jen776's review
5.0
I read this book in one sitting. Very fast paced and entertaining. Can't wait to read book 2
cathepsut's review
2.0
I thought about giving this three stars, because I laughed a few times, but in the end I had too many issues with this book.
The characters are shallow and there is no character development at all. Or at least none that makes sense. The heroine is supposed to be badass, but I don't buy it. She morphs from a college student to a Katana-wielding zombie slasher in no time at all, with a few hours of learning how to fall right. Ok, whatever.
She hates the guts of this dark but not very mysterious type and he hates her right back. One chapter later, they are both tingly for each other. Why? No idea.
Two female characters that join her zombie-slashing team, are bitches and hate her guts. She hates them right back. A few chapters later, for no reason, they start smiling at her and like her. Why? No idea.
The secret zombie-slashing society that she joins has an unpronouncable name. Nobody wonders what it means or what language it is. I would ask, wouldn't you?
Vesuvius was detonated and Atlantis sunk to prevent a zombie apoclypse. Really? How? No explanation was forthcoming.
Whatever scientific explanations are attempted to explain zombies or how this outbreak happened -- they are simplistic and still make no sense.
The plot has more holes than a month old zombie.
Tons of movie quotes and references. Nice and mildly amusing, but that doesn't help the plot much and gets annoying after a while.
The editing was not great either.
I could go on, but let's leave it at that. The majority of people on goodreads think this book is great, so don't mind me. I will definitely not pick up the next installment of this series.
The characters are shallow and there is no character development at all. Or at least none that makes sense. The heroine is supposed to be badass, but I don't buy it. She morphs from a college student to a Katana-wielding zombie slasher in no time at all, with a few hours of learning how to fall right. Ok, whatever.
She hates the guts of this dark but not very mysterious type and he hates her right back. One chapter later, they are both tingly for each other. Why? No idea.
Two female characters that join her zombie-slashing team, are bitches and hate her guts. She hates them right back. A few chapters later, for no reason, they start smiling at her and like her. Why? No idea.
The secret zombie-slashing society that she joins has an unpronouncable name. Nobody wonders what it means or what language it is. I would ask, wouldn't you?
Vesuvius was detonated and Atlantis sunk to prevent a zombie apoclypse. Really? How? No explanation was forthcoming.
Whatever scientific explanations are attempted to explain zombies or how this outbreak happened -- they are simplistic and still make no sense.
The plot has more holes than a month old zombie.
Tons of movie quotes and references. Nice and mildly amusing, but that doesn't help the plot much and gets annoying after a while.
The editing was not great either.
I could go on, but let's leave it at that. The majority of people on goodreads think this book is great, so don't mind me. I will definitely not pick up the next installment of this series.
veronica87's review
4.0
At 350 pages, this book read remarkably fast. I just kept turning pages to see what would happen next and ended up reading it all in about a day. It's a zombie outbreak, something not as unheard of as one might think, apparently, but not everyone is affected in the same ways. If you like The Walking Dead, which I do, then you'll probably like this too. I will say that this story has more humor and pop cultural references than the more somber tv show but given the subject matter that's not a bad thing. This looks to be the first book in a trilogy and I'm excited to see what happens next.
jennyninnymuggins's review
2.0
argh, there be spoilers ahead...
Reading this I felt like I'd stumbled on an entertaining bit of fan-fiction from some fandom I couldn't quite put my finger on. Oh, wait...there it is...
There's a vampire, I mean, zombie, uprising in the small town of Sunnydale, I mean, Redwood Grove. Our heroine, wise cracking, pop reference making high school...er college student, Buffy, I mean...Ashley, has just discovered that she is a kick-butt super-powered special zombie slayer. Her school librarian...no, her professor of infectious diseases, Giles...er, Simone, knows ALL about these things. She's part of a secret society who has been fighting vampire...er, zombies...and trying to keep them secret from the human world since the days of Pompeii. Together, with her misfit band of fellow slayers, including her new friend- sweet, naive but kick-butt Willow, I mean, Lily, and her new not-quite-like-everyone- else almost boyfriend, Gabriel...er, I mean, Angel...I mean...yes, Gabriel, Ashley will attempt to knock out the undead hoards.
After coming up with THAT clever bit of world-stealing, the author had to come up with some more twists to make it her own. I can imagine her sitting at her coffee table, creating note cards with various ideas.
The first stack of note cards was likely filled with the titles of every movie she'd ever watched, EVER, so she could reference them in the book. Pop culture references are edgy and fun, right?
The second stack might have included all the fantastic and oh-so-funny characters. Wouldn't it be awesome if the heroine was actually ten years older than everyone else because she got out of a cruddy marriage and was only now figuring out what she wanted to be when she grew up, while screwing a kid 5 years her junior? Oh, and we should make him a dumb jock, because THAT'S what girls like her missed out on in high school! And, it would be SO funny if the one guy was a self-righteous vegan who was later forced to eat human flesh to survive! Serves him right! Haha...pun, see? Serving zombie food.... Its all SO clever and fun, see?
The third stack was likely "Zombie ideas". Natural disasters of history- Pompeii! They set off the volcano to wipe out the zombies! Atlantis! They sunk the island to wipe out the zombies! The black plague! Zombies almost wiped out the people!
A fourth stack, Snippets From The Lives Of Zombies, was just chock full of filler pages of zombies not related or very loosely related to the actual story. I mean, having already lifted the basics for the book, then worked so hard to cannibalize it (haha), we might as well just stick some flotsam in there rather than having an original thought.
If you don't mind the blatant unoriginality of it all, this is actually a zombie beach read at its best: fast paced, mildly amusing, not to be taken seriously and wholly forgettable
Reading this I felt like I'd stumbled on an entertaining bit of fan-fiction from some fandom I couldn't quite put my finger on. Oh, wait...there it is...
There's a vampire, I mean, zombie, uprising in the small town of Sunnydale, I mean, Redwood Grove. Our heroine, wise cracking, pop reference making high school...er college student, Buffy, I mean...Ashley, has just discovered that she is a kick-butt super-powered special zombie slayer. Her school librarian...no, her professor of infectious diseases, Giles...er, Simone, knows ALL about these things. She's part of a secret society who has been fighting vampire...er, zombies...and trying to keep them secret from the human world since the days of Pompeii. Together, with her misfit band of fellow slayers, including her new friend- sweet, naive but kick-butt Willow, I mean, Lily, and her new not-quite-like-everyone- else almost boyfriend, Gabriel...er, I mean, Angel...I mean...yes, Gabriel, Ashley will attempt to knock out the undead hoards.
After coming up with THAT clever bit of world-stealing, the author had to come up with some more twists to make it her own. I can imagine her sitting at her coffee table, creating note cards with various ideas.
The first stack of note cards was likely filled with the titles of every movie she'd ever watched, EVER, so she could reference them in the book. Pop culture references are edgy and fun, right?
The second stack might have included all the fantastic and oh-so-funny characters. Wouldn't it be awesome if the heroine was actually ten years older than everyone else because she got out of a cruddy marriage and was only now figuring out what she wanted to be when she grew up, while screwing a kid 5 years her junior? Oh, and we should make him a dumb jock, because THAT'S what girls like her missed out on in high school! And, it would be SO funny if the one guy was a self-righteous vegan who was later forced to eat human flesh to survive! Serves him right! Haha...pun, see? Serving zombie food.... Its all SO clever and fun, see?
The third stack was likely "Zombie ideas". Natural disasters of history- Pompeii! They set off the volcano to wipe out the zombies! Atlantis! They sunk the island to wipe out the zombies! The black plague! Zombies almost wiped out the people!
A fourth stack, Snippets From The Lives Of Zombies, was just chock full of filler pages of zombies not related or very loosely related to the actual story. I mean, having already lifted the basics for the book, then worked so hard to cannibalize it (haha), we might as well just stick some flotsam in there rather than having an original thought.
If you don't mind the blatant unoriginality of it all, this is actually a zombie beach read at its best: fast paced, mildly amusing, not to be taken seriously and wholly forgettable
charkinzie's review
4.0
I liked it which surprised me a bit. Liked the main character - it was a quick fun read. For more - read my review here.
http://affairsmagazine.com/wordpress2/2012/04/15/plague-town-takes-a-bit-out-of-undead-genre/
http://affairsmagazine.com/wordpress2/2012/04/15/plague-town-takes-a-bit-out-of-undead-genre/
bookertsfarm's review
5.0
OK. I had read a review of this from someone who could not finish it, so I was hesitant to start. However, since it was a library book, I had a tad bit more motivation. All I can say is I am glad I did. I loved this book. I would actually have only given it 4.5 stars, but since I can't, I decided to be generous and rounded up. I do fault the writer for using the word "ululating" so many times, but I think it was just a quirck I picked up on and couldn't let go. Can't wait for the next installment. Ash rocks!
snaomiscott's review
4.0
Disclaimer: I received a free, signed copy of this and the other two books in the series at a local reading the author did. While I've tried to keep this review honest I do understand that it's considered good form to be up-front about these things.
I don't normally read zombie fiction. I do like the occasional zombie movie, and absolutely loved the Evil Dead series (who doesn't love Bruce Campbell?), but when it comes to books about the zombie apocalypse I generally to find them a bit 'meh'. However, this one has me thinking maybe I should re-examine the genre.
From page one this book is just packed to the rafters with action, zombies, sass, attitude, zombies, violence, humour, zombies, pseudo-science and enough pop-culture references to keep any geek-girl(or boy) happy. The writing style is punchy and easy to read, and fairly keeps the pace going at a fair old clop.
The narrative focuses mainly on the series' titular character, Ashley Parker, who is a college graduate who gets bitten by a zombie and then finds out she's immune to their bites and as a result develops zombie-hunting superpowers. She's then 'recruited' by a secret organisation whose primary mission is to contain the outbreak and make sure the world doesn't find out that zombies are real.
Okay, maybe not the most original plot in the world, but who cares when it's so much fun to read? This is what I'd call trashy popcorn fiction at it's damn-near best, and I'd happily recommend this to anyone with even a slight interest in zompocalypse fiction or similar. Not quite worth the full five stars, but it did come damned close.
I don't normally read zombie fiction. I do like the occasional zombie movie, and absolutely loved the Evil Dead series (who doesn't love Bruce Campbell?), but when it comes to books about the zombie apocalypse I generally to find them a bit 'meh'. However, this one has me thinking maybe I should re-examine the genre.
From page one this book is just packed to the rafters with action, zombies, sass, attitude, zombies, violence, humour, zombies, pseudo-science and enough pop-culture references to keep any geek-girl(or boy) happy. The writing style is punchy and easy to read, and fairly keeps the pace going at a fair old clop.
The narrative focuses mainly on the series' titular character, Ashley Parker, who is a college graduate who gets bitten by a zombie and then finds out she's immune to their bites and as a result develops zombie-hunting superpowers. She's then 'recruited' by a secret organisation whose primary mission is to contain the outbreak and make sure the world doesn't find out that zombies are real.
Okay, maybe not the most original plot in the world, but who cares when it's so much fun to read? This is what I'd call trashy popcorn fiction at it's damn-near best, and I'd happily recommend this to anyone with even a slight interest in zompocalypse fiction or similar. Not quite worth the full five stars, but it did come damned close.
tomasthanes's review
This is the first book that I've read by this author, [a:Dana Fredsti|1214140|Dana Fredsti|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1313691506p2/1214140.jpg], but not the last one.
This is a well told zombie tale with sympathetic characters some of whom get absorbed into the large population of zombies in this town. At first, I thought that the sheer number of zombies was unreasonable but it's a college town with a student population of 2000 students. Then you have the teachers and staff plus tourists on their way to/from the Redwoods.
The town is picturesque and plausible. Stores, apartments, small shopping complexes, tourist "traps", and the college itself.
The characters are well-defined and each have their own voice. Because its a college venue, the average age of the characters tends to be in their early twenties. I doubt that there are many graduate students at this college.
I was surprised at the number of typos in a book published by Titan Books. These weren't misspellings but were typically misplaced double quote characters in conversations. It happened often enough that I was distracted and remembered this problem as I type this review.
The bridge from the end of this book into the second book in the series came right at the end and was appropriately balanced. I'm onto the next Ashley Parker book, Plague Nation.
This is a well told zombie tale with sympathetic characters some of whom get absorbed into the large population of zombies in this town. At first, I thought that the sheer number of zombies was unreasonable but it's a college town with a student population of 2000 students. Then you have the teachers and staff plus tourists on their way to/from the Redwoods.
The town is picturesque and plausible. Stores, apartments, small shopping complexes, tourist "traps", and the college itself.
The characters are well-defined and each have their own voice. Because its a college venue, the average age of the characters tends to be in their early twenties. I doubt that there are many graduate students at this college.
I was surprised at the number of typos in a book published by Titan Books. These weren't misspellings but were typically misplaced double quote characters in conversations. It happened often enough that I was distracted and remembered this problem as I type this review.
The bridge from the end of this book into the second book in the series came right at the end and was appropriately balanced. I'm onto the next Ashley Parker book, Plague Nation.
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