Down, Down, Down We Go

“He’s body slammed enough people to start a new country. And there could be a neighbouring city for the people he’s punched in the throat”
― Gena Showalter, Alice in Zombieland

I'm so thrilled that everyone has enjoyed this book!! As you all know I'm a huge fan of Alice In Wonderland, so when I saw this book at Barnes & Noble, I jumped at the chance to read it. Not to mention my equal but sometimes overly obsessive love of zombies.

I am also a big fan of Gena Showalter's Alien Huntress (YA) series. A few of her other series look just as intriguing as well.

At first I had a little trouble getting into this book, which I know is a shocker! But I just found the dialog when Ali firsts starts school a bit dry for me. But I persevered and when Ali begins to see the "creatures" as I call them, I was hooked, and I couldn't wait to get through this book.

Showalter brought such an interesting take to the whole zombie craze, and I welcome it! I think it is good when new ideas come into a fandom, it shakes things up and makes me a big fan.

I too am hoping for a happy ending for Cole and Ali, I had become a fan of their relationship ever since Ali's first vision of her Cole battling together. Kat is probably my second favorite character in this book, she was quirky and fun, and I think she brought an air of happiness to a world filled with danger and "creatures".

I am so looking forward to the sequel, which has a date! Through The Zombieglass is due out in September! Which is a long way off, so I will have to find a new series to occupy my time an interests :D

The spiritual Zombie battle begins.

For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

Ephesians 6:12

Like you all, I found Showalter's take on zombies to be unique and very refreshing. When I first picked it up, I was worried it would be similar to many of the other zombie related movies, t.v shows and books out there. I am not saying those aren't good and I still love my Resident Evils, but I feel the zombie market is becoming a little over saturated and I am glad Showalter attacked the subject from a different angle.

By putting the zombies in the spiritual realm, she gave herself a whole new realm to work with. She is not limited to the physical realm and I feel that gives an exciting and unpredictable edge to the story. As well as, opening up great discussions and insight to a spiritual world that I find many people and writers are shying away from these days. 

For the most part, I found the character's enjoyable and I feel like Showalter left room to fully develop each significant character. Which is not often done when there are several characters seemingly crucial to the story. Kat was totally a favorite. I found her funny if not kind of dramatic. I agree with Katie, sometimes the teen drama was a little too much and a lot of hearsay and misunderstandings could have been avoided by communication. But it is high school so who am I to talk! Haha!

Some aspects of the book were kind of predictable. As soon as Ali started seeing her sister, I know her dad was a zombie. But I was glad in the end there was enough of him there to fight for his daughter. I found that sweet and kind of reassuring that love can still conquer all.

I will be picking up the next book not only because I am intrigued but I still have so many questions. I want to know more about the journal and the connection Ali and Cole have. I also hope more insight on her parents courtship come up, because I believe it was implied by her Grandmother that her parents had the same visions. Which for me represents them having a spiritual connection also know as "Soul Mates." I can't wait to see if my hunch is right. Good pick!

Soul eating zombies

Firstly, I have to say I find this take on zombies refreshing, unlike the brain eating zombies, I love the concept of the soul eating kind.When I bought this book the first words out of Joe's mouth were, "you're reading WHA?!" he thought it sounded like it would be weird but this book is awesome and like Katie and Lyss, I can't wait to read the others.

Secondly, while the visions fascinated me and I wanted to know what was going on with them, I honestly was more intrigued by the journal she was reading.  I was dying to know who wrote it, and at first I was thinking her mom did, but we learned it was dated before then.  The whole encryption aspect of it was a great idea.

Thirdly, I'm with everyone about loving Kat! She is an awesome friend, love her! I think I'm with Lyss in the fact that I thought she might be a zombie with her being sick and that maybe she got bit or something along those lines, total shock when her grandfather was turned though.  Another thing with her that I was waiting for, was her to be like the other girls of that group, or totally think Ali was crazy and bash her in school, but was glad when this wasn't the case and that she had her back the whole time!

I love that Ali tells her grams about everything that's going on,  making life easier for herself and everyone involved, and making her grandma aware of the situation!

Great book Christine!!! I can't wait until the other books are out, and see where the story goes!

(sorry it's kind of short, gizmo keeps dropping his toy on the keyboard!)
<3

Death is only the Beginning

Truly, that's what came to mind for me when I finished reading. Granted, if you become a Zombie after dying, then there's another death to go through too. I'm not huge into the Zombie fad, but I really loved the book. I thought the way Showalter did the concept of Zombies was very unique and original compared to what we generally get for Zombies.

(one minor note that makes me laugh, Showalter is generally kept in Romance, but this book is classified as a Harlequin Teen, lol. Who knows what might happen!)

I do love that Ali ended up telling Nana everything that was going on. A lot of books have their superheroes leading double lives and doing so much lying. Plus, you know, Ali is kinda similar to Buffy in the sense she's a Slayer (of Zombies not Vamps) but by Nana knowing about it, she'll be under less surveillance for being a troublemaker b/c she knows what's going down already.

I'm with Katie, I love Kat. She's the kinda friend you know will have your back like no one else will. I'm also going to have to buy the next book because I'm gonna have to know what happens. I hope we see an HEA for Cole & Ali and also for Kat & Frosty. However, given Kat's problem, I'm afraid she could end up in Zombie form making it super hard for Ali in the long run....holy crap why aren't the other 2 out yet?!?!?!?! I've got all this stuff playing around in my head....

Christine, I blame you.

That is all <3

Going down the rabbit hole that's filled with zombies

Once I started reading Alice in Zombieland I was hooked.  I was wanting to know what happened next.  I love the first person narration from Alice. And I also love anything with zombies and this book did not disappoint with the zombies.  

First, I really love the concept that the zombies are spirits that eat your soul.  For me this was very original and I enjoyed learning about this Zombieland.  With this Alice seems to be a rare type of spiritual being so I think we've only just begun learning about this world and what Alice can do.   

Of course I have to say I love Kat. She is so fun and vibrant even though she is sick.  I'm very glad she gets included into the zombie hunter circle and that she's with Frosty.  Now her and Alice can be on the same page and no more secrets.

The only negative comments I have about the book was I got tired of all the teenage drama in the beginning after Alice and Cole started having their visions.  I just wanted someone to shove them in a room together so they would just talk about what happened.  The other thing was some aspects of the book were predictable mainly when Alice started at Asher High.  I knew Cole and his friends were going to be zombie hunters and that Alice was destine to join them.

While that was predictable there were a few surprises I didn't expect at all.  First is Alice's grandfather being turned.  I really expected what happened to him to happen to Kat.  I had a feeling something would happen to her mainly because in my literary experience bad things happen to lovable characters (which sort of happened just in a different way).  It breaks my heart that Alice's grandfather was made into zombie.  She's already lost so much of her family.  But it does work well in the story line because Alice can't lead a double life forever. 

The other twist I didn't see coming was Dr. Wright being a spy for Anima Industries.  It caught me off guard because logically it made sense for the hunters to have a contact in the school.

What I would like to see more of with the future books is more Alice In Wonderland references.  I haven't read Lewis Caroll's version but I think there are some well know aspects like the white rabbit that was in this book that we can all recognize.  I don't know if Gena Showalter is just holding back for the future books but I would like to see more than just the chapter titles and the white rabbit referencing Alice in Wonderland.  And if there is other imagery I'm missing please tell me.  All I know if the Disney version of the tale.

I am looking forward to the second book and hopefully having some questions answered like whose journal does Alice have and will Justin come back from the dark side?