Darren Shan tackles zombies along with the current event issue of immigration, especially the tensions that exist in Britain. His depictions of zombies and their attacks are pretty gruesome, very graphic. These zombies are a little weirder than most, have characteristics you won't find in the usual zombie novel, with good reason. Their apocalypse has been unleashed by an unknown group.

I thought that Shan did a decent job of portraying the conflicting emotions of B, her desire for her father's approval and love in spite of his abuse and his clear and overt racism. She toggles back and forth in that world even though she doesn't really believe and feel as he does. Shan takes up most of the novel setting the stage for her decision at the end, which of course sets up novel #2.

Fans of Shan's earlier vampire series will like this. There are even some very creepy B/W illustrations sprinkled throughout that serve to heighten the drama and hook the reader on the mystery figures surrounding the zombies. Some attention must be paid to the Britishisms; while most will be understandable, some are not. But it doesn't detract too much from the story.

Seriously, Page 110 before we got really into zombies and then what! Curve balls characters dying left and right in the last 60 pages.

He is a master of horror. This is a great book is jam-packed zombie gore, but also with great depth with the story. And with a twist at the end too great to even describe. Both me and my english teacher both enjoyed reading this so give it a try and if you like horror i promise you, you WILL want more.

I LOVED IT! Don't get fooled by the mixed reviews. It's blood-thirsty zombie gore at its finest! Bought this a week ago and in less than 3 hours, im done. Talk about reading momentum and my 500 bucks gone down the drain. It's my first time to read Darren Shan's work and found it an easy read, walking dead-ish (season1) type of zombie genre. Totally worth it! :)

Okay, where to start.... So I listen to audio books and this one was a little over 3 hours long. That was disappointment number one. Disappointment number 2 was that one third of the book was the zombie action. I like character development, but not THAT much character development. If this book had no zombies in it it would've been much better. More of a coming of age book. Okay another thing, I had no idea B was a girl until the last ten minutes. All signs lead to male, the guy friends, the fighting, the picking on younger weaker males. I'm not saying girls don't do that, but normally it's verbal taunting of others. Another thing is that I like underlying morals but not overwhelming morals. Besides B wasn't a character that really changed throughout the book, in books the protagonist is supposed to be the person they are before the incidents, they go through trials and become stronger. The trials would be during the zombie apocalypse not during a trip to the museum. I just got fed up with B's racism and her not changing until she did something unforgivable. Seriously.

It was a struggle to read through this, it had some promise but the book was basically 70% about racism or beating on women. Terrible.

At first it is all about zombies. And then not so much. In fact, there's nary a zombie to be seen for most of the book. Yet it is a very interesting read, not least for the fact that the protagonist of this tale, B, is so interesting and compelling yet not very likable. It's an interesting study on how racism/bigotry is propagated in insidious and violent ways. B is a hard character to like, yet Shan manages to convey B's struggle against her inherited bigotry and you cannot help but root for her to rise above it, even when she fails time and time again. After years of suffering at the hands of a violent father abusing both her and her mother, B has fallen into the relative safety of just parroting her father's racist beliefs to gain his approval. Yet in doing so B not only comes across as just as bigoted and narrow-minded as her father but has fallen into a pattern of racism herself. And while she feels uncomfortable with this prejudice it has become a part of her. Intolerance of other cultures is a strong theme in the book and B's struggle to find her footing away from the influence of her father is compelling. The backdrop of zombies (and in this book it really is just a backdrop for three-fourths of the novel) is done very well; it serves as the trigger for B to try to move beyond what she is. The first of a 12 book series, this short book is most certainly a good start and I look forward to Shan's other installments. And more zombies. Hopefully lots more.