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nil033's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Cannibalism, and Murder
leligavi's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
I've tried for so long (since middle school, I think) to read this book and for some reason, I kept putting it down. However, I am SO glad I finally took the time to finish it. I really, really liked this book and I think that their makeshift team was brilliant. I love their character development as they get to know Melanie. I CANT BELIEVE MY MAN GALLAGHER WENT OUT LIKE THAT. I was SCREAMING when he was getting chomped on and saying he didn't want to hurt them. LIKE MY MAN HAD TO GO OUT LIKE THAT? BUT MELANIE WAS SO CLOSE TO FINDING HIM! AND PARKS TOO MAN! HE WAS SO CLOSE, MELANIE ALMOST SAVED HIM BUT HE DIED TOO????? AND LIKE IN A REALLY FREAKING SAD WAY????? LIKE REALLY? I'M HEARTBROKEN. Honestly, a little underwhelmed by Helen surviving and being a teacher but like...the rest of the book just makes up for it. But, all in all, I think we can all agree that Dr. Caldwell sucks.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Gore, Gun violence, Blood, Medical content, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
ketreads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
medium-paced
5.0
This book is FANTASTIC!
I had the lady in the bookshop commend me on my good choice of book when buying this so if that wasn't a good sign, what is?!
The story follows our main character of Melanie and mainly takes place from her point of view. I thought it was a great use of PoV and while Melanie is clearly a child, she isn't wilfully ignorant. We get to watch her constantly having to reassess her view of the world with every new tid bit of information. It was both a joy and saddening to see her view on the world and those around her.
The other cast character were equally fantastic. I love that we get a little insight into each character as we get further into the book, as this helps us better sympathise and understand character motivations. Even when I cannot agree with a characters choices, I can understand how and why they came to these and I think it shows just how great of an author Carey is.
MILD SPOILERS
But I did not know this book was a zombie book going in. The blurb is sufficently vague to make this a very earlyon reveal but Carey does a impressive job at making this story feel unique. The zombies themselves, while similar to ones we've seen previously, also have an extra layer of mystery surrounding them that is used to great effect throughout. I never felt this book retrod any ground I've seen other zombie media do and I appreciated the hell out of it. Also, it's set in my home city of London! Who doesn't love seeing landmarks and going ''wow! That zombie infested area is an area I visit!!!''
All round a 5/5 read and I'd highly reccommend you get around to reading it, too :D
I had the lady in the bookshop commend me on my good choice of book when buying this so if that wasn't a good sign, what is?!
The story follows our main character of Melanie and mainly takes place from her point of view. I thought it was a great use of PoV and while Melanie is clearly a child, she isn't wilfully ignorant. We get to watch her constantly having to reassess her view of the world with every new tid bit of information. It was both a joy and saddening to see her view on the world and those around her.
The other cast character were equally fantastic. I love that we get a little insight into each character as we get further into the book, as this helps us better sympathise and understand character motivations. Even when I cannot agree with a characters choices, I can understand how and why they came to these and I think it shows just how great of an author Carey is.
MILD SPOILERS
But I did not know this book was a zombie book going in. The blurb is sufficently vague to make this a very earlyon reveal but Carey does a impressive job at making this story feel unique. The zombies themselves, while similar to ones we've seen previously, also have an extra layer of mystery surrounding them that is used to great effect throughout. I never felt this book retrod any ground I've seen other zombie media do and I appreciated the hell out of it. Also, it's set in my home city of London! Who doesn't love seeing landmarks and going ''wow! That zombie infested area is an area I visit!!!''
All round a 5/5 read and I'd highly reccommend you get around to reading it, too :D
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Medical content, and Murder
lindsaylhunter's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Not sure how I feel about this one. Always love a bleak ending, though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, and Cannibalism
Moderate: Medical trauma
lpogo16's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This is less horror and more a fantasy journey story.
The story could have been edited down. There’s a lot that happens for the shock value or to make comments about other characters.
The story could have been edited down. There’s a lot that happens for the shock value or to make comments about other characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Cannibalism, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Cursing, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, and Kidnapping
Spores, Mushrooms, Fungusjuledebaum2's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, and Blood
Moderate: Child abuse and Child death
Minor: Alcoholism
wrensreadingroom's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
skywhales's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
so fun fact about me, i was the world's biggest coward as a kid. i was scared of everything. including certain episodes of spongebob. an episode of martha speaks (you know, the show about the talking dog for six year olds?) gave me Nightmares. at the top of the list of all of these many, many fears was zombies. which is a little silly looking back on it. the public perception of these guys is that they're slow-moving, literally brainless creatures that are only really threatening in large groups, and even then they're one of the easiest supernatural creatures to kill. even when i grew out of the fear, i've never really had interest in reading zombie apocalypse fiction because of its tendency for Big Military Action Scenes. honestly this turns me off of a lot of apocalypse fiction, mostly the kind that involves fighting a lot of guys. that and it just makes me depressed.
but. i am always a sucker for Getting Creative With It.
see now this isn't the only zombie story to take the route it does (and i mean come on, cordyceps is like Made for this kinda shit. right up there with chronic wasting disease on the "wouldn't it suck like so bad if humans could get this?" chart) but this was a few years back now so i'm willing to assume it was quite novel at the time and for me, a zombie noob, it's still quite novel now. though i know the last of us did something similar because i heard about the last of us everywhere. and i still liked it! especially That Bit at the end. even if i kind of predicted the twist regarding melanie and the other kids being a new kind of zombie.
characters were...well i liked the women the most but isn't that usually a given. melanie was good. i enjoy precocious kids especially if they're somehow Important but can't fully grasp the how or why of it until they start using it to their benefit. helen was fun, even if her whole "i'm trying to stay detached" chapter at the beginning felt kind of pointless, especially considering it never became relevant again. why couldn't she just genuinely be the Fun Teacher who cares about the kids a little too much? it felt so pointless and weird. but whatever. dr. caldwell is always a character archetpye i enjoy at the very least because they're just fun to read about. yay fucked up scientists yay!her reaction to her blood poisoning and her death was very fitting for her and i liked that she stayed true to her character till the end. gallagher was fine. he was kind of sweet. but. god this is going to make me sound like an asshole but i just cannot relate to straight men narrators. no. hey. fuck that's not even true because i related to carter my good friend charles carter from a few books ago just fine! but it's because he didn't talk or think about women like they were pieces of meat! and that guy was from the 1920s! (no way to tell what the real guy thought about them now but you know what i'm getting at here.) i KNOW. it adds realism to the text and all that i KNOW this is a matter of personal taste i KNOW it makes me less of an objective reader but men being rampantly horny about women who aren't into them just gives me the fucking ick!! whatever people will be sexually attracted to each other. i KNOW. but this shit will probably make me like the book less. had the same problem with sergeant parks but honestly my bigger issue was trying to push the narrative that he was bonding all cutely with melanie when he Tried To Choke Her. we remember that right. we remember he did that. man you can't found family that out of existence. he probably did worse. and i KNOW he's like a tough military guy or whatever but i don't care. this is the exact reason why i don't like tough military guys and i don't like the fetishization of men's anger. any of the "romantic" bits between him and helen made me roll my eyes SO hard. see 99% of the time i just can't get behind stuff trying to make me sympathize with soldiers or cops. and that's probably just how it's gonna be.
i liked the beginning and ending of the book the most. still don't really think apocalypse fiction is for me, for a multitude of reasons, but i probably enjoyed this more than i'd enjoy most of it. not much else to say--i've read better, but i've read much, much worse.
but. i am always a sucker for Getting Creative With It.
see now this isn't the only zombie story to take the route it does (and i mean come on, cordyceps is like Made for this kinda shit. right up there with chronic wasting disease on the "wouldn't it suck like so bad if humans could get this?" chart) but this was a few years back now so i'm willing to assume it was quite novel at the time and for me, a zombie noob, it's still quite novel now. though i know the last of us did something similar because i heard about the last of us everywhere. and i still liked it! especially That Bit at the end. even if i kind of predicted the twist regarding melanie and the other kids being a new kind of zombie.
characters were...well i liked the women the most but isn't that usually a given. melanie was good. i enjoy precocious kids especially if they're somehow Important but can't fully grasp the how or why of it until they start using it to their benefit. helen was fun, even if her whole "i'm trying to stay detached" chapter at the beginning felt kind of pointless, especially considering it never became relevant again. why couldn't she just genuinely be the Fun Teacher who cares about the kids a little too much? it felt so pointless and weird. but whatever. dr. caldwell is always a character archetpye i enjoy at the very least because they're just fun to read about. yay fucked up scientists yay!
i liked the beginning and ending of the book the most. still don't really think apocalypse fiction is for me, for a multitude of reasons, but i probably enjoyed this more than i'd enjoy most of it. not much else to say--i've read better, but i've read much, much worse.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Gun violence, Violence, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Child death, Gore, and Medical content
blackcoffeedaydreams's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Pandemic/Epidemic
tixhna_mxrie's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic