Book Review-iZombie Dead to the World by Chris Roberson & Mike Allred

Title: iZombie- Dead to the World

 Author: Chris Roberson, Mike Allred

Series:  IZombie #1

Published:  22 March 2011 by Vertigo

Length: 144 pages

Warnings: sex references, violence 13+

Source: Bought

Other info: There's two more in the series, uVampire and Six Feet Under & Rising.

Summary : Told from a female zombie’s perspective, this smart, witty detective series mixes urban fantasy and romantic dramedy.Gwendolyn “Gwen” Dylan is a 20-something gravedigger in an eco-friendly cemetery. Once a month she must eat a human brain to keep from losing her memories, but in the process she becomes consumed with the thoughts and personality of the dead person – until she eats her next brain. She sets out to fulfi ll the dead person’s last request, solve a crime or right a wrong.Our zombie girl detective is joined by a radical supporting cast: her best friend Eleanor, who happens to be a swinging ’60s ghost, a posse of paintball blasting vampires, a smitten were-dog and a hot but demented mummy.

Review: When I added this to my goodreads shelf, I didn’t realise that it was a comic. Oh well. First impressions? The blurb is really good-I love it when something like that can be taken both metaphorically and literally. And when I read it, it instantly appealed to me. A zombie, Gwen, digging up graves for a living and digging them back up to eat the brains, plus the memories, for staying in her current form of undeath? Definitely my thing. Then the latest brain she eats once belonged to a man who ended life as a murder victim, and it’s up to Gwen and her best friends (a ghost and a were-terrier) to solve it.

I love the mix of paranormals represented in iZombie. Theres one of one all the major species (zombies, lycanthropes, ghosts, vampires) and  a fair few humans in it too.  The take on the zombie is very interesting-with Gwen staying fairly intact as long as she eats a brain every so often so she can stay in her non-shambling state.

Gwen is a strong and realistic heroine, who takes her situation quite well, and does what she has to do, albeit with not much enthusiasm,  to keep herself out of a non-shambling state. I really liked her for some reason.

It gets off to a very good start, with the trick or treating. The introduction of the subplots such as the part witt the vampires and Scott the were-terrier and the monstrer hunting was done well, and all of these played out very well. Apart from the main murder mystery. Very interesting, but at the very end, confusing and anticlimactic.

The art is consistent, and I love the fact that the entire book is in full colour. It really does add something to enjoying the book. I don’t really understand why we oiccationally see just half of Gwen’s face rotting. I get that it is meant to show her as she could be, but when we do see her like that, it seems to be totally random.

Overall: Strength 3 tea to a new take on an old concept, with a whole cast of paranormally inclined characters that you will definitely like.  

Links: | Goodreads | Authorwebsite |