A Librarian's Library | 07 December 2012 | Jennifer

Here is a summary of this novel in one line: This book is one part The Walking Dead and one part A Clockwork Orange. The story primarily centers around a group of high schoolers that one might refer to as "punks". And then zombies attack, and they flea for their lives! Zom-B is a read-in-a-sitting book that includes some illustrations that add both excitement and suspense to this quick-paced story!

 

The thing with this book is that most of the characters are extremely unlikeable. They are extremely flawed. But this doesn't make them bad characters. It just makes this a different kind of interesting story. B's father is an abusive racist that just makes you cringe with hatred. His influence over B is very prominent, and as we see B struggle with the rightness and wrongness of decisions, B's character continually fluctuates between hero and anti-hero. This fluctuation adds something different to this story because it is not everyday that the main character is really flawed. In some ways, having B be so outright awful makes this story a lot more interesting and unique, which I always appreciate.

 

This book is essentially divided into two parts: the set up of B's character (and family and friends) and the zombie attack. As I addressed the main parts of part one in the first paragraph, I will address the latter half of the book now. The zombie action was EXTREMELY gruesome, which was kind of awesome. ;-) It was like reading an episode of the walking dead with graphic zombie-attack details. But at the same time, the quick pace stays the same. The zombie attack is exciting and exhilarating and not censored or dulled. By far, this book holds the most movie-like zombie scenes I have read yet!

 

There is quite a huge twist at the end of this first book that completely caught me by surprise and shock and made me go back and re-read parts over to try and understand. And i didn't really. And apparently others don't either, according to the reviews I have read. This mystery fact alone makes this book truly stand out from other big twist books because it is truly unexpected and shocking!

 

My lingering question throughout this novel has to do with the creepy crazy man from the prologue. I believe he will become a bigger player in this 12 book series, and that is a main reason why I want to keep reading! He is eerily intriguing.

 

If you are looking for a quick read full of action and twisted characters, and you are a fan of zombies, then I would recommend this one for sure. It's a likeable book because it is full of so many unlikeable things, which makes it unique in my book.

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