A Book Hunter's Journal | 17 December 2012 |

Having read a part of Darren Shan's Cirque Du Freak series in the past, all I have to say about Zom-B is...HOLY SHIT! I know, it's a bit much, but seriously. HOLY SHIT!

 

I'm not going to stand here and state it's the best zombie book I've ever read–it's not even the best YA book I've read–but I will state that if you actually want to venture into reading it, you will probably not expect the twist toward the end–even though, it's pretty much obvious throughout the book after you find out.

 

Shan writes about two sorts of zombies–the Hollywood type and the metaphorical ones. Zombies are alive–or undead?–and students in London are skeptical. B's family thinks it's all charades, some sort of big publicity stunt. But B has to deal with more than just zombies. Dad is a total racist, whose influence is seen heavily in B's vocabulary and actions. B doesn't mean to be racist, it's just beginning to be difficult to see where the act ends and the truth begins. And while B knows that being racist is wrong and that seeing Mom beaten whenever she crosses Dad makes life unbearable, B doesn't budge. Instead, acceptance is granted and going with the flow is so much easier. And safer.

 

Now there's little I can praise the book for. It's hammered pretty quickly that racism is the key plot, and a lot is left unanswered. Like what's the point of B's nightmare? Whose that man at the beginning who's also an associate of B's racist dad, and what does he have to do with the zombies? And who will be the narrator for the second book? And will I even bother to read the second book?

 

Giving credit where credit is due, I stuck to my word and saw this short (yet long) book to the end. Though, I can't imagine wanting to read more. I've accepted the ending. I've accepted a lot of things. But yeah.

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