I passed this over so many times, not because I don't like the author, but because I just wasn't in the mood for gore. But this book is so much more than just a gorefest. In fact, the most horrific aspect of this book isn't the bloodthirsty zombies, but it's the fact that the main character's father is a hateful racist who physically assaults both his wife and his child.

I kept having to check the publication date--this was published in 2012 but the characters' comments and racist remarks could just as easily be from 2017. Yeah, this gory book will get your reluctant readers reading again, but hopefully, it will also get them THINKING. Great book, looking forward to reading the rest of the series!

Took way too long for the zombies to come and in the meantime we had to deal with a juvenile thug of a character. The only reason I read it is because the sequel looked interesting, [SPOILER ALERT] a story from the zombie's perspective. As you can imagine the main character comes around by the end, but I generally dislike stories where the main character is an ass for most of the book.

My Rating: 2.5/5 stars

Trigger Warning: Racism.

As much as the horror genre is an old love for me, it's been some time since I've read anything distinctly horror. It's even been a little while since I read Darren Shan's Zom-b. I managed to read Zom-b in under two days; it probably would have taken me even less time if it wasn't for real life and responsibilities.

When the news reports a zombie outbreak in Ireland, B can hardly believe it. B's father believes it even less. Zombies aren't real, after all. It's all a hoax; nothing to worry about. Then B's school becomes ground zero for a zombie outbreak in London, and B realizes that the undead are much more real than B or anyone else would want them to be.

Zom-B is told in first-person from B's point of view. I enjoyed the use of present tense in this, as I feel like it works really well for the horror/post-apocalypse genres. There's nothing better than the here and now to scare the shit out of you. Plus, it seems like books written in the present-tense are hard to come by (just me?), so it's a refreshing and welcome change. Darren Shan's writing is also absolutely delicious. It's gripping, decently paced, dark and just... simply delicious. I loved it. I couldn't put the book down for a day and a half unless it was pried from my hands with a crowbar because of the writing alone. I must admit, though, I was expecting the book to be a lot longer. I mean, it wasn't even 200 pages.

For being a book set at the onslaught of the zombie apocalypse, readers certainly have to wait for a considerable amount of time to see any zombies. The first half of the book was focused on B's everyday life, which included a heavy focus on B's father. The problem with this is that B's father is extremely racist. And abusive. AND just an all-around huge prick.

When B witnesses an infant being kidnapped, B tries to rescue the child. Being successful in saving the infant, everyone praises B as a hero. Everyone, except for B's father. In his eyes, B shouldn't have helped at all because it was an Indian baby, not a white baby. He goes on to say that they would be better off if "they took a dozen little Indians and dumped them in the Thames." (pg. 86)

I'm sorry, but... What?

This is only the beginning, as well. There were many instances throughout the novel where racism seems to take the spotlight. Some of the other older characters also share the same point of view as B's father. I don't think B fully buys into it. However, readers can see from some of B's actions that racism has certainly rubbed off a bit. B makes a reference to lynching when a black student refuses to engage, and after watching yet another display of domestic abuse, believes that saving the Indian baby was a terrible thing to do, among other things.

Honestly, if it wasn't for the fact that the writing was good, the novel was short, and I had yet to see any zombies, I probably would have DNF'd this book because of the racism. Plain and simple. For some reason, though, I get the feeling that the racism is supposed to be the theme of this book/series. Or, at least one of them. I don't see it being so prevalent if it wasn't.

One thing I didn't anticipate were the illustrations. They added to the storyline, helping to display the gore in all its fabulous wonder. I'm curious to know if Shan drew the illustrations himself. I couldn't find anything online about it, but I also couldn't find anything hinting that they were drawn by someone else, either.

Another thing that bothered me, or, rather, drove me nuts, was not actually knowing if B was a male or female protagonist until closer to the end of the book. Thanks to Shan's writing, readers are left constantly wondering. I assumed that B was a boy. Even all of the illustrations which showed B, portrayed B as a boy. However, as it turns out, B is a girl named Becky.

Admittedly, if it wasn't for the heavy focus on racism, I probably would have given this book a four star rating. As it stands, I'm interested in seeing how this series pans out. If you can't stand racism in the slightest, don't read this book. If you can tolerate it, then by all means, go ahead.

I couldn't finish this book I really do like the main character B but the racism is kinda getting to me little bit I know B doesn't want to be like father that understandable but him I can't with him at all.

Used to be a huge fan of this author when I was younger – stumbled across his new series in a Barnes and Noble and picked it up for nostalgia's sake. Finished most of it while sitting in the store. His new series is far more gruesome than the one I read ("Saga of Darren Shan") and dealt with some heavy topics like racism. Glad to see Shan is still writing great, meaningful horror books for kids!

Zom-B is really short. It's supposed to be a book about zombies attacking a school, but it takes a long time to get to that point. The synopsis makes Zom-B sound awesome, and it's pretty cool when the zombie show up. But the zombies don't show up until 100 pages into the book! For a book that's only 174 pages, that's a long time without zombies. After the Prologue, which introduces the zombies, the first half of the book is really about B and B's father being racist. Racism is a huge part of this book. Once the zombies show up, Zom-B is fast-paced, filled with action and intense. But it takes too long to get there. And it's very obvious that the end is leading up to a sequel. It just left me wanting more. And, of course, I had some questions about certain characters and events that happen throughout the book, which I'm sure will be answered later in the series.

Also, this novel is set in England. It really bothers me when books don't stay true to their setting. I know sometimes language in British based books are "Americanized" for US readers. But if you're going to change some British expressions, you should probably change all of them. I don't understand why B would say things like "knackered" and "snogging" but uses US words like "fries," "chips" and "soccer." It's really confusing if you're used to the Brit practice of calling fries "chips" and chips "crisps." It's odd having B steal a bag of chips from someone because I'm thinking "they sell fries in bags?" And even more annoying when they have a soccer game at lunch, and B mentions that they usually skip "footie" matches. I'm sure I'm nitpicking, but it bothers me.



SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!

First off, I don't like it when books purposely hide the gender of the main character and then there's a big gender reveal during an important plot point! It makes no difference to the plot whether B is a boy or girl and I see no reason to hide this fact. Big deal. Generally when a book tries to hide the gender of the main character, they're the opposite gender of what you want to think they are. Plus, you lost me when B took an hour long bath.

Second, I get the whole father's racism and why it was important to the plot that B was racist part of the time and not racist other times. It was a determining factor in the climax of the novel. But we didn't need 100 pages to establish that.

Heavy handed, strangely paced with a strange mix of apocalypse and fantasy.

Great dystopian book! Reminds me of the show The Walking Dead at parts, but otherwise nicely written. Ending was a huge surprise and a cliff-hanger. Definitely want to read the rest of the series except that there are too many books.

A good book, not great tho.
As others have mentioned, there is racism and its not really there until shortly before the end.
That apperance at the end tho gives the entire book a bitter taste.
Might get the second, might not.

Die deutsche Rezension findet ihr hier.
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B Smith is a teenager like anybody else, at least like any other teenager in that area: looking for trouble, disillusioned and slightly aimless. It does not really help that B’s father is a racist, on the contrary: B is repeatedly confronted with the question what is right and what is wrong. A child surely must love the own father, he has to be right with everything? However, doubts keep coming up while the once feigned behaviour to please the father becomes normality. Still, there is not much time left to resolve the conflict, even though B is not aware of that yet. There are reports about zombie attacks in Ireland, but just as everybody else B thinks it is a hoax or a PR campaign. Nobody realizes in how much danger they are …


Just a little warning to begin with: you will not like B. Maybe you will suddenly feel like kicking or screaming at somebody, or like hitting someone in the face. And as soon as B’s father enters the stage it will get worse.
“Zom-B” is not primarily about zombies, even though that is what the title suggests, but about racism. B’s father is the perfect example. He stirs up hatred against foreigners and those he believes to be such; he is in favour of violence and disapproves of good deeds when someone of another nationality benefits from it. At home he is the ruler, his word is law and if you do not obey him, you will be given a taste of the whip. That is where the main character was raised; by now B is good in being quiet and changing the topic when it is necessary – not so the mother. In the end, both are too often the target of the father’s violence and as crazy as it sounds, B still tries to be sitting pretty. It is for the father, you see?
It is frustrating, and in a bitter way realistic. Even though I often screamed at B to be reasonable, it is good that the book was written in the way it was written. “Zom-B” shows where it can lead us if we always prefer to go the easier and often cowardly way only because we do not dare to face the challenges. We become what we secretly despise until we cannot be sure any longer who we actually are. It takes a lot after that to get us back on the right track (or rather: the not-right one), but it is possible.

“Zom-B” deals with the missing logic of racism and the ridiculous excuses we come up with to calm ourselves. A friend of ours is a person of colour, so we cannot possibly be racist. That is by no means true, but it is something many say in one moment and the next they lash out again against “the others”.
Despite its shortness, the book holds a mirror in front of us to show how all of us think in stereotypes – because human perception simply works like that – and how we come to conclusions that are not necessarily based on any facts. Well done, Mr. Shan, you completely fooled me! It makes me all the more happy that I was constantly tearing my hair and sometimes even had to laugh.

However, there still have to be some zombies. At the very end they get introduced, same as some mysterious clues that point towards those pulling the strings in the background. There is not much happening concerning this mystery, so in the end, “Zom-B” is an introduction. There was still much going on, only it concerned B’s personality.


Shan is back, maybe better than ever? That will have to show; so far, we are only at the very beginning of this journey and got to know B. The following books will deal with the zombies, but this one only introduced them. The main topic of “Zom-B” is racism and it is approached by the author in an intriguing and effective way; I would like to claim it might help those who are in B’s situation – though they will probably never read it. It is a pity.
To everybody else I can only strongly recommend to read this book, which you will hopefully love. It deserves it.