read it. There's no cover yet, but I imagine it will be as beautiful as the first two were. 


Loved: The characters, especially Catcher and Elias. The development of the relationships between the main characters. The world in which her novels take place. I would love to see one set in one of the cities.


Hated: The cliffhanger ending (but in a good way.) I can't wait to see what happens to the characters now that they've been split up and are still being hunted. 


Rating: 5/5
Five campers out of five saved, a wonderful book.