Don't Judge a Book by Its Zombies...

"My father was right. Monsters walk among us."

In Alice in Zombieland, Gena Showalter has written a fast-paced and fun teen read where everything is heightened and intense--the fight scenes, high school, the romance between Alice and tall, dark and dangerous Cole Holland, and, of course, the zombies. Showalter's zombies are not your typical zombies; her zombies are infected evil spirits that have risen from the grave rather than mere flesh and blood, and only a few humans can see them. As for fighting them? Well, that's where it gets challenging. Luckily, Alice has Cole and his gang of  friends to help her figure it out.

It was the title that made me reach for this book, I admit; I just couldn't resist a book called Alice in Zombieland. (Although there's not a lot of Wonderland in this book.) I did like that Showalter brought a new and unique take on the usually formulaic zombie genre. I also thought she captured the angst and drama and language of high school. (Although some of her choices made me wince.) As for her Alice? I'll let you decide that for yourself:

     Had anyone told me that my entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, I 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 I knew and loved was gone. 

     My name is Alice Bell, and on the night of my sixteenth birthday I lost the mother I loved, the sister I adored and the father I never understood until it was too late. Until that heartbeat when my entire world collapsed and a new one took shape around me.

The BEST zombie book I've read:

     World War Z by Max Brooks