Not as good as thought

I give this 2 stars as its genre says Young Adult, yet I'd easily give this to my 10-11 year old cousin to read :/
Also, B is girl?!? I was reading the entire thing with B as a boy until her dad called her Becky--I was totally like wtf?!? Lol :L

I read this, trying to think like my 8th grade boys who "hate reading." The book scared me because the characters see zombie attacks on the news but don't believe it and then.BAM!! BIG GROSS ZOMBIE ATTACK. It's pretty gross. And surprisingly is about racism? I'd suggest it to boys who love gore and "hate reading."

"There are lots of black-hearted, mean-spirited bastards in the world. It's important that we hold them to account. But always remember that you might be the most black-hearted and mean-spirited of the lot, so hold yourself the most accountable of all"

Wow, this is not your typical zombie book.

There are so many themes running through this book it's hard to pin them all down. Racism (on So many different levels!), abuse both domestic and child. There are bad teachers, bad students, bullies...there's fighting, attempted underage drinking...there's a lot going on.

But I guess no one knows who they really are until they are forced to look right? And B has always been one to not look at things head on. And this is the story of B and survival at the end of the world.

I expected to like this book much more than I did. I'd wanted to read it for ages because it's so popular with my students, and I wanted to see what the fuss was about. I'd also read an interview with Darren Shan that made it seem interesting. However, I come away from reading this book a little bit confused and more than a bit disappointed.

Perhaps the sequels will be better now the premise is set up. It is a very short novel, and it goes three-quarters of the way through before the actual zombies turn up, and as such I imagine it functions as an introduction to the series rather than feeling like a whole book.

The protagonist of the story is a character called B. Although I liked the twist on our expectations that Shan pulls towards the end of the book, I otherwise found B a bit of a confusing mess and that is the reason I struggled so much with it. B is not a nice person. B is a racist and violent bully, who picks on the weak and makes some questionable choices. Ok B is the product of a racist and abusive home life; the father is a white supremest bigot who does not react well to having his disgusting beliefs challenged. Shan makes some effort for B to explain that those views aren't shared, but then a few pages later B will beat up a black kid and make gorilla noises. No matter how bad B might feel about that (not that bad I though, not bad enough) it is still something B did! I didn't find the relationship with the father very eloquently explored or explained, and the things B did were mean-spirited at times that I could never warm to the character.

The shock ending I hope is leading to something much cooler for the next book. And I'm intrigued by the guy with the owl eyes. In fact the strongest part of the whole novel is the very creepy prologue.. I'd more happily have stuck with that.

I am about thirteen-years out of the target age group for this novel, and perhaps I wanted something too sophisticated.. but I think absolutely it is achievable to produce a more thoughtful book tackling difficult issues for the 13 year old age group. Other authors manage it. Still, I'm not saying it is BAD. It's very popular and anything that gets boys reading is a winner in my book. Just as a 26 year old woman (with an English degree) I'm not very impressed!

This book was really nothing special. I think it took too long to get to the zombie parts and spent too much time on the racist aspects of it. I get that B is a complex character but I had no sympathy for her. I understand how hard it is to try and change someone's opinions and attitudes on difficult subjects but I just found her behaviour extremely unacceptable.
The plot moved too slowly for me and I understand that there are like 8 or 9 other books in the series, but there was too much setup and not enough plot line in this first book to really get me hooked. I feel like a lot of the plot of the next novels have already been mentioned and as if I have them figured out. As well, I was hoping there would be more of a development of some of the minor characters that were introduced. We really didn't get a development of B, but since she is the main character, I would assume that will happen in the next novel or so. She seemed very static in the novel, even with her "epiphany" moment, none of her actions changed after until the very end (like very end) when her thought processes somewhat changed.
The zombie mythology is expanded in here, with the idea that they can be controlled by these mutants, however it wasn't very interesting or different and didn't really keep my attention or make me care about how this issue will be resolved.
Overall: 2/5 stars and I hope the rest of the books are at the library so I don't have to spend anymore money on the series.

I have so many opinions.
It is quite different from Darren Shan's other books! But addictive!

There are twists and turns. Its exciting and action packed. The character development is very well done. But the actual zombies took a while to have a part. B as a character isn't one that I relate to but don't dislike quite yet I need to adapt to them.

So adictive, when ever I felt like reading I always went to this! Can't wait to read the next! Exciting stuff!

This book really surprised me. I got 2 previous Shan series' for my son and I know he loved them both, so when I saw this, I figured on giving it a shot. I'm glad I did.

What's interesting about this book is that more than half of it is an exploration of how hate can seep into the hearts and actions of people that don't really believe that way, how we can become monsters without realizing it, how we can be utterly convinced that we are good people and behave in utterly inhuman fashion.

I don't know if these themes will continue, and I saw that there are 12 books in the series, which is interesting given how this book ended. But it's clear that to make this go, there will have to be many twists and turns.

I don't normally think to read YA books (funny, given I so recently read a Lloyd Alexander book, and have plans to read more). Most of them are utter garbage, full of inanity and idiocy and authorial hypocrisy and forgetting that teenaged readers have the capacity for far more nuance than most YA authors give them credit for. But then I read reviews and realize that yes, indeed, most people in general have difficulty with complex topics.

I didn't expect to find the depth I discovered in this book. While most of the characters are disposable and treated with more than a little narrative contempt, there is also a clear and complex portrayal of the value of self-examination, for the greater need to see beyond ourselves, to understand the way our actions and beliefs and fears and ideas of identity can make the world better or worse.

Make no mistake, the main character is contemptible, but also more than a bit relatable to any of us because even though B struggles with a very specific set of issues, we all have similar ones, regardless of our backgrounds and the situations we find ourselves in. No one is completely villainous and no one is completely virtuous, but our beliefs and our identities and our determination to embrace or reject those troublesome parts of ourselves make a big difference in who and what we become, and Zom-B leans right into it.

I think maybe I'll give this series a go because there's obviously more here than I suspected before starting.