Review + Giveaway: Pretty When She Dies

Pretty When She Dies
Pretty When She Dies, Book 1

Author: Rhiannon Frater
Pages: 238
Publisher: Createspace
Read: July 28-29, 2013
Source: Digital copy from Xpresso Book Tours
Purchase: Amazon

Description from Goodreads:
Amaliya wakes under the forest floor, disoriented, famished and confused. She digs out of the shallow grave and realizes she is hungry...

... in a new, horrific, unimaginable way...

Sating her great hunger, she discovers that she is now a vampire, the bloodthirsty creature of legend. She has no choice but to flee from her old life and travels across Texas. Her new hunger spurs her to leave a wake of death and blood behind her as she struggles with her new nature.

All the while, her creator is watching. He is ancient, he is powerful, and what's worse is that he's a necromancer. He has the power to force the dead to do his bidding. Amaliya realizes she is but a pawn in a twisted game, and her only hope for survival is to seek out one of her own kind.

But if Amaliya finds another vampire, will it mean her salvation... or her death?

First Sentence: "When she began to stir from her deep slumber, she had no idea she was buried under several feet of moist, dark earth."

Review:

Though this is technically my second Rhiannon Frater novel, it's my first pure experience, since the first novel I read she coauthored with Kody Boye. Though The Midnight Spell was a cute, fun read, I was looking forward to the dark, creepy novels Giselle of Xpresso Reads made me so curious about when she fangirled all over them. With Pretty When She Dies, I got just what I was hoping for: a dark, sexy, creepy, comic read.

Pretty When She Dies opens with a bang as Amaliya digs herself out of her grave. Covered in dirt and weirdly hungry, she stumbles into her dorm room to take a shower. Once clean, she heads out in search of food, passing up a lone student for something more that she senses. More turns out to be a secret frat house orgy, where Amaliya proceeds to murder thirteen students, after which she has sex with her maker. Whoa, right?

Amaliya, though, isn't really like that usually. She sort of is, in that she does love sex and she's not opposed to killing as a vampire. However, she actually loathes her maker, who raped and killed her, but she didn't remember that in the haze of being newly awoken. She hardly knew who she was at that point. In case the circumstances of her transition to vampirehood were not enough of a clue, turns out that her maker, Professer Sumner, is actually one of the most powerful vampires ever and a freaking sadist. This girl has fantastic luck.

While not really breaking any new ground with vampire lore, Frater does what she does well. The vampires aren't sweet and innocent, though they can love. They murder. They're violent and powerful. Pretty When She Dies is gory and has plenty of sexual content. Actually, it's got a fairly similar vibe to True Blood, what with being set in the south (Texas, rather than Louisiana) and about intense, sexy vamps.

Of course, there's a romance, which, for me, was the weak part. It was pretty hot, actually, but the infidelity and the fact that the couple "falls in love" in less than a week is disappointing. Now, I'm going to be totally honest and say that the infidelity didn't bother me as much as it should have, because Cian's fiancée Samantha is really annoying. She's basically like Sookie, convinced she's made the vampire Bill or Eric into a sweet fluffy human, when along comes Amaliya to prove that's not true. However, Cian and Amaliya thinking they're in love so fast? Blergh. Seems like they've both lived enough to know the difference between lust and love.

The supporting cast is delightful and brings a lot of humor into Pretty When She Dies. Though I hated Samantha when she was with Cian, she starts to be hilarious when she teams up with local vampire hunter, Jeff; she makes all sorts of Buffy comparisons, which amused me greatly. Plus, I freaking adore Amaliya's cousin, Sergio, and grandmother, Innocente. As Amaliya says, "you shouldn't fuck with little Mexican grandmas," and boy is she right. Innocente is fantastic, and totally my favorite character. Not only is Amaliya a powerful female character, but Innocente is as well, and Samantha even shows some promise.

Rhiannon Frater's vampires harken back to the classic vampire lore. Dark, comic and sexy, I highly recommend Pretty When She Dies to anyone looking for a quick, fun read that's still not tired of vampire stories.

Rating: 3.5/5

Favorite Quote: "'I think happily ever after is bullshit.'"

Giveaway:
As part of the tour, I can ofter up ebooks of the first three books in the Pretty When She Dies series! Just fill out the Rafflecopter to enter. This giveaway is international! If you want to enter to win the grand prize giveaway with jewelry, go here.
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Review: A Darkness Strange and Lovely

A Darkness Strange and Lovely
Something Strange and Deadly, Book 2

Author: Susan Dennard
Pages: 416
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: July 23, 2013
Read: July 11
Source: Gifted - thanks, Jamie!!!

Description from Goodreads:
Following an all-out battle with the walking Dead, the Spirit Hunters have fled Philadelphia, leaving Eleanor alone to cope with the devastating aftermath. But there’s more trouble ahead—the evil necromancer Marcus has returned, and his diabolical advances have Eleanor escaping to Paris to seek the help of Joseph, Jie, and the infuriatingly handsome Daniel once again. When she arrives, however, she finds a whole new darkness lurking in this City of Light. As harrowing events unfold, Eleanor is forced to make a deadly decision that will mean life or death for everyone.

First Sentence: "When Jie's letter came in the mail, I was so elated I forgot I had no hand."

Review:

I have been waiting for A Darkness Strange and Lovely since the moment I finished Something Strange and Deadly Susan Dennard captured my heart and my imagination in her debut, so I was eager to see what she would do with the next book. Happily, there is no second book syndrome here and ADSaL has all the elements that made SSaD such a delight.

Without a doubt, it's the narrative voice that makes Dennard's series stand out from the pack of paranormal offerings. Eleanor is so many things: clever, silly, practical, powerful, self-conscious, and infuriating. Her voice rings so clearly through this first person narrative, and she really doesn't sound like anyone but herself. Even when she's at her most irritating, when she digs herself a whole of lies so deep she can't see out because she's afraid no one will accept her, she's still her kooky, charming self. Also, the girl can eat, and I suspect she's a bit chunkier than the usual YA heroine, which is just another reason to love her.

Dennard really steps out of the box with Eleanor. She's no stereotype. She speaks her mind, eats anything she can get her hands on, and has far more power than her companions. In fact, her power scares everyone but herself. Actually, scratch that; it scares Eleanor a bit too. In the face of the most extraordinary circumstances, Eleanor is the kind of person who never stops trying, even when she only has one hand or everyone has turned their backs on her. Though she makes some really stupid choices, I still have so much respect and friendship in my heart for Eleanor.

The plot this time comes with a bit less zombie mayhem, and a bit more mystery. Eleanor sets off to join the Spirit Hunters in Paris, where a Marquis is hosting them. Paris is beset by les Morts, and the Spirit Hunters have yet to figure out who has been sacrificing people and raising their corpses. Dennard does a good job throwing out a red herring, and making things a little bit twisty without it being overwhelming.

Props, too, on romance remaining on the back burner, slowly simmering, but not to the boil stage yet. Though it's a good one, I think the time to unfold is necessary and will only make the moment when Daniel and Eleanor officially get together that much sweeter. Both of them still have some growing to do, and I like that Dennard gives them that time, rather than rushing them into some super intense forever love.

Dennard adds a couple of new cast members, most notably Laure and Oliver. Eleanor meets both on her passage to France, and I think I like them. They're definitely both interesting figures, and I want to know more about them. Clearly, Laure's going to be important in the third book, but, for now, there was a lot of time spent on her that doesn't seem to have accomplished much. Oliver's pretty awesome, and I like the dynamic he adds to the group, the tension. I am also thrilled that Oliver is not another love interest for Eleanor.

Readers who enjoyed Something Strange and Deadly will likely be pleased with Susan Dennard's sequel. Also, the moment ADSaL concludes, you're going to want book three something fierce, because it is going to be epic.

Rating: 4/5

Favorite Quote:

"'Do you want to know what my phantom hand is good for, Daniel?'
     'Please,' he said with a sneer.
     'This.' I slapped him across the cheek, so hard that even with my glove, the blow flamed up my arm."

Review: The End Games

The End Games

Author: T. Michael Martin
Pages: 384
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Read: May 2-4, 2013
Source: YA Books Central for Review

Description from Goodreads:
It happened on Halloween.

The world ended.

And a dangerous Game brought it back to life.

Seventeen-year-old Michael and his five-year-old brother, Patrick, have been battling monsters in The Game for weeks.

In the rural mountains of West Virginia, armed with only their rifle and their love for each other, the brothers follow Instructions from the mysterious Game Master. They spend their days searching for survivors, their nights fighting endless hordes of “Bellows”—creatures that roam the dark, roaring for flesh. And at this Game, Michael and Patrick are very good.

But The Game is changing.

The Bellows are evolving.

The Game Master is leading Michael and Patrick to other survivors—survivors who don’t play by the rules.

And the brothers will never be the same.

T. Michael Martin’s debut novel is a transcendent thriller filled with electrifying action, searing emotional insight, and unexpected romance.

First Sentence: "Michael awoke in the dark to the screams again."

Review:

Bear with me, please, because The End Games is one of those novels with a twist fairly early on that makes reviewing the book without spoilers difficult. Still, I shall endeavor to sum up my basic thoughts while not revealing anything not mentioned in the blurb. T. Michael Martin's debut is a very strange book in pretty much every way: the plot, the characters, and, most significantly, stylistically. All of this add up to distinguish the novel from other post-apocalyptics that take on the concept of an outbreak that turns human into monsters.

The End Games is a zombie novel, though the Bellows are certainly not like the average zombies, except that they too are best taken out with a head shot, and that they were once human. The Bellows manage to be eerier. Rather than moaning like zombies generally do, the Bellows are like echoes, repeating any words they hear in a long shout. Of course, this is nice since you can hear them coming, but also freaking scary when you realize they're surrounding your position, and, since they're so loud, they're probably going to draw more Bellows to your position. In case that's not bad enough, they're evolving into something much worse.

What I think Martin does best here is the horror aspect. The End Games is pretty frightening, offering gore, monsters, battles, and psychological terror. Michael, a teen, and his five year old brother, Patrick, are trying to survive, to find a Safe Zone with other survivors, in this hellish Game. Getting through an apocalypse on your own would be bad enough but with a kid in tow? Yikes! When they do finally encounter other people, it's very hard to know who to trust and who's crazy, including with the brothers. All of this kept me engaged and curious.

There's a strong focus on family in The End Games, which I greatly appreciate. Michael is an amazing brother. He takes such good care of Patrick, not resenting him for making survival more difficult. In fact, Michael needs Patrick just as much, because he has to keep it together for Patrick, keep hope and motivation.

T. Michael Martin uses a very interesting storytelling method. The End Games is written almost like a reality show about a particular character. The narration is third person limited, following Michael. However, the narrator seems at times to interact with Michael, adding to the video game feel of the tale in what is a slightly discomfiting but powerful technique. Here are some examples of that:

"Dang, she's so cool.
     Dang, don't think that.
     Dang, why?
     Because of on account of this being the most horrible time to get a crush on a girl.
     Oh. Right. Daaaang."

"Keep going. You're scared, that's true, but."

In the first example, a lot of Martin's style is illustrated. Michael's thoughts are included throughout in italics, though whispers are as well and sometimes emphasis as shown here. Michael and a couple other characters speak in some sort of strange dialect and occasionally hold out words, like with that last "dang." You can also see the way the narrator just answered his question, and he in turn responded to that. Even more interesting, the narrator actually emulates Michael's way of speaking/thinking; the bulk of the narration is in standard American dialect. In the second, the narrator eggs Michael on, urging him not to give up in a desperate situation. While I do think this writing style is largely effective, it's very odd and will be disconcerting to some readers, especially the unidentifiable dialect used by the brothers.

Where The End Games left me cold was the characters. I don't care much about anyone. Of them all, Michael is the most likable, due to his sweet affection for his brother. However, Patrick actually creeps me out a lot. I kept expecting him to turn out to be some sort of new monster or something, because I found him that freaky. Spoiler: he's not. I couldn't care about the half-hearted romance or the deaths of any of the characters either. More time is spent on developing the creepiness than on the characters.

The End Games will be a great read for those who love horror tales, and new creepy monsters. Those who take an interest in unique storytelling will also want to check out this quirky debut.

Rating: 3/5

Favorite Quote: "Oh Nerd Joy, you are one of the things I miss most about the world Before."

Review: Reboot

Reboot
Reboot, Book 1

Author: Amy Tintera
Narrator: Khristine Hvam
Duration: 8 hrs, 42 mins
Publisher: Harper Audio
Source: Publisher for review

Description from Goodreads:
Five years ago, Wren Connolly was shot three times in the chest. After 178 minutes, she came back as a Reboot: stronger, faster, able to heal, and less emotional. The longer Reboots are dead, the less human they are when they return. Wren 178 is the deadliest Reboot in the Republic of Texas. Now seventeen years old, she serves as a soldier for HARC (Human Advancement and Repopulation Corporation).

Wren's favorite part of the job is training new Reboots, but her latest newbie—Callum Reyes—is the worst she's ever seen. As a 22, Callum is practically human. His reflexes are too slow, he's always asking questions, and his ever-present smile is freaking her out. Yet he's still her newbie. When Callum refuses to follow an order, Wren is given one last chance to get him in line—or she'll have to eliminate him. Wren has never disobeyed before and knows that if she does, she'll be eliminated, too. But she has also never felt as alive as she does around Callum.

The perfect soldier is done taking orders.

Review:

Reviews for Reboot have been all over the place, which basically meant I had to try it and see for myself. Ultimately, I'm sort of in the middle. Reboot's a lot of fun, especially in the first half, but also still fairly old hat for dystopian scenarios. I'm definitely glad to have read it, but I didn't love it either.

Why Did I Read This Book?
As I mentioned, curiosity. Sometimes, I'm more tempted to read books that get 1 star ratings from some and 4 from others than those that get a consistent 3 stars. I just have to know for myself what book has generated such disparate responses. Seriously, I was reading reviews and adding, removing, adding, removing, adding this book on Goodreads. It was ridiculous. The audio seemed like a good choice, because action books from first perspective often translate pretty well.

What's the Story Here?
In a post-apocalyptic world where all that remains of the US is Texas, a dystopian government has arisen in the form of HARC, a corporation that controls all of the things. Freaking corporations. Currently, if I had to guess a company that would become the dystopian overlord of us all, I would say Amazon, but maybe that's just because they keep buying up the book world. *side-eyes* As with so many dystopian/post-apocalyptic novels, there's a disease, which causes people to reboot. Basically, they're zombies, only they're hot (like vampires, they're themselves but with perfect skin and hair and bright eyes) and super strong and don't eat people. The reboots are known by their numbers, which are how long they were dead before they rose, with the larger numbers being the strongest and least human. Wren is 178, and she does everything by the book until a 22 disrupts her regimented life.

How are the Characters?
Okay, so I really liked the first part where Wren was all queen of the reboots and stuff. Unlike some ya assassins, Wren really does kill people and she even does so in front of the reader. On top of that, she likes killing, and doesn't even feel guilty about it. People are worthless to her, and she'd rather kill a human than look at it. Callum, the 22, is the only other well-developed character, and he's basically the opposite of Wren. Where she's the perfect soldier and very serious, he's happy and doesn't want to hurt a fly. In fact, even eating meat makes him sort of uncomfortable. I liked Callum consistently, but I loved Wren the bitchy reboot from the beginning of the book most of all.

And the Romance?
Here's the caveat. I just was not really feeling their romance. For me, it would have been more compelling if she hadn't been so interested in him right out of the gate. She's all like "omg, he's not afraid of me," and gets interested in him so quickly, which was necessary for the plot, but didn't really seem like Wren as established. Also, she goes from no emotions to ALL OF THE EMOTIONS. It just felt really sudden. She's this hardcore badass until she gets to know Callum and then she's blushing, gasping, and jumping at people's touches. Yes, she does have feelings, and I totally get that, but, from the glimpses showed of her past, I really doubt she's that demonstrative of a person at the best of times. I just never felt like Wren would be so lovey-dovey, even when she's in love. Basically, all of the things that happened with the romance made me roll my eyes. However, I do love the dynamics of the relationship, and how she is the strong one and he's the one who has to be saved. Then again, that would have been more powerful if the role reversal had been continued; she can love him and still be a cool, stern badass most of the time. When it came to the gushy stuff, she was all melty and blushing, and he was cocky and in control. I would have liked to see her more dominant and consistently-characterized all around. Oh, I will say, though, that Wren does continue to want to kill the humans, so that was good at least.

Am I Going to Continue with the Series?
Though the plot sort of let me unenthused, I do plan to continue. It's not that I thought the plot of trying to get away from the evil corporation was bad, but it's been done a lot, and it's not my preferred story arc for something like this. Still, I'm engaged enough with the characters and story to want to know what happens next.

How was the Narration?
For the most part, Hvam does an awesome job with Reboot. She keeps her voice pretty measured and it really fits with Wren. Hvam's voice is girlish enough to fit with Wren's sort of outward appearance of sweetness but full of mettle too. She does a nice job differentiating the characters, even though she does not go all out with the voices. The one thing I did not like is that, with audio, dialog tags really stand out. This book has "I said" and "he said" all over the place, and Hvam really emphasized them, and I groaned every time it happened again.

Sum It Up with a GIF:

Rating: 3/5

Audiobook Review: Zombies

Zombies: A Record of the Year of Infection

Author: Don Roff
Narrators: Stephen R. Thorne & Cast
Duration: 1 hr, 41 mins
Publisher: AudioGO
Source: Own

Description from Goodreads:
The year is 2012, and what starts as a pervasive and inexplicable illness ends up as a zombie infestation that devastates the world's population. Taking the form of a biologist's illustrated journal found in the aftermath of the attack, this pulse-pounding, suspenseful tale of zombie apocalypse follows the narrator as he flees from city to countryside and heads north to Canada, where he hopes the undead will be slowed by the colder climate. Encountering scattered humans and scores of the infected along the way, he fills his audio recorder with descriptions and careful observations of zombie behavior, along with terrifying tales of survival. This "translation" of the popular graphic novel to audio, complete with "killer" sound effects, will keep fans on the edge of their seats right up to the very end.

Review:

Okay, so I actually had never heard of this before and picked it up at random, because, hey, I love zombie stories. Anyway, turns out that this is actually an audiobook of a graphic novel. If your first reaction to that is "lol whut" then we're totally on the same page. I really never would have thought that a graphic novel would convert so well to a picture-less format, but they did a wonderful job with this, considering that I didn't figure that out until later.

There is so much zombie stuff out there, it's true. While I don't know that there's anything especially original about Zombies, at least in the audio version, I did very much enjoy it. If you like to read zombie tales, there's really no excuse to not read this, since even on audio it takes less than two hours. Oh, short audiobook, I finished you in a day and I feel so accomplished.

I'm really not going to go into the plot much, because it's the pretty basic zombie outbreak business, following one guy in his efforts to survive. What I want to talk about specifically is why I loved the audio. Stephen R. Thorne, the narrator, sounds exactly like Chris Traeger, Rob Lowe's character on the show Parks and Recreation. Seriously, even his intonation and the way he pronounces certain words are Chris all the way. So, naturally, I pictured Robert Twombly as Chris Traeger. Here are some gifs to illustrate what this would be like.

When zombies attack.

Like life as we know it.

LITERALLY.

Excuse my silliness, but, seriously, I had a lot of fun with Zombies. I'd actually really love to check out the graphic novel version too, because I love graphic novels and it could be rather different.

Rating: 3.5/5

Review: The Unfailing Light

The Unfailing Light
The Katerina Trilogy, Book 2

Author: Robin Bridges
Pages: 320
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Source: For review from YA Books Central

Description from Goodreads:
Lush and opulent, romantic and sinister, The Unfailing Light, Volume II in The Katerina Trilogy, reimagines the lives of Russia's aristocracy in a fabulously intoxicating and page-turning fantasy.

Having had no choice but to use her power has a necromancer to save Russia from dark forces, Katerina Alexandrovna, Duchess of Oldenburg, now wants to forget that she ever used her special powers. She's about to set off to pursue her lifelong dream of attending medical school when she discovers that Russia's arch nemesis--who she thought she'd destroyed--is still alive. So on imperial orders, Katerina remains at her old finishing school. She'll be safe there, because the empress has cast a potent spell to protect it against the vampires and revenants who are bent on toppling the tsar and using Katerina for their own gains. But to Katerina's horror, the spell unleashes a vengeful ghost within the school, a ghost more dangerous than any creature trying to get in.

Series Up to This Book:
1: The Gathering Storm (Review|Goodreads)

First Sentence: "Two little girls in identical brown dresses skipped down the long corridor on their way to dinner."

Review:
Russian history has, for whatever reason (ngl, probably because of the movie Anastasia), always been among my favorites to read about, in both fiction and nonfiction. As such, Robin Bridges' debut The Gathering Storm sprinted to the top of my to-read pile a little over a year ago. I liked it, but not unreservedly. The Unfailing Light is one of those rare cases where I feel precisely the same about the sequel as I did the first book. If you liked The Gathering Storm, good news; you will enjoy this one as well.

Oddly enough, the book that I am reminded most of in thinking of The Unfailing Light is Harry Potter. Of course, there are abundant magical creatures, but the real parallel is in the villain. Konstantin, lich (undead) tsar, seeks to return to power. Like Voldemort, he cannot be dispatched easily. At the end of the first book, they thought he was gone for good, but...not so much. The fact that he requires the aid of the main character, only to be foiled by her, brought that to mind as well.

To rejoin the living, Konstantin and his forces require the services of a necromancer, which our dear heroine just happens to be. Katerina dreams of becoming a doctor and has plans to attend medical school in Zurich. I love her determination to work in medicine, that she would voluntarily venture into a tough field where she will constantly endure sexist remarks though she has no need of a profession. She could live off her wealthy parents idly, or find a husband with ease. She, however, has bigger dreams. Unfortunately, Katerina's dreams, like many people's, get squashed.

Katerina, guess what! You know that evil dead tsar who tried to take over all of Russia again a little while back, who you though you killed with great difficulty? Well, he's not so much dead, or, at least, no more dead than he was before. Also, Katerina, this means that the tsar (the living one) who doesn't think women should be educated, your love, and your family will use this chance to protect you right back to The Smolny Institute for Young Noble Maidens. Even better, you'll get all this news from the guy you love.

George, Katerina's love interest, was probably my favorite character in the first book. He had this whole awesome broody, I-like-you-in-spite-of-myself, Darcy-ish thing going on, which I, of course, totally fell for. People who don't like Darcy often say that they doubt he and Elizabeth would work together long term, because he would continually try to boss her around. Well, I don't know about Darcy and Lizzie, but George sure is a bossy jerk in this one. Protecting the girl you love from harm is certainly a good thing, but not if you have to reduce her quality of life for all of the foreseeable future to do so. Plus, she should have a say-so. You don't just tell her what to do and threaten that the tsar will make her go. Ugh. Not to mention that protecting her means locking her into basically just that one (admittedly large) building for almost a year. She is NOT your crazy wife; don't lock her in the metaphorical attic, okay?

Of course, Katerina does not help matters by going along quietly. Me, I would have put up a fight. Katerina's intelligent and I know this and enjoy her narrative voice. She's also has guts like whoa. To protect others, she will stand up to anything, risking life, limb and reputation. I love this about her. When she's threatened mentally, though, she just does not exhibit her strength. She obeys orders that take away from her happiness (like going back to Smolny) and, because she fears embracing her necromancer powers, she does not research them like she should. If she embraced the practice of necromancy like she has medicine, she would be an unstoppable badass. You only have one more book, girl, so go read that Necromancer's Handbook and memorize the dang spells ASAP.

As far as the plot and world building go, I bounced back and forth, both in this book and the last, between having suspension of disbelief issues and thinking it's the best. Thinking about this, I believe it's because this is an alternate history version of Russia where magical creatures exist, but the tsars and everything are the same. I'm not sure what the jumping off point was, and, if it has always been this way, then why are the same personages in power? I suppose this is why so many historical fantasy books take place in culturally-inspired places, rather than the actual historical country. At the very least, despite that questioning, this alternate vision of historical Russia is engrossing and fascinating.

Yet again, I realize my review sounds way more critical than I necessarily intend it to (though I'm going to leave it that way because I did want to say those things). All of that nitpicky stuff aside, I blew through this book, eager to flip pages. The Unfailing Light kept me completely entertained, and, if I had the next book sitting with me when I finished, I would have happily started reading that one too.

This book has drama and romance and betrayal and a seriously creepy ghost and so much more. Also, I really loved the twist at the end that happened to one of the people in her family. It totally changed some dynamics in an awesome way. The Katerina Trilogy is just so much fun, and I will definitely be looking out for the final volume!

Rating: 3.5/5

Favorite Quote: "'She was on her deathbed and gave me a glass of her own blood, mixed with that of an upyri. It didn't taste bad, but it had a hint of rosemary. And after that delightful fennel salad at dinner . . . well, you just can't have two strong herbs competing for your palate.'"

Review: Alice in Zombieland

Alice in Zombieland
White Rabbit Chronicles, Book 1

Author: Gena Showalter
Pages: 404
Publisher: HarlequinTeen
Publication Date: September 25, 2012
Source: Harlequin at BEA

Description from Goodreads:
She won’t rest until she’s sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever.

Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that’s all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.

Her father was right. The monsters are real….

To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn’t careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies….

I wish I could go back and do a thousand things differently.
I'd tell my sister no.
I'd never beg my mother to talk to my dad.
I'd zip my lips and swallow those hateful words.
Or, barring all of that, I'd hug my sister, my mom and my dad one last time.
I'd tell them I love them.
I wish... Yeah, I wish.

First Sentence: "Had anyone told me that my entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, I would have laughed."

Review:
As soon as I heard about this book, I super wanted to get my hands on it. Zombie retelling of Alice in Wonderland? Umm, yes, please! How could that possibly go wrong? Well, it turns out, it could go wrong in a number of ways. Alice in Zombieland has a certain appeal, but not the one that I suspect most readers will be expecting when they crack its spine.

The very first thing you need to know about Alice in Zombieland: it has nothing whatsoever to do with Alice in Wonderland. Just sit back and soak that in. The only Alice in Wonderland references are in the title, the chapter titles and the white rabbit cloud that serves as an omen of doom throughout the book. These three things do not a retelling make. In fact, the links are so limited and on such a surface level that it appears this facade was set up only to bring in more readers; this may work, but those hear for Alice in Wonderland are going to be disappointed.

The next thing you need to know: the zombies aren't really zombies. Showalter decided to try to do something new and original with zombies. She sort of succeeded, but mostly just managed in making them confusing and less cool. See, I wouldn't really call these guys zombies at all; I would call them ghosts. If you're thinking, Wait, What?, believe me, I am with you, friend. These 'zombies' inhabit a spirit plane, and are visible only to people with zombie-fighting powers. From what I was able to gather, they're basically evil ghosts, their evil manifesting in rot.

In theory, I guess this was sort of a cool idea, but, come on, the whole point of zombies is being corporeal right? My biggest issue with this, though, was that it seemed a bit uneven. For zombie fighting, the slayers leave their bodies behind and fight in spirit, because they cannot punch the zombies as a living person. What happens to them in spirit will manifest on their bodies, though. The zombies have no interest in the body. If this is the case, why do they go nom on humans who can't see them? The precise degree to which the zombies were spirits was not entirely clear to me, and I'm just having major suspension of disbelief issues with the whole things. Can't we just call them evil spirits?

The third thing you need to know: Gena Showalter is a romance author. A lot of romance authors are branching into young adult these days, since there is a huge market in YA for romance. Some of these transitions are better than others. Most of the time, though, it's entirely obvious what the author's background is, although Inara Scott did surprise me. Alice in Zombieland is more about the romance than about anything else.

The story itself does entertain, assuming you can put those issues aside, but it's a mindless sort of fun, like when a real zombie eats your brain. How much you like this novel will depend to a large degree on whether you find Showalter's writing amusing. She tries pretty hard to be funny, and, if you don't think she is, it's not going to be pretty. Some of her jokes worked for me, but others fell flat.

Speaking of flat, let's talk about Alice, or Ali as she prefers to be called. No, I'm not talking about her chest (although she does complain about her boobs not being huge a couple of times maybe), but about her personality. Well, Ali does try really hard to have a personality. The problem is that she doesn't back up her inner sass and thoughts with actions, at least not at the important moments. Ali is one of those characters that thinks she is the biggest badass of them all, but really isn't.

One of the few characters that I really liked was Kat, Ali's best friend. Thought Kat is someone I would loathe to pieces in real life, she was really realistic and reliable for a YA best friend. She has substance, flaws and owns who she is, good and bad. When Ali needs help, Kat's there. If people are mean to Ali, you can bet that Kat will threaten either a verbal or physical smack down. Kat truly has her back. This would be great is Ali in any way returned the favor. Ali constantly forgets about Kat, and doesn't pay much attention to what's going on with Kat or to inquire if she's okay. Ali is an awful friend, but, when they're together, all of Ali's thoughts are about just how much she loves Kat. Actions speak louder, Ali dearest.

Then there's the romance portion of the evening. We have yet another half-hearted love triangle. Actually, it's probably not even half-hearted; it's more like quarter-hearted or sixteenth-hearted or something. As the hot new girl in school, Ali immediately attracts the attention of the two hottest guys (who obviously loathed one another even before the competition over Ali), straight-laced Justin and bad boy Cole. Not for one single second of the book is there a question of Justin every standing a chance, making him an incredibly pathetic, whiny character.

Showalter did avoid instalove sort of, but she didn't want to have to cut back on the number of kissing scenes. Solution: every day when Cole and Ali first make eye contact they share visions. These visions are not of anything practical or plot-enhancing (well, they are once or twice, but COME ON), but of Ali and Cole having incredibly hot make out sessions. Meanwhile, they're staring at each other like major dopes. Of course, when they do kiss irl, they nearly get off right on the dance floor at a club, because they're so into one another and omg it's so amazing. RIGHT.

As a couple, they really irritate me. I should be happy because, despite her immense attraction to Cole, Ali does try to keep a level head. She refuses to date him officially until such a time as she feels she knows him well enough to make that kind of commitment. Unfortunately, she spends pretty much all of her time wanting to bitch slap his ex out of jealousy and having smexy visions with him. In classic YA style, too, he constantly tells her what to do and she snarks in her head while doing precisely what he pleases. In one scene, Kat tells her about a text from her on/off bf Frosty (THAT NAME) asking her to do something, and Ali thinks about a text from Cole TELLING her to do something and smiles like that's CHARMING. No, it's goddamn not. Stop it.

My favorite characters by far, though, and my favorite part of the whole book, were Ali's grandparents, who take her in after her family dies. Sassy grandparents are such wonderful characters, and these are such sassboxes. I seriously loved their interrogations of the boyfriends and their attempts to use modern slang. They were sweet, caring, and funny.

Depending on your expectations and what you like out of a book, you might love this. I was entertained for the most part, although the book could have been shorter. However, the issues were so major and my interest in the characters so moderate that I do not personally plan on continuing with this series. This gets a rating of frustrated meh.

Rating: 2/5

Favorite Quote:

"With a shriek, she launched herself off her treadmill and onto mine. We tumbled backward, her on top. When we landed, I took the brunt of the impact, oxygen bursting from my mouth in a dizzying explosion. My head cracked against the concrete floor, and stars winked in front of my eyes.
   Is it sad that my first thought happened to be: Thank God I'm off the treadmill!"

Crazy - Gnarls Barkley

The Glimpse

Author: Claire Merle
Pages: 300
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Source: Faber & Faber via NetGalley

Description from Goodreads:
In a near future, society is segregated according to whether people are genetically disposed to mental illness. 17-year-old Ana has been living the privileged life of a Pure due to an error in her DNA test. When the authorities find out, she faces banishment from her safe Community, a fate only thwarted by the fact that she has already been promised to Pure-boy Jasper Taurell.

Jasper is from a rich and influential family and despite Ana’s condition, wants to be with her. The authorities grant Ana a tentative reprieve. If she is joined to Jasper before her 18th birthday, she may stay in the Community until her illness manifests. But if Jasper changes his mind, she will be cast out among the Crazies. As Ana’s joining ceremony and her birthday loom closer, she dares to hope she will be saved from the horror of the City and live a ‘normal’ life. But then Jasper disappears.

Led to believe Jasper has been taken by a strange sect the authorities will not intefere with, Ana sneaks out of her well-guarded Community to find him herself. Her search takes her through the underbelly of society, and as she delves deeper into the mystery of Jasper’s abduction she uncovers some devastating truths that destroy everything she has grown up to believe.

First Sentence: "Sometimes, when Ana hovered on the edge of sleep, she heard the patter of feet along the school corridor; she felt her best friend Tamsin close by—a near, warm presence like the imprint on a bed recently slept in; she saw the Board's saloon car pulling up outside the front of school, a white envelope glowing through one of their leather cases, whispering her name, her disease."

Review:
Unsurprisingly, I was really looking forward to The Glimpse, because of that magic word dystopia, and because I seriously love the cover. It's both simple and fantastic, even if it does seem much more suited to the plot line of Delirium. My hopes definitely went down as I saw some reviews rolling into the blogosphere. None of the reviews I saw were overly positive, and I was pretty bummed. Still, I determined to read it myself, because I do try to read all of the dystopias.

Anyway, I actually liked The Glimpse, although I can see why it might have given other readers some trouble. What pulled me through the book was definitely the concept, which was something pretty new to me on the dystopian front, always a plus. In this future, the world has been divided up into the haves and the have-nots, only the dividing line is not race or wealth or attractiveness: it's sanity.

Society is divided up into Pures, those without any genetic markers indicating a disorder (ex. depression, bipolar, ADHD, etc.) and Crazies. The Pures live within beautiful communities and have pretty much everything they need. Their society isn't much different from ours, although they now get married through an antiquated process called Joining.

I found the whole division based on mental stability entirely fascinating. Imaginging society spazzing out about the ever-increasing number of people suffering from some sort of mental disorder is not really a stretch at all. That could definitely be something that a despotic government might want to control. Basically, this could be a way of helping Darwinism along by trying to get the healthiest people to stick together and procreate.

Though I really liked that, the characters never really felt real to me at all. I wasn't especially invested in them. I wanted to know what happened, but I didn't particularly care whether the main couple made it work or if they won out against the bad guys. They weren't terrible characters. Really, on paper, I should have liked Ana, but...meh. Whereas in a lot of books, the dialog is what makes the book move along for me, in this one it was definitely the longer paragraphs of description here.

Perhaps what distanced me from the characters was due to some weakness in the plotting. I often felt like the characters, mostly Ana, made completely illogical decisions. Not in a real life, people do stupid things kind of way, but in a wtf just happened kind of way. Ana would think things over and decide that the obvious choice in some situation was X, and I would be sitting there going, "Why would you ever do that in response to this situation? FACEPALM."

To sum up, the world building was really cool, but I thought everything else could use some more work. Despite thebook's limitations, I do think I will probably be reading the sequel. This one definitely isn't for everyone, but, if you like the premise, you may want to give it a go.

Favorite Quote: "'How can anyone prove they're not insane to people that are?'"

"And when you're out there 
Without care, 
Yeah, I was out of touch 
But it wasn't because I didn't know enough 
I just knew too much 

Does that make me crazy?"

Remember: Every comment on a post during Dystopian August is an entry to win one of fourteen dystopian/post-apocalyptic novels IF you've filled out the form from this post.

I'm Gonna Make You Love Me - Diana Ross & The Supremes

Tomorrow Land

Author: Mari Mancusi
Pages: 300
Publisher: NLA Digital
Source: NLA Digital via NetGalley

Description from Goodreads:
Can true love survive the end of the world?

Imagine finding your first love, only to be ripped apart by the apocalypse. Peyton Anderson will never forget the day she was forced to make a choice--between her family--and Chris Parker, the boy she'd given her heart. Now, four years later, as she steps from the fallout shelter and into a dead and broken world, he's the only thing on her mind. 

All Chris "Chase" Parker wanted was to take Peyton away and keep her safe from harm. But he waited for hours in the rain on judgment day and she never showed--breaking his heart without ever telling him why. 

Now the two of them have been thrown together once again, reluctant chaperones to a group of orphan children in a post-apocalyptic world where the dead still walk...and feed. As they begin their pilgramage to the last human outpost on Earth, can they find a way to let go of old hurts and find the love they lost--all while attempting to save what's left of the human race?

First Sentence: "'I wouldn't go out with Chris Parker if he were the last guy on Earth!'"

Review:
Not gonna lie, I one hundred percent expected this to be completely awful. Well, okay, maybe not 100 percent...perhaps just 95. Either way, my expectations were way low. Why read it? You should have figured out by now that I will read pretty much anything, so long as it's dystopian/post-apocalyptic. Why did I think it would be bad? All I knew is that Mancusi previously wrote about vampires (during the glut of vampire fiction) and that this was a story she updated because of the glut of dystopian stuff now. Also, her covers are lame. However, I was pleasantly surprised by Tomorrow Land and found it a pleasant, if unoriginal, read.

In Tomorrow Land, we follow our heroine Peyton as she emerges from her family's fallout shelter, in which she and her mom have been locked for four years. Peyton's crazy 'the end times are coming' father locked them in there after the outbreak of a 'super flu' that turned some of its victims into Others (think zombies only they are actually alive). Once she comes out, Peyton plans to go find her father. First person she meets, though, is a cute boy. She also meets an Other. This sounds really familiar...maybe I've read this before? Not only that, but there's also a couple of chapters pretty much straight from Rot & Ruin: Gladiator style fights against zombies.

So yeah, all of that is pretty well-mined territory. Still, there are some things that set the story apart from all of the other teen zombie apocalypse books. For one thing, Mancusi also incorporates the technological to our detriment futuristic society, where everyone spends most of their free time in virtual reality. Also, in one of the strangest bits of world building I have seen so far, fear of AIDs and other sexually transmitted diseases has led to legislation regarding sex. Basically, everyone over 18 has to get a license to be allowed to have sex, so that they have been tested and, if they only have sex with licensed people, everyone should be safe from disease. Younger people, with parental approval, can also get what is popularly known as the LTF (License to Flirt...Mancusi didn't specify what that last letter stood for, but surely it's flirt, right?). I really cannot see this working, but it was good for many laughs.

So far as the zombies go, I feel like I should warn the zombie enthusiasts now: they're really not the focus of the book. There are zombies sprinkled throughout the text, but there aren't many actual fight scenes. The zombies are more a background consideration, like I want to go do this thing, but I won't because a zombie might eat me. If you want a non-stop zombie-fest, Tomorrow Land is not your book.

What Tomorrow Land really cares about is the romance between Peyton and Chris. The story alternates chapter between their relationship before the apocalypse and their relationship after Peyton emerges from the fallout shelter. Being able to see the past in flashbacks was nice, since it did explain some of why they were so sappily into one another at the beginning. Also, it made it clear that she really did like him before he filled out with muscles, because I totally thought she only liked him at the beginning because he was hot now.

As you can see from the first sentence, Peyton does not think much of Chris at first. She's popular and he is a geek, but that doesn't stop him from asking her out constantly. He just wants her so much; she's his goddess. Their relationship did seem to develop a bit too quickly and seriously for my tastes, but I did think the change of heart was pretty cute. I doubt however that Peyton would have dated him so confidently and publicly at school, especially since her friends made fun of him.

Peyton's mostly the popular girl through and through. However, she does have a core of hardcoreness. This is aided by the fact that her crazy dad gave her some tech, basically making her into Wolverine minus the healing powers. She also has night vision and some other cool features. I'm not really convinced these elements were completely necessary, but they were alright.

Mancusi does take a stab at making this an issues book by giving Chris/Chase a pill addiction. This could have been interesting, but...it really fell flat with me. I think that was due to how out of place it felt in an otherwise fairly cheery apocalypse book. Besides, the pill addiction really did not seem to fit with Chase's character at all.

Tomorrow Land mines dystopian and zombie tropes to create yet another fun, somewhat forgettable read.

Favorite Quote: "'If the world does end, I want you dancing by my side.'"

"I'm gonna do all the thing for you
A girl wants a man to do
Oh, baby (Oh, baby)
I'll sacrifice for you
I'll even do wrong for you
Oh, baby (Oh, baby)

Every minute, every hour
I'm gonna shower you
With love and affection
Look out, it's comin' in your direction
And I'm

I'm gonna make you love me
Oh, yes I will"

Remember: Every comment on a post during Dystopian August is an entry to win one of fourteen dystopian/post-apocalyptic novels IF you've filled out the form from this post.

Balaclava - The Arctic Monkeys

Zom-B
Zom-B, Book 1

Author: Darren Shan
Pages: 173
Publisher: Little, Brown BFYR
Publication Date: September 27, 2012
Source: Little, Brown at BEA

Description from Goodreads:
Zom-B is a radical new series about a zombie apocalypse, told in the first person by one of its victims. The series combines classic Shan action with a fiendishly twisting plot and hard-hitting and thought-provoking moral questions dealing with racism, abuse of power and more. This is challenging material, which will captivate existing Shan fans and bring in many new ones. As Darren says, "It's a big, sprawling, vicious tale...a grisly piece of escapism, and a barbed look at the world in which we live. Each book in the series is short, fast-paced and bloody. A high body-count is guaranteed!"

First Sentence: "Then...It was the darkest, most wretched hour of the night when the dead came back to life and spread like a plague of monstrous locusts through the village of Pallaskenry."

Review:
My only prior experience with Darren Shan was the first book in the Cirque du Freak series, which we read for my Young Adult Services class in Library School. I remember mostly enjoying it, but for some potty humor kind of stuff I really could have done without. I was expecting something similar here, something for younger YA that like violence in humor. Actually, I think the gore and darker tone of this one definitely skew it up more than I was expecting, despite its brief length.

Another thing I was not expecting: how incredibly British this book is. Seriously, I don't remember if Cirque du Freak is set in Britain, but this one's set in London. There's slang and all of that, which made for a nice change.

Our MC, B is not the typical hero. B leads a group of no-account ruffians, that frequently take sickies from school. They beat up other kids, they pass their classes because the teachers don't want to risk and attack, and they are generally awful, violent people. Expect the first hundred pages, except for the prologue, to be entirely about B's life and little gang, not zombies. If this a concern, don't worry: you'll get plenty of zombie mayhem in gore in the last 70 pages, and, presumably, in the following books.

Yet another surprise waiting for me in Zom-B were the serious themes, both of racism and of parental abuse. B's father clearly turned B into this violent creature, as he regularly beats on B and B's mother whenever displeased. Were their cards for being a racist, B's father would surely be carrying one proudly. He wants all of the foreigners out of England, and doesn't care how that happens. B doesn't believe those same things, isn't a racist. Well, B doesn't think so anyway. However, racist sayings and thoughts creep in and emerge from B's mouth. I thought these themes were just a bit heavy-handed, but I was really glad to see that there was substance to the book, not just gore.

As promised, there is horror galore. The zombies are creepy, with bones spurting from everywhere and the ease with which they can infect. Ugh. There's plenty of brain-chewing to keep the zombie-enthusiasts pleased. Most disgusting and horrifying scene for me was most definitely B's dream about zombie babies on an airplane. Glad to know I'm not the only one terrified by babies. *shudders*

Zom-B offers all the gore its creepy cover promises. You want kids trapped in a school with hungry zombies and plenty of death? You got it. Also, expect twists that you probably won't see coming. Shan certainly surprised me.

Favorite Quote: "It's hard to believe I can make a joke at a time like this. But as awful as this is, as shocking as it's been, I have to go on. At the moment I'm alive. Those of us in this group have a chance to get out and fight another day. We have to cling to life as tightly as we can, put the atrocities from our thoughts, deal with this as if it were a surprise exam. What I've learned today is that when crap hits the fan, you can sit around and get splattered, or you can take it in stride and do what you must to get away clean. I'll have nightmares about this later, maybe full-on nervous breakdown, but only if I keep my cool and stay alive."

"Running off over next doors garden
Before the hour is done
It's more a question of feeling
Than it is a question of fun
The confidence is the balaclava
I'm sure you'll baffle em good
With the ending wreek of salty cheeks
And runny makeup alone

Oh will blood run down the face
Of a boy bewildered and scorned
And you'll find yourself in a skirmish
And you wish you'd never been born
And you tie yourself to the tracks
And there isn't no going back
And its wrong wrong wrong
But well do it anyway cause we love a bit of trouble"

Remember: Every comment on a post during Dystopian August is an entry to win one of fourteen dystopian/post-apocalyptic novels IF you've filled out the form from this post.

Vianne Confronts the Comte - Rachel Portman

Something Strange and Deadly
Something Strange and Deadly, Book 1

Author: Susan Dennard
Pages: 388
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: July 24, 2012
Source: Won from EpicReads giveaway

Description from Goodreads:
The year is 1876, and there’s something strange and deadly loose in Philadelphia…

Eleanor Fitt has a lot to worry about. Her brother has gone missing, her family has fallen on hard times, and her mother is determined to marry her off to any rich young man who walks by. But this is nothing compared to what she’s just read in the newspaper—

The Dead are rising in Philadelphia.

And then, in a frightening attack, a zombie delivers a letter to Eleanor…from her brother.

Whoever is controlling the Dead army has taken her brother as well. If Eleanor is going to find him, she’ll have to venture into the lab of the notorious Spirit-Hunters, who protect the city from supernatural forces. But as Eleanor spends more time with the Spirit-Hunters, including their maddeningly stubborn yet handsome inventor, Daniel, the situation becomes dire. And now, not only is her reputation on the line, but her very life may hang in the balance.

First Sentence: "'Dead!' a woman screamed."

Review:
Much as I try to avoid reading reviews, I do generally take a quick glance at friends' reviews. From these, I went into Something Strange and Deadly warned that it might be a bit slow to start, perhaps even taking roughly half the book to get good, and that there wasn't really much zombie mayhem. I'm not sure if it was because I was forearmed or what, but I didn't have a problem with either issue at all. Something Strange and Deadly charmed me immediately, and I thought there was plenty of zombie goodness.

I can see, however, why some might be bored in the opening, so taking that warning to heart certainly can't hurt you. What made this book a perfect fit (pun!) for me from beginning to end was Eleanor Fitt. I just loved her and thought she made an utterly enchanting heroine. She's one of those heroines that I totally get and that I do not see often enough. She's snarky and doesn't feel at home in the uppercrust society to which she and her mother are just barely clinging. Unlike so many heroines, she doesn't turn all heads. She's not astoundingly gorgeous, she's well-padded, and she's outspoken. When people try to keep secrets from her, she pesters them until she learns what she wants to know. Tenacious, stubborn, nosey heroines just rock my socks.

Cementing Eleanor Fitt as one of the fictional characters I am sure I would be total besties with is the fact that, despite being a corset-wearing lady, she is no wilting flower. Early on, she gets attacked by zombies and doesn't run or faint: she attempts to defend herself with her corset. She's not very good at it, but she learns by watching the Chinese member of the Spirit Hunters how best to incapacitate the walking dead. She watches, learns, and fights herself. Throughout the book, she continues to use those skills, and becomes increasingly more badass. Seriously, at the end, I defy you to not think she is really fucking badass.

Now, the zombies. They may not be the central point of the book, but they are definitely woven throughout. They are not the big bads; they are merely tools wielded by an evil necromancer attacking Philadelphia for some unknown reason. Despite being essentially attack dogs, there were plenty enough horrifying zombie moments to satisfy zombie enthusiasts. It was also cool seeing the zombies used in some different ways, like as messengers.

Eleanor gets involved in all of this necromancy and walking dead business for two reasons: she suspects her brother has been captured by the necromancer for nefarious purposes AND her mother summoned an evil spirit at an otherwise routine high society seance. For help, Eleanor turns to the Spirit Hunters (Who ya gonna call?), here to help the city with their walking dead problem. Despite the prickly reception from the Spirit Hunter's inventor, Daniel, Eleanor will not be rebuffed.

I loved the Spirit Hunters, and am so completely looking forward to getting to know more about them in the subsequent books. Joseph, for example, I don't feel like I really got to know much of anything about. I could totally know more about Jie and Daniel as well. They're great characters (diverse too!) and have such a great group dynamic.

The ending, guys! I am seriously in pain at not having the next book in my hands right now and totally want to discuss it with someone. I saw the twists coming, but that did not detract from the my pleasure in the book, because I still didn't know what would happen AFTER that. Eleanor has a fun, witty way of thinking and her perspective keeps things from feeling all that dark even when they are. This juxtaposition totally shook me at the end, in the very best of ways.

If you like steampunkery, zombie mayhem, spunky heroines, good writing or, well, awesome things, I highly recommend this fantastic debut. This was pretty much everything I hoped it would be and more.

Rating: 4/5

Favorite Quote: "I brandished my parasol at him like a rapier. 'You, sir, are an abominable scalawag of a man, and I'll be damned if I let you threaten me.'"

Wild Wild West - Will Smith

Dead Reckoning

Author: Mercedes Lackey & Rosemary Edghill
Pages: 324
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Source: Bloomsbury via NetGalley

Description from Goodreads:
Jett is a girl disguised as a boy, living as a gambler in the old West as she searches for her long-lost brother. Honoria Gibbons is a smart, self-sufficient young woman who also happens to be a fabulous inventor. Both young women travel the prairie alone – until they are brought together by a zombie invasion! As Jett and Honoria investigate, they soon learn that these zombies aren’t rising from the dead of their own accord … but who would want an undead army? And why? This gunslinging, hair-raising, zombie western mashup is perfect for fans of Cowboys vs. Aliens and Pride & Prejudice & Zombies..

First Sentence: "Jett Gallatin expected trouble in Alsop, Texas—but not zombies"

Review:
If Cherie Priest's Boneshaker and Wild, Wild West had a lovechild, it would be Dead Reckoning. The book is filled with zombie mayhem from beginning to end in a wild west, steampunk setting. Add in a girl dressed as a boy, some crazy scientists, and religious cult, and you've got the makings for one action-packed ride.

The zombies are pretty creepy, although the addition of the cult is what REALLY makes the whole thing terrifying. Again, the zombies aren't the focal point. They are a bit distinct from the zombies I've encountered in other novels. These are a bit shambly and slow, but they are crazy strong, and almost impossible to dispatch. These zombies, like the origin of the world 'zombie,' are based on voodoo legend. One thing I'm bothered by is the use of the word zombie. It seems that its usage did originate in roughly that time period, but it still felt weird to hear people talking about the Confederacy and zombies in one breath.

The creepy factor they definitely got down, as well as the western bits and the steampunkery with the vehicle and the science. I would have liked to see a bit more humor in it, though. Nothing in the book really made me laugh, and this is a premise that would definitely have been improved with humor. I mean, any gender bender ought to have some amount of humor, because there are so many confusions that can happen.

I read this book in just a couple of hours, one sitting. It's a really fun read, but there wasn't too much more to it for me. Character development is seriously lacking. Both Jett and Gibbons are seriously hardcore women, and, of course, I liked that. However, they were still lacking in any real depth. And they were the best-developed characters. White Fox completely lacks personality. Seriously. He was like so boring. I was also a little confused about why his character was a white man raised by an Indian tribe, rather than just being native. There could have been diversity here, but there isn't.

The other thing about this, which makes me suspect they may be planning to make this a series, is that there are a lot of dropped plot threads. Jett never finds her brother. Despite some comments about how attractive the characters are and some foreshadowing of romance, nothing ever comes close to happening in that department. It just didn't really feel finished to me.

Still, if you want a mindless (zombie pun) read with lots of zombie action that you can dispatch quickly, Dead Reckoning will definitely fulfill your needs. I don't recommend this to anyone looking for a dark, witty, impressively-written novel; this is for fun only.

Rating: 2.5/5

Favorite Quote: "Gibbons stifled a tiny sigh of exasperation at hearing the familiar sentiment. In her experience, there was no obstacle that did not fall before the power of the mind. Far be it from her to point out yet again that the majority of the lady pioneers here in the West spent the greater part of their lives either alone while their husbands were out hunting or trapping or tilling the soil—or performing those tasks themselves when one of the perils White Fox had listed carried the husbands off. Both men and women had lecture Gibbons on the unsuitability of her chosen vocation, and when she marshaled her arguments, said, ‘But that’s different!’ (How it was different, no one was ever quite able to explain to her satisfaction.)"

"Wild Wild West, Jim West, desperado, rough rider
No you don't want nada
None of this, gun in this, brotha runnin this,
Buffalo soldier, look it's like I told ya"

All I Want - The Offspring

Blackout
Newsflesh Trilogy, Book 3

Author: Mira Grant
Pages: 632
Review Copy Acquired from: Orbit

Description from Goodreads:
The year was 2014. The year we cured cancer. The year we cured the common cold. And the year the dead started to walk. The year of the Rising.

The year was 2039. The world didn't end when the zombies came, it just got worse. Georgia and Shaun Mason set out on the biggest story of their generation. The uncovered the biggest conspiracy since the Rising and realized that to tell the truth, sacrifices have to be made.

Now, the year is 2041, and the investigation that began with the election of President Ryman is much bigger than anyone had assumed. With too much left to do and not much time left to do it in, the surviving staff of After the End Times must face mad scientists, zombie bears, rogue government agencies-and if there's one thing they know is true in post-zombie America, it's this:

Things can always get worse.Blackout is the conclusion to the epic trilogy that began in the Hugo-nominated Feed and the sequel, Deadline.

First Sentence: "My story ended where so many stories have ended since the Rising: with a man—in this case, my adoptive brother and best friend, Shaun—holding a gun to the base of my skull as the virus in my blood betrayed me, transforming me from a thinking human being into something better suited to a horror movie."

Review:
*cries buckets of tears because it's over*

Okay, now that that's over, allow me to try, probably somewhat ineffectually to explain how I feel about this book specifically, and the series as a whole. I'm going to start with the series, because I can do that without spoilers. Then I'll warn you part way through that you should stop reading if you don't want spoilers for the other books.

The Newsflesh Trilogy is nothing short of epic. The idea of zombies, some Cracked articles aside, is pretty much absurd, at least so far as I understand it. Despite their vast appeal, zombies do not make sense, so you're taking a serious leap of faith every time you crack one open, or, at least, that's how I feel. I know that some people don't read zombie books for this very reason. If you're going to choose one to read, I would recommend this series. Grant does the best job of making zombies sound possible and scientific than any other author that I've read, and, through some magic all her own, she manages to do this without going too far over my head with science or boring me. She deserves applause for this.

Her whole cast of characters is amazing. They're sarcastic, brilliant, and human, even the ones who might not be. Ahem. The humor, the characterization, the epicness, and the darkness reminds me so much of Joss Whedon's work. If you're a Whedon fan, you really should be reading these. I mean, heck, one of the characters is even named after Buffy.

So yeah, if you have not read these yet, go buy all of them right now or get them all from your library (and buy them later, which you'll probably want to do). They are amazing. You can check out my rave reviews of Feed and Deadline as well. Another option is to go enter my 300 followers giveaway, since you could possibly win the whole series.

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR FEED AND DEADLINE AHEAD. ALSO ZOMBIES.

Mira Grant seriously rocks cliffhangers like nobody's business. At the end of Feed and Deadline, she totally left me positively reeling. Each time, I'm like "Wait, what?" and "Waaaaahhhhh!" and "How do you come back from this?" and then she totally makes the story even more epic. It's so intense. At the end of Deadline, we find out that Georgia's still alive. Holy bejeezus, what the what, right?

The CDC is perhaps the most epically terrifying enemy. They have weaponized viruses, crazy smarts, endless resources, and people trust them automatically because they're doctors. Reading Blackout was almost painful, because it was even more obvious how weak After the End Times is compared to the CDC. The Masons' crew has been in deep shit before, but they were always able to keep blogging. Seeing every chapter opening's quotes say 'Unpublished' was endlessly sad. Their word's not getting out, guys!

Speaking of those quotes at the beginning of the chapters, I love them with every fiber of my being. Usually, I think quotes that open chapters are lame. I often skip them. In these books, though, I looked forward to them. They may even have been my favorite parts. Each one is a freaking truth bomb. Plus, it's awesome to be able to get a sense of what their individual blogs are like (such as that Maggie's is crazy).

I think Blackout may have been my least favorite in the series, which is not to say that it's not amazing or anything. Partly, I can't help but be upset that everything was not wrapped up in a neat little bow for me. I want to know EXACTLY what happened to every single character because I love them so much, and I don't know which sucks. Stylistically, though, I totally know why she didn't do that.

The real issue that I had with Blackout was the weird formatting. For obvious reasons, Blackout switches between the perspectives of Shaun and Georgia. There was nothing to let you know whose perspective you were reading but the voice and the location. That was fine. The annoying thing was that beginning with Chapter 23, the chapters are labeled as to whose mind you're in. This drove me crazy! I feel like the audience is smart enough and knows the characters well enough to figure out who we're reading. OR put the headings on EVERY chapter. I know why the labeling changed there, but the inconsistency really bothers me.

The first few chapters also moved quite a bit slower than they did in the other books. I suspect this was due partly to George being stuck in a room and not able to do much. Another factor is the info dump at the beginning to remind readers what happened previously. Since I just read Deadline a few days ago, all of that was unnecessary repetition. Deadline likely had the same thing, but it wasn't unnecessary, as I read Feed a year before.

Blackout has the humor and intelligence of the prior books (plus a ZOMBIE GRIZZLY), making a pretty satisfying conclusion to the series. I say 'pretty' satisfying because I really want more. Like right now BUT IT'S OVER. Well, except for some novellas, Fed and Countdown.

Rating this was tricky. I've been waffling between a 4 and a 4.5. Rounded up, both because the series as a whole is epic and because I decided not to factor in the formatting to the rating of the novel, as it's such a minor thing. 

Rating: 4.5/5

Favorite Quote: "You know what? Fuck it. Just fuck it. The Rising didn't manage to wipe out the human race, it just made us turn into even bigger assholes than we were before. Hear that, mad science? You failed. You were supposed to kill us all, and instead you turned us into monsters."

"Day after day your home life's a wreck
The powers that be just
Breathe down your neck
You get no respect
You get no relief
You gotta speak up
And yell out your piece
So back off your rules
Back off your jive
Cause I'm sick of not living
To stay alive
Leave me alone
I'm not asking a lot
I just don't want to be controlled
That's all I want"