As a kid, "Alice in Wonderland" was one of my favorites. The ides of diving down the rabbit hole and coming out the other side into a world of backwards rules and impossible imaginings was so great that I would dream of my own adventure.
So of course when I saw "Alice in Zombieland" I couldn't resist.
And I'm so happy that I didn't.
There was a rabbit hole, although it was more metaphorical than anything, and I dove down and into it.
For beginners, I'd like to start off with something spoiler-free: this book was one of the most hysterical horror-comedies I have ever read. I couldn't stop laughing, actually spit out water and tea from bursting into hysterics (I had to stop myself reading whenever I wanted to drink something because I was afraid to spit it onto myself... again), and in the end I was trying to piece everything together alongside Ali (a.k.a. Alice Bell).
Altogether I gave this book 4.5 stars.
That's right.
And THAT surprised me, too.
Now we're heading into the spoiler section...
... which means you either have read it and are willingly following me down the rabbit hole (see what I did there?) or you haven't because you don't think it's worth it. And that's fine.
You're wrong, but it's fine.
The story flowed very easily through this novel. You have the protagonist go through something traumatizing and come out on the other side, you have her spiritual eye open - if you will - and have her life turned completely upside down as her whole family dies. And then attacked by zombies.
But they aren't normal zombies.
This is why I have to give Gena Showalter credit: she took a classic monster and CHANGED IT COMPLETELY. They are actually spirits infected by evil, feasting on a person's spirit (rather than flesh), and in order to fight them the slayer MUST be in the spirit realm as well.
So on top of the crazy spirit-eating zombies you have the slayers who are able to leave their bodies in order to fight them in the spiritual realm. Which was SO FREAKING COOL.
The characters were definitely unique, in that Kat was insane and amazing, Ali was hysterical and sarcastic as hell, Cole was broody with a reason and then lovable, her grandparents were ridiculous, and so on and so on...
I'm not running through the entire character list.
BUT!
Between the unique cast and this incredible hidden world on top of ours, just in spiritual form, made this book a gem in and of itself. I enjoyed the way that it was written, the way that the story flowed, and the originality was off the charts for me. This was definitely a zombie story I will never forget, nor is it an "Alice in Wonderland" retelling that will be forgotten.
I had one major issue, but in the grand scheme of things it pales in comparison to how I felt about the book. One characters - Reeve - dropped out of the book. No explanations, no mention except about her father, just... gone.
Which didn't change the story, but I felt like it was something that should have been addressed.
Whatever.
It was awesome.
And Ali's snark was perfect and necessary for keeping it feeling like the Walking Dead (I mean come on, lighten up guys). The humor kept me flipping the pages and never once did the story feel as if it were becoming stale.
It was fun, it was fresh, and I craved more.
And so I caved and bought the other three books.
I know.
I can't wait to read them.
This rabbit hole just keeps on going deeper. I just know it.
So overall, I had to take a half star away for the lack of explanation as to what happened to Reeve. I know it wasn't that big of a deal, but it was still an issue and therefore I cannot ignore it.
So... yeah.
That's about it.
The book deserves its 4.5 stars.
I LOVED it.
So I hope you'll join me with my next read - which will be "Scarlet" by A.C. Gaughen - a Robin Hood retelling. It should be a fun read.
Until next time!
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