Title: Zombies
Don’t Cry
Author:
Rusty Fischer
Series: Living Dead Love Story #1
Published: 1 October 2012 by Electric Monkey
Source: won from US publisher
Review: Maddy Swift is Normal. Trying to pass food
class, sneaking in and out, and going out to dances. This stops when she is
struck by lightning. Which makes her a zombie. Under the wing of some fellow
zombies, Chloe and Dane, Maddy starts to adjust to life as a one of the undead.
Even when you take into the fact that Zerkers, crazy ones past civilised
zombie-ism, are running round her high school.
I’d heard of Rusty and his books ages ago and so was happy
to see he got a deal in the UK.
These zombies are very original. I like the fact that
there’s more to them than eating brains, but that is a big part of them. I also
like the use of the lightning-not the bolt on the creators table, more a bolt
while out doing normal things, and the subversion of the trope is good.
The main characters, Maddy, Chloe and Dane, are all very likable
and make a great friendship group. Love interest Stamp is cute, but he doesn’t
really do much. I like the fact that Maddie was quite active and did lots of
things despite just being throne into this new world with its bureaucracy and
rules. Chloe is my favourite character
because she just wins in terms of coolness.
The writing is chatty, open and fun. I love the chapter
titles. All the things that happen to Maddy after she becomes undead are unpredictable
and crazy. The climax at the school was well done. I liked the circular
structure-the way it comes back to the guy in the blue suit…
Overall: Strength 3 tea to a fun zombie romance.
Title: Hellbent
Author:
Anthony McGowan
Series: N/A
Published: 2005
Source: library
Review: Conor ONeil dies and goes to hell. There he
finds that hell is a mix of hells for different people. His hell, with him
being a teenage boy into all the stereotypical teenage boy things, is to be
surrounded in a room with classical music and heavy books. Hacking into a
computer then leads Conor to find there’s someone whose hell is his heaven.
with his pet dog who comes along as part of a new initiative, and Clarence, the
demon who was assigned to oversee his eternal punishment, he sets out to find
that someone.
I picked this up in a shop and started reading it. It wasn’t
a great start, but the concept was very interesting.
It’s definitely for people who find humour in stereotypical
teenage boys’ views of sex, excrement and such.
A lot of Conor’s narration revolves around it, which is fair enough,
considering where they are, but sometimes it gets in the way a bit.
It’s a very chatty book. Conor is talking directly to you,
telling you all about his life, and his death.
The characters were all exaggerated for comic effect. I
particularly liked the Café Valhalla, where Vikings are put in as waiters and forced
to form a string quartet. Conor isn’t the most engaging character for me, but
some may like him more than me.
Overall: Strength 3 to a very different interpretation
of Hell that may be enjoyed more by people with different senses of humour.
That there's more to zombies than brain-eating beings sounds interesting!
ReplyDeleteZombies Don't Cry looks pretty good. I've heard of it- I think it was recommended to me by Goodreads a while ago! Glad to see you quite liked it. I might have to check it out soon :) great review :D
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