In accordance with my last post, I thought that I would talk some more about Zombies, this time from the imagination of the master of horror himself: Darren Shan. I have been a big fan of Darren Shan ever since I read his ‘Darren Shan Saga’…which I may have to re-read again soon. I actually have a signed copy of Zom-B that my cousin got me from Ireland, it is my most treasured book. I can’t wait for Darren to come to Gloucestershire, maybe I’ll get to meet him. I recommend this to all who enjoy a good bit of gore and all ages…well maybe not younger than 10…but still, most ages should read his books!

‘Zom-B is a radical new series’ are the words beginning most of the reviews out there…which is completely correct but I would say that instead of ‘radical’ it is eye-opening and relevant to today’s world. We see the world fall to pieces through the eyes of one of the victims, B Smith, a teenager living in modern day London with a horrible, racist, bully of a father. Even though he is a wife-beater, a bully, a ‘nasty sod’ B still respects and loves him. He proves that he is no coward when London is attacked but still never changes. And what of the tall, thin man we encounter?

Normally his books are free from politics and filled to the brim with gore but here he has written on a very serious subject that continues to haunt our world; racism. Racism is a huge problem that we have to deal with from day to day and is something I think will take a long time to fix. Prejudice is something that has always been around and will continue to be around until humans sort themselves out and learn to accept differences. I think that Darren has touched on the subject of racism very tactfully in this novel as it is mainly aimed at teenagers but still keeping up his gruesome persona by throwing in the disgusting, but brilliant, zombies. I feel that Shan has stepped into a new world with this book – he has opened up into the serious problems of today and thrown them into his ghastly cauldron. The characters are put into a position where, if they make the wrong choices, they suffer for them.

Like all his books I found myself feeling rather queasy during some scenes, perhaps not as much as I did while reading the Demonata series but still pretty sick. It is this that makes Darren Shan so awesome; he is able to floor a twenty-one year old with his amazing imagination. Keep writing Darren Shan, I look forward to reading the rest of the Zom-B books.