Pretty awesome zombie book and a quick read 

Tom has to go to zombie territory, the plague states, with his brother for the first of what are likely to be many trips to come. He’s looking for his sister, a child, a zombie, lost in the outbreak.

Of course his brother, like so many others, is really blasé about the zombies now. There’s no reason to be afraid, he was assured, certainly not reason to carry a weapon.

Then there’s the zombie escape. Tom flees for his life, relying on his father’s connections to rescue him – and a handful of grizzled veteran zombie hunters to keep him and his fellow novices alive.

I liked it, but where’s the rest of it?

That’s kind of how I felt after reading this book. I liked the story, I liked the characters, I liked the world setting. But I think more could have been done with just about every aspect of it. It had a huge amount of potential, some excellent frame work and raised some really impressive concepts and issues and didn’t follow through

The protagonist, Tom, has some major baggage – he was there during the outbreak, he saw his sister turned into a zombie and he blames himself, despite being a child when it happened. Not only does he blame himself but so does his family and a number of other people who have completely forgotten what it was like during the outbreak. Because zombies have been rendered somewhat harmless, a lot of people have no concept of how dangerous they are – and that same attitude means that people scorn Tom for not having the knowledge and skills then that professional hunters have now

This is a really interesting point that is somewhat reinforced by the group travelling through the zombie wilderness, with the contrast between the tourists and the experienced hunters. The tourists are inept, helpless, ignorant and argumentative – not in a comic or over the top way, but in a very human, realistic way; because scared, angry, confused people are some of the most annoying creatures on the planet. They contrast perfectly with the ruthless, very prepared and very skilled hunters and it not only shows how dangerous zombie hunting is, but also how unreasonable the accusations Tom faced were.

And so much more could have been made from that! And his fraught relationship with his dad and his brother! And the way he treats the Hunters compared to the other tourists.

Tom’s mission in the zombie-lands is to find his zombie sister – and, again, so much more could be made of that. His guilt and grief, the question of what to do when they find her, the impossibility of the task – it’s all touched on, but it’s just touched on.

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I haven't read many zombie stories, so I can't be certain if this book is original. It certainly seems like it to me though, and I am impressed!

With a world set several years after a zombie outbreak, we follow a young man searching for his sister. We learn about him and his shame-filled past, his family, and the state of America after a virus-like epidemic turned thousands of people into zombies. We learn what the government did about it, how the country is set up, and how the zombies are dealt with.

I was impressed with the cultural and environmental details the author had in the story, and the foundation he laid for this series. At the same time, I enjoyed the lack of details about small things, such as clothing color, and tedious details that don't really need to be explained. The author is a very good writer, in my opinion, and I enjoy his writing style.

The book flows quickly, painting a clear picture of the world around the characters, and the adventure they find themselves dropped into. There are several surprises, and I love the ending. I'm very excited to read the sequel, and certainly recommend this book to anyone who likes a good zombie story.

*I was given an eCopy of this book, from the author, to read in exchange for an honest review.

This novel had me puzzled a few times. Is the main character a young adult or is she fully mature and just out of character youthful? Especially one remark made me think that no adult would react like that.

"They'd even taken me to Disneyland. That rocked!"

I doubt an adult, or even a young adult would still think being taken to Disneyland would 'rock' more than seeing the world and discovering things about your life that are of greater importance than a trip to Mickey land.

Apart from that the writing is solid, scenes are masterfully set and even with the occasional out of character remark or action all players are fully developed.

I am a great fan of vampire novels and have read many of them, most are run of the mill and nothing special, but this one has some interesting twists. 

I love how the action is laced with romance and interracial (human-vampire relations could be seen as interracial so just let's call it that) struggles and how it all seems believable. How ever unbelievable that may seem.

There's good vs. evil, a love interest and twists that will keep you glued to the book.

Long story short, it grabbed me, maybe not from the start but soon enough I was well into the book and had to finish it.