Zombies Tag Archives

7 October, 2012

Coming of Age, Fantasy, Middle Grade, reviews

0 comments

Action, Adventure, Middle Grade, Ponti, Zombies

Enclave by Ann Aguirre

Enclave by Ann Aguirre

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Reason for Reading:

I’ve seen a few reviews of this one and stumbled across it on my library shelf.

I also recommend:

The Maze Runner by James Dashner
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Summary from GoodReads:

In Deuce’s world, people earn the right to a name only if they survive their first fifteen years. By that point, each unnamed ‘brat’ has trained into one of three groups–Breeders, Builders, or Hunters, identifiable by the number of scars they bear on their arms. Deuce has wanted to be a Huntress for as long as she can remember.

As a Huntress, her purpose is clear—to brave the dangerous tunnels outside the enclave and bring back meat to feed the group while evading ferocious monsters known as Freaks. She’s worked toward this goal her whole life, and nothing’s going to stop her, not even a beautiful, brooding Hunter named Fade. When the mysterious boy becomes her partner, Deuce’s troubles are just beginning.

Down below, deviation from the rules is punished swiftly and harshly, and Fade doesn’t like following orders. At first Deuce thinks he’s crazy, but as death stalks their sanctuary, and it becomes clear the elders don’t always know best, Deuce wonders if Fade might be telling the truth. Her partner confuses her; she’s never known a boy like him before, as prone to touching her gently as using his knives with feral grace.

As Deuce’s perception shifts, so does the balance in the constant battle for survival. The mindless Freaks, once considered a threat only due to their sheer numbers, show signs of cunning and strategy… but the elders refuse to heed any warnings. Despite imminent disaster, the enclave puts their faith in strictures and sacrifice instead. No matter how she tries, Deuce cannot stem the dark tide that carries her far from the only world she’s ever known.

My Review:

First. FIRST PEOPLE. How cool is the name Deuce for a girl? Like.. seriously, I wanted to read this book just to see that name on multiple pages and think, “I want to be named Deuce.” My inner teenager is coming out just thinking about it!

So Enclave is a razor sharp (no pun intended), action-filled, zombie wasteland of a novel that has action, a butt-kicking heroine who doesn’t make her male counterpoint pointless, and a great post-apocalyptic world that didn’t have me cringing in horror. I mean – basically it was just about everything I could have wanted in a book.

In Enclave, Deuce lives in a world where children do not receive names until they have reached an age where they can contribute to society – be it through breeding, hunting, or building. Deuce has trained and is ready to become a hunter – but little does she know what that actually means … as she is paired up with one unsavory dude.

My imagination came to life as I read this story. I could see the tunnels and the zombies (yes, zombies!!), and felt the heart-racing excitement as events unfolded. I felt the injustice that Deuce must have felt, and was thrilled as the story moved from those deep caverns to a completely different atmosphere. And y’all, I think I read one of the most horrifying passages I’ve ever read – to paraphrase, something had been “chewing quietly” on a person. Um… EW.

I think this is a fantastic title to recommend to lovers of the horror/zombie fad – it ranks up there with Feed and The Forest of Hands and Teeth for some of my all-time favorites.

Don’t just take my word for it! Check out what these bloggers say!

Candace’s Book Blog| Linus’s Blanket | A Life Bound by Books

Method of Obtaining: Checked out from my local library.
Published by: Feiwel & Friends
Release Date: 4/12/2011

9 September, 2012

Post-Apocalyptic, reviews, Young Adult

1 comment

Aguirre, Post-Apocalyptic, Strong Heroine, Zombies

Ganymede by Cherie Priest

Ganymede by Cherie Priest

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Reason for Reading:

Cherie Priest is the Queen of Steampunk authors, in my own opinion.

I also recommend:

The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson

Summary from GoodReads:

The air pirate Andan Cly is going straight. Well, straighter. Although he’s happy to run alcohol guns wherever the money’s good, he doesn’t think the world needs more sap, or its increasingly ugly side-effects. But becoming legit is easier said than done, and Cly’s first legal gig—a supply run for the Seattle Underground—will be paid for by sap money.

New Orleans is not Cly’s first pick for a shopping run. He loved the Big Easy once, back when he also loved a beautiful mixed-race prostitute named Josephine Early—but that was a decade ago, and he hasn’t looked back since. Jo’s still thinking about him, though, or so he learns when he gets a telegram about a peculiar piloting job. It’s a chance to complete two lucrative jobs at once, one he can’t refuse. He sends his old paramour a note and heads for New Orleans, with no idea of what he’s in for—or what she wants him to fly.

But he won’t be flying. Not exactly. Hidden at the bottom of Lake Pontchartrain lurks an astonishing war machine, an immense submersible called the Ganymede. This prototype could end the war, if only anyone had the faintest idea of how to operate it…. If only they could sneak it past the Southern forces at the mouth of the Mississippi River… If only it hadn’t killed most of the men who’d ever set foot inside it.

But it’s those “if onlys” that will decide whether Cly and his crew will end up in the history books, or at the bottom of the ocean.

My Review:

Clementine, by Cherie Priest, is one of my favorite of the Clockwork Century books. So with that said, bringing the same characters back that kicked butt in Clementine for Ganymede pushed this book up into a frontrunner spot before I even began to read it.

It didn’t have to stay in that spot when I started reading it – but it held it by its own merit, because y’all, this book kicked butt. Serious butt. Seriously – submarines, zombies, tough girls fighting off zombies – I honestly think this is the best book of the Clockwork Century books yet. So much action, it had me fist-pumping mere pages into the story and the classy touch of romance only helped matters – it was just enough.

I admire Cherie Priest so much. She has such a distinctive, unique way of writing. I love the layout of these books, the sepia ink, the fantastic covers, the awesome re-writing of history (making it much more cool). There is so much style in each of her stories, and I think Ganymede really shows that style off. I’ve been following each release of these books since reading Boneshaker, and anxiously hoarding them on my shelves – loaning them out only when I’m sure I’ll get them back in the same condition.

Ms. Priest, you have one loyal fan here, and you’ve above and beyond earned that loyalty. I cannot wait for the next release!

Check out these reviews!

Fantasy Book Critic

7 January, 2012

Adventure, Historical, Horror, reviews

3 comments

Clockwork Century, Priest, Steampunk, Submarines, Zombies

The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan

The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan

Order from:

Good Books and Good Wine

Reason for Reading:

I loved The Forest of Hands and Teeth (click for my review)

I also recommend:

World War Z by Max Brooks
Feed by Mira Grant

Summary from GoodReads:

Gabry lives a quiet life. As safe a life as is possible in a town trapped between a forest and the ocean, in a world teeming with the dead, who constantly hunger for those still living. She’s content on her side of the Barrier, happy to let her friends dream of the Dark City up the coast while she watches from the top of her lighthouse. But there are threats the Barrier cannot hold back. Threats like the secrets Gabry’s mother thought she left behind when she escaped from the Sisterhood and the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Like the cult of religious zealots who worship the dead. Like the stranger from the forest who seems to know Gabry. And suddenly, everything is changing. One reckless moment, and half of Gabry’s generation is dead, the other half imprisoned. Now Gabry only knows one thing: she must face the forest of her mother’s past in order to save herself and the one she loves.

My Review:

Okay, so – I loved The Forest of Hands and Teeth. I loved it. So much so that I re-read it before picking up The Dead-Tossed Waves and put it down after I was done and said, man I like that book!

So I couldn’t wait to start The Dead-Tossed Waves. And at first, it was good. Well, okay, so Gabry got on my nerves a little, and I wanted more about Mary, but she started to grow on me and I got really quickly attached to Catcher and… then the book just started to meander about 50 pages in. Y’all, it’s not good to feel the meandering starting that early in the book. I remember thinking about 100 pages that I didn’t know how Ryan was going to fill the remaining pages of this book because so much stuff had happened/was happening, it was like a constant climax to the story that just kept going…and going,

I think I would have preferred this book to be about a hundred pages shorter – then I would have liked it more. But as it is, it was so different from The Forest of Hands and Teeth where I didn’t WANT the end to come, that it disappointed me.

There were some redeeming qualities about it though! So never fear, I didn’t hate it completely. I was fascinated by the introduction of the Soulers, loved the reintroduction of a character from The Forest of Hands and Teeth, I liked Elias and Catcher both (and love how Carrie Ryan crafted the character of Mary – seriously, more books like this please. A woman (or man) does not need someone of the opposite sex to complete them ALL the time. Hurray for strong, single portrayal in a book). I enjoyed learning more about the world and what happened, and even shed a tear upon learning the fate of some of the characters from the previous book.

Argh. I’m so frustrated because it was just too long. But enough about all of that. I’m hoping The Dark and Hollow Places gives me more of what I was looking for (and, judging from the length of it, I don’t think I’ll have an issue with at least that).

Check out these reviews!

The Book Cellar

Post-Apocalyptic, reviews

20 July, 2011

2 comments

Forest of Hands and Teeth, Ryan, Unconcescrated, Zombies

Feed by Mira Grant

Feed by Mira Grant

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Reason for Reading:

This book was loaned to me by a friend who told me I HAVE to read it. HAVE to!

I also recommend:

World War Z by Max Brooks
The Child Thief by Brom

Summary from GoodReads:

In 2014, two experimental viruses—a genetically engineered flu strain designed by Dr. Alexander Kellis, intended to act as a cure for the common cold, and a cancer-killing strain of Marburg, known as “Marburg Amberlee”—escaped the lab and combined to form a single airborne pathogen that swept around the world in a matter of days. It cured cancer. It stopped a thousand cold and flu viruses in their tracks.

It raised the dead.

Millions died in the chaos that followed. The summer of 2014 was dubbed “The Rising,” and only the lessons learned from a thousand zombie movies allowed mankind to survive. Even then, the world was changed forever. The mainstream media fell, Internet news acquired an undeniable new legitimacy, and the CDC rose to a new level of power.

Set twenty years after the Rising, the Newsflesh trilogy follows a team of bloggers, led by Georgia and Shaun Mason, as they search for the brutal truths behind the infection. Danger, deceit, and betrayal lurk around every corner, as does the hardest question of them all:

When will you rise?

My Review:

You have reluctant reader teenage/college age boys? Seriously – hand them this book. Oh. my. goodness.

This is thriller-zombiefied-bloggingworld-dystopia-madness. Seriously, no one is safe. Mira Grant has made a world with a believable mixture of diseases causing reanimation and has infused it with a realistic political structure and news reporting structure. This is a book bloggers need to embrace – it shows how much potential power we have. We see it already with our reviews of books much like this one, but when taken to the level Grant takes blogging – it blows the mind.

I loved Feed. I found it thrilling, heart-breaking, nail-chewingly suspenseful and, although I’m really not that big of a fan of zombies, I didn’t mind them nearly so much in this story. I wept crocodile-sized tears, y’all, when I read this book. I pumped my fist in the air, I gasped and moaned in sympathy and I loved every. single. moment. of it. Every one.

My only regret is that I waited so long to read it.

Bring on the the next books – this is one fan that’ll be chomping at the bit for them!

Check out these review(s):

reviews, Science Fiction

4 comments

Apocolypse, Blogging, Grant, Virus, Zombies

Dreadnought by Cherie Priest

Dreadnought by Cherie Priest

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Reason(s) for Reading:

Big fan of Cherie Priest – I totally blame Boneshaker.
How can you go wrong with a book printed with sepia ink?

I also recommend:

Leviathan by Scott Westerfield
Boneshaker by Cherie Priest

Summary from GoodReads:

Nurse Mercy Lynch is elbows deep in bloody laundry at a war hospital in Richmond, Virginia, when Clara Barton comes bearing bad news: Mercy’s husband has died in a POW camp. On top of that, a telegram from the west coast declares that her estranged father is gravely injured, and he wishes to see her. Mercy sets out toward the Mississippi River. Once there, she’ll catch a train over the Rockies and—if the telegram can be believed—be greeted in Washington Territory by the sheriff, who will take her to see her father in Seattle.

Reaching the Mississippi is a harrowing adventure by dirigible and rail through war-torn border states. When Mercy finally arrives in St. Louis, the only Tacoma-bound train is pulled by a terrifying Union-operated steam engine called the Dreadnought. Reluctantly, Mercy buys a ticket and climbs aboard.

What ought to be a quiet trip turns deadly when the train is beset by bushwhackers, then vigorously attacked by a band of Rebel soldiers. The train is moving away from battle lines into the vast, unincorporated west, so Mercy can’t imagine why they’re so interested. Perhaps the mysterious cargo secreted in the second and last train cars has something to do with it?

Mercy is just a frustrated nurse who wants to see her father before he dies. But she’ll have to survive both Union intrigue and Confederate opposition if she wants to make it off the Dreadnought alive.

My Review:

In my opinion, Cherie Priest is the reigning queen author of Steampunk novels, and Dreadnought is a solid example of why. It’s hard to explain Steampunk to someone who doesn’t already know what it is – I mean, you can bring Verne into the picture and then try to bring the word “mash-up” into the mix (citing Glee for those who tend to not read much) and then finish off with a flourish of “something like that” and hope that they get it… or you can just hand over a copy of Boneshaker and tell them to read it.

Sure, the historical aspects have been twisted and pulled a bit – but these aren’t historical fiction novels (unless your world actually does contain zombies). The thing about Cherie Priest’s books are – even though you know they aren’t historically accurate, the manner in which she writes them makes you doubt that more than once as you are reading the story. In Dreadnought, there are many scenes in which Mercy is treating soldiers, in which relationships are being developed between the North and the South on the Dreadnought itself (which alone is.. man, so awesome to read about), and it seems plausible that these things did, in fact, happen. Another thing that helps is the way that Priest implements things such as dirigibles and zombies without batting an eye at how unusual they really are. Everything is incorporated into the story in such a matter-of-fact way that if you, the reader, seems to bat an eyelash at it, you would be the one out of the ordinary.

Mercy Lynch’s journey from Virginia to Seattle, Washington is a fun, romping good time. There’s adventure, there’s flying vehicles, there’s massive trains and there’s zombies… and it all makes perfect sense. Boneshaker and Dreadnought are two shining examples of just how great Steampunk books can be, and I cannot wait to see what Cherie Priest comes up with next.

Check out these review(s):

Civil War, Priest, Steampunk, Zombies

World War Z by Max Brooks

World War Z by Max Brooks

Order from:

Life & Times of a “New” New Yorker

Reason(s) for Reading:

Who wouldn’t love to read a book about a good zombie war?
It’s gotten high praise from a friend.

I also recommend:

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith & Jane Austen
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan (YA)

Summary from GoodReads:

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.

My Review:

Well, now I know what we should do to prevent a zombie war from happening.

This was an.. unexpected type of story. I’d heard from a friend that this book was fun to read, but I think I was thinking of it more along the lines of a Pride and Prejudice and Zombies type of book, a kind of tongue-in-cheek war novel. What I got was along the lines of.. a documentary, with fake interviews that felt real, a scenario that was both fascinating and filled with horror, and a story that just kept gaining momentum.

Max Brooks writes World War Z without it seeming full of gimmicks and, while reading through some of the reviews on the book, I noticed that there were a few comments about how all of the interviews sounded the same. In a way, they were – at the beginning of the book the narrator speaks to how he’s writing the book with the emotions that his employer won’t allow in their report. He’s documenting, editing and compiling on his own and the end result is a product that, ultimately, is written by one man and influenced by those he interviewed. Was this meant to be a serious piece of news? Not at all. But it was close enough to give the illusion of that, and that’s what I really enjoyed about the book.

Fantastic read – highly recommended for those who enjoy war stories and are looking for something just a bit different.

Check out these review(s):