I love Darren Shan, have done since the Cirque de Freak series and I think I always will. When I first heard about Zom-B, his new YA zombie series I knew I had to get it and read it as soon as possible. I managed to get hold of a copy from the lovely Jenni and reading it in time for Halloween was a great idea.

The story was really interesting, Zom-B isn’t just about the zombies, despite it’s name and I loved it because of that. Theres a huge thing with B’s father and the principal at the school and the ‘cleanliness’ of Britain. I think this might be something to do with the Zombie attacks in a way but it wasn’t covered in this book, I guess it will be covered in the next one, or two books. I would have liked a bit more backdrop too but as the book is quite short - at just over 200 pages - I think there was a lot that was just being set up but I still really enjoyed it.

It was hard to get on board with the characters at times. I liked B but at times the character seemed quite big-headed and boasting. Todd, B’s Father, was an ass and I don’t use the term lightly. I hated him and I really couldn’t get on board with why the family put up with him. I wanted to throw the book across the room when he went on his tirades about foreigners. The kids at school were pretty cool and I liked some of B’s friends but they did seem a bit disposable shall we see. I really liked the banter between B and friends, especially Vinyl, I also loved all their nicknames.

I did really enjoy Zom-B, it was terrifying and the zombies freaked me out so much. I loved the way Zom-B was written and how fast paced it was. There are illustrations in the finished version which the proof had left space for but weren’t included. I missed these, and I think the finished product would really benefit from them. I also knew there was a twist but unfortunately I guessed the twist very, very early on. Bearing all this in mind though I would still really recommend Zom-B, I reckon any fan of the horror genre will love it.