Phoenix Grounds | 10 January 2013 | Sarah Jones

If you haven't read the first book in this series, Zom-B, then what are you doing??? Go out and buy it.

 

Here, I'll even be nice and give you a link - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zom-B-Darren-Shan/dp/085707752X/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y

 

(Or you can read my review of it here - http://phoenixgrounds.blogspot.de/2013/01/review-zom-b-by-darren-shan.html?spref=tw)

 

So, after reading Zom-B in pretty much one sitting, I was really excited about the second book in the series, Zom-B Underground. I was a little aprehensive, after all, the first book had some pretty amazing twists that I was unsure if Mr Shan could pull it off again.

 

And yes, yes he did. Twice...

 

Zom-B Underground is set around 6 months after the events at the end of Zom-B. We discover that death isn't the end for B, it's just the beginning of the nightmare.

 

B wakes up in a military complex and finds herself surrounded by zombies and a group of leather clad individuals fighting them. It goes downhill for B from there.She has no memories of the last six months and is unsure of why she is still alive. She is held prisoner in the military complex, where scientists perform experiments on zombies, and she slowly understands what happened to her. However no one will tell her why her school was attacked or what has happened in the UK since.

 

This book delves deeper into Darren's take on zombies and gives us some more insight into how the world has reacted to the zombie attack at the end of the first book. There are some brilliant characters and a really chilling new enemy, in the form of Mr Dowling, a psychopathic clown who wears intestines on his arms and ears on his trousers. Oh, and he seems to have a fondness for arachnids...

 

One of my favourite moments in Zom-B Underground was understanding the title completely.

 

I also really liked the twists. I did guess the first one at the start, but it was still intriguing and kept me interested in the story. The second one comes near the end and it's one of those "that should have been obvious!" moments again. I was impressed that I'd been fooled a second time.

 

Zom-B Underground tackles the same racism issues that were introduced in Zom-B. After her choice near the end of the first book, B has decided to change for the better. She doesn't want to be known as the girl who doesn't care and she refuses to succumb to her old racist tendencies. In this book she grows up, in a way, maturing as a character and showing that despite her being a jerk in the first book, she can change to be a better person.

 

At least, until the next book. Where it remains to be seen if B can stay true to her new morals in the face of what she learns in Zom-B Underground.

 

I am really enjoying these books. I think the only bad thing is that they are so short! I read both books in one sitting each. They are fast, easy reads in Darren's fluid style.

 

But that's the nice thing about them. And even better is the fact that he's releasing a new one every three months, instead of the usual 6 month wait. So it has the feel of an ongoing T.V. series.

 

Another cool addition was at the start, where there was a "Then" and "Now" section. That really reminded me of a Supernatural episode, where they show you what happened previously before moving onto the meat of the episode.

 

Overall, I am very impressed with this series so far. I read the Kindle version and was really pleased that the pictures were included too (both books have grisly illustrations throughout!).

 

If you enjoyed Zom-B, then you'd be mental not to read this one as well. It's just as good, even if the twists aren't as jaw dropping. And the ending sets the scene nicely for the third book, Zom-B City!

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