Rating: 3.5 stars
Cover Rating: 4 stars (Interestingly creepy and relevant.)
Genre: Young Adult
Publication Date: May 7, 2013
Publisher: HarperCollins
Page Count: 369 p.
Add it: Goodreads
With the world ending around them, Michael tries to keep his brother safe. He probably could have picked a better time to run away, but now that doesn't matter. All that matters is keeping them alive. Michael convinces his brother that it's all a game, he doesn't want his five-year-old brother to freak out. Michael is trying his best not to freak out too, but terrible and terrifying things are happening and Michael just wants to get to the end of this game, to the Safe Zone. The Safe Zone might not be all he hoped for though.
What an intense read. I really enjoyed this mash up of two fantastic things: video games and zombies. This was a fun read. It was really confusing at times though which kind of slowed me down a bit. Halfway through the book most things began to make sense, but Michael was a pretty unreliable narrator. Most of the book I was pretty positive he had some sort of mental disorder. I thought he was a little bit crazy. I'm still not totally convinced that he's not.
There were some unrealistic situations in this book, but then again it's a book about a zombie apocalypse, soooo how realistic can it really be? I just found that Michael was way to good at surviving for a kid who played video games, solely. I appreciate that this book makes it seem like playing video games is good for you (no really it is) but I don't know if it will really help you stay alive for a month during the apocalypse. *shrugs* I have no way of disproving this however.
I thought Patrick was a pretty great kid. I often forgot he was only five. It's been quite a while since I've hung out with a five-year-old. Is this how they are now? He seemed pretty composed, his brother had convinced him that this was all made up though. He seemed like a cool little dude, except for when he wasn't.
This was certainly a different take on the zombie apocalypse novel and I enjoyed it. I wished it was a little less all over the place but for the most part it was a lot of intense fun. Things start to get crazy fast, so if that's the kind of book you're looking for grab this one.
First Line:
"Michael awoke in the dark to the screams again."
Favorite Line:
"You must be this tall to ride the apocalypse."
I think it sounds different, a 5 years old boy killing zombies?!
ReplyDeleteHis brother doesn't do much by way of killing it's mostly the Michael doing the slaying of zombies :)
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