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.

What can I say another great book by Darren Shan I love the pictures in this book what are telling you what's is going on I also like how we get to know b for the zombies appear

This one tells the story of B(Whos gender is supposed to go unknown till the end). B is your typical teenager who doesn't really get along with their parents. One day B is watching the news and hears of a zombie outbreak in Ireland(setting). B doesn't really believe it and then, at school the zombies attack.
This story was a miss for me. It is a short book but, there is not enough zombie action here. There are 174 pages and the zombie outbreak doesn't occur until about half way through. I just wasn't feeling the story, either. On the other hand Shan is a fantastic horror writer. The gory details will make you cringe. I most likely will not be continuing the series.

Very clever. A male reader of Darren Shan's previous work will come to this thinking "great! Gore! Blood! Zombies!" And he won't be wrong.
But he's also going to get quite a lot to think about - racism, family relationships, and he's going to have to work for his gore... There isn't a zombie attack for much of the length of this short book.
There's also a great, great twist that would be interesting to question the typical reader about when they've finished. Didn't see it coming, and was very pleased Shan took the book in this direction.

The story is simple - zombies have apparently started appearing in Ireland. Ireland you say? Pah! Far away, probably a hoax. So the story focuses on B, a teenager with a racist father and issues to deal with. Only later do the two stories collide, and set the rest of the series up.

Will be recommending this to my 10+ readers in the library, and for an adult it's not a bad read either. Very well done, Mr Shan, you'll hook 'em.