Deadlands (Deadlands #1)

Deadlands (Deadlands #1) by Lily Herne

Paperback, 304 pages

Expected Publication: 8th April 2013 by Much-In-Little

Shelves: arc-or-review, better-than-expected, blog-tour, books-i-own, lgbt-characters, read, read-in-2013, really-good, series-or-companions, title-appeal, young-adult, zombies

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

In Deadlands, life is a lottery.

Ten years have passed since Cape Town was destroyed in the war with the living dead. Now, human survivors are protected from the zombies that lurch around the suburban Deadlands by shrouded figures known as 'Guardians'. But the price for protection is steep: each year, the Guardians hold a human lottery in which five teenagers are chosen for a secret purpose.

Seventeen-year-old Lele hates everything about her life in the city: her new school, the brainwashed zombie-lovers, the way everyone seems creepily obsessed with teenagers . . . She wants out. Then she is picked as a Chosen One: but she's not prepared to face whatever shady future the Guardians have in store for her. So she runs for her life - straight into the Deadlands, and into the ranks of the Mall Rats - a renegade gang of misfit teens who have gone underground - and are preparing to take a stand.

Deadlands is not a book I had heard about and I hadn't heard of the author, Lily Herne, before I picked this book up, but I'm always willing to read books that are new to me, and it's even better when they're unexpectedly fantastic like this one! I am so glad that the publishers put Deadlands on my radar and I'm glad to be able to share it with you, too.

Deadlands is the beginning of a new young adult series set in Cape Town, South Africa. I have only read one other book set in South Africa, so this was still a relatively new setting for me. I loved the setting. I'm not all that familiar with South Africa or some of their dialect, so I was a little bit unsure at first, but after a few pages I soon adjusted to the setting - there wasn't much use of Afrikaans or references but that didn't devalue the authenticity of the setting - it just made it easier to understand. The fact that this is set in South Africa is of course very refreshing, but the setting of the enclave and the Deadlands themselves are incredibly atmospheric and gritty. The two sides of the city - the dangerous Deadlands where zombies roam and the (assumed) safer enclave, lawed by Guardians. The differences between the two are clear and very well written. 

The storyline sounded potentially confusing, but that wasn't the case at all - the story was very easy to understand and follow whilst certainly having a good level of complexity. There is so much room for the story to expand and develop - there have already been some opportunities for twists and turns in this first book and I can only see more being added as the story progresses over the series. As I said, the story still is simple to follow - I was never confused by anything. There are lots of aspects to this story and to the city that Lele, the main character inhabits. This was certainly a page turner as I was reading quickly, trying to absorb every detail.

The characters were great to 'meet' and learn about the mix of characters in Deadlands. Our main character, Lele obviously has a lot of history and the plot allows us to see many facets of her personality. Due to the situation that the city is in, It was so difficult to trust anybody that we read about - I never knew quite who was on the right side of the city's Guardian 'laws'. The opposing groups were fascinating and it was interesting to see the politics of the enclave. The underground group, the Mall Rats who regularly venture into the Deadlands were particularly fascinating - they each had their own story and all had their own distinct personalities, which I loved.

Overall, Deadlands was a fantastic book which had me gripped from start to finish. It felt like an amalgamation of positive themes and ideas from several ideas  whilst having its own unique story. I really, really enjoyed this and I will definitely be following the rest of the series. If you're a fan of young adult dystopian or paranormal (particularly zombies!), I'm sure that this book would appeal to you - it would be ideal for fans of The Hunger Games. If you're looking for a great new voice in YA, you'll find it in Deadlands.

Dead Romantic

Dead Romantic by C.J. Skuse

Paperback, 328 pages

Expected Publication: 4th February 2013 by Chicken House

My shelves: arc-or-review, books-i-own, cover-appeal, magical-realism, read, read-in-2013, supernatural, zombies

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

Camille wants to find the perfect boy, with an athlete's body and a poet's brain. But when she's mocked at a college party, she kows there isn't a boy alive who'll ever measure up. Enter Zoe, her brilliant but strange best friend, who takes biology homework to a whole new level. She can create Camille's dream boy, Frankenstein-stylee. But can she make him love her?

There seems to be a lot of hype around Dead Romantic and there is undoubtedly a lot of praise given to author CJ Skuse. On receiving this book for review, I knew I had to pick it up soon and give it a try. CJ Skuse is a very different, fun writer and it's easy to see why she has so many fans.

Dead Romantic is a book that will appeal to almost any young adult. Camille, our main character, wants a boyfriend and when she becomes friends with Zoe, the strange goth girl from school, Zoe promises to use science in order to create Camille's perfect boyfriend. Instantly, the the premise intrigued me - how were the girls going to make this boy? Would everything go to plan? Apart from the classic Frankenstein (which I really enjoyed), I hadn't read anything like this before, but it was definitely something I'd like to read about again! 

When you're creating a Frankenstein-like person, there has to be some sort of supernatural element to the book, and there is, but thankfully it isn't completely dominating - for those who aren't that keen or bothered about fantasy, I would imagine that this would still be enjoyable. There is a really good balance throughout this book. I personally really enjoyed the creepier scenes (yes, I'm a bit morbid), they certainly grabbed my attention and made the book into a real page turner.

Whilst the book does center around the formation of the new boy, there is also a lot of focus on Camille's relationships with different characters in the book. My favourite character had to be Zoe - she was strange in the best possible way, she really interested me and despite her somewhat moody persona, she is definitely the kind of person I'd want to be friends with. I loved learning about her family and for me, this was the highlight of the book. Despite the building of her 'dream boyfriend', Camille does have another love interest in this book and it's nice to read about. I will admit that I wasn't taken by most of the boys in this book (especially Damien!) but like Camille, I did grow to like Louis in particular. 

There was only one thing that slightly irritated me in this book and it was the ending - I felt that for a standalone book, it was left too widely open. After all of the suspense building up around the Frankenstein-style guy, I wanted to know more about him - what happened to him, where did he go, what was he like? I understand that in the long run, it wasn't really necessary to know these things as most of the issues in the book resolved themselves before the boy was brought to life, but I would still have liked to learn more about what became of him. Saying that, maybe that is just me being greedy and wanting to read more of Skuse's work! 

The writing in Dead Romantic was certainly unique. Skuse definitely uses language to connect with a younger audience and it really works. There are countless books that are let down by their 'teen speak', but Skuse has got it right - it felt as though she was talking to me as a friend and it felt completely natural. I did really enjoy the writing style and it will certainly encourage me to pick up more books by this author. 

Overall, a very enjoyable read, but a slightly unsatisfying ending. I can't wait to see what Skuse writes next as I will undoubtedly pick it up. Highly recommended for any teenagers or young adults who want to read something well balanced with a touch of of the supernatural.

Rage Within (Dark Inside #2)

Rage Within by Jeyn Roberts

Paperback, 368 pages

Expected publication: 30th August 2012 by Macmillan Children's Books

My shelves: apocalyptic, arc-or-review, blog-tour, books-i-own, dystopian, horror, read-in-2012, sci-fi, read, young-adult, zombies

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

After the earthquakes came the infectious rage, turning friends into deadly enemies. For survivors Michael, Aries, Mason and Clementine the battle to stay alive is about to get even tougher. The new world is organising itself, with camps that promise protection for the uninfected. But the reality of the sites is far more sinister. Besides, nobody is safe from the rage within their own soul...

For fans of Gone, or 28 Days Later not to be missed!

Buy this book:

The Book Depository / Amazon (US/INT) / Amazon UK

My thanks go to Macmillan's Children Books for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.

Last year, I picked up a copy of Rage Inside from my local library, not knowing much about it and having not read a zombie-type book before (okay, they're technically not zombies, but some characters are in a zombie-like state). I was very glad that I did pick it up as I really, really enjoyed it. The only problem was, I had to wait for the second book to be released! When I finally held a copy of Rage Within, I was so excited to delve into it.

I'll be honest and say that I can't remember Dark Inside very clearly, despite how much I liked it - I could only recollect snippets of events, though I had a good memory of the characters. This wasn't a problem for me though, by around only 50 pages in, I was absolutely absorbed into the story, reacquainted with the characters and didn't want to put the book down. I was surprised that I enjoyed Dark Inside so much and even more surprised that I enjoyed this instalment even more. In this book, we follow a group of teenagers as they unite to try and survive a world that has completely changed after a catastrophic earthquake. They are up against a load of people who have turned into what are known as 'Baggers' - the bad guys of the books. Baggers are still human and it's very hard to know who is a bagger and who is not, which makes things a whole lot scarier and unnerving.

Again, this book is narrated by Mason, Michael, Clementine and Aries. Each character was strong and for me, it felt very equal - I didn't warm particularly to one character as I was interested in them all. Whilst all characters are well formed, I personally thought it was quite easy to get them mixed up, however this didn't cause any difficulty whilst reading. Though I won't mention who they are incase of spoilers, we also got to meet some new characters in this book who were very intriguing. There was a huge twist with one character in particular in this book and although it did sadden me as I'd come to like and know the character, the twist was indeed very effective! I loved all of the twists and turns in the book. There were some things that were slightly predictable but a lot of twists did shock me and make me gasp, which was fantastic. I was totally hooked, desperate to know what was going to happen next.

The one aspect of the first book that troubled me was the point of view of a character known as 'Nothing' - someone/thing that we don't know anything about. despite it being effective, I didn't like it in the first book as it was too vague for me. However, in this book we get to learn a lot more about 'Nothing' and begin to really discover who/what Nothing is. 

As you should be able to tell, I really liked this book and now begins the torturous wait for book three! Absolutely addictive, edge of your seat reading with fantastically developed, fun and loveable characters, this series is definitely one that I'd recommend.

Ashes (Ashes #1)

Ashes (Ashes #1) by Ilsa J. Bick

Paperback, 465 pages

Published 29th September 2011 by Quercus

My shelves: apocalyptic, books-i-own, cover-appeal, dystopian, horror, read, read-in-2012, sci-fi, series-or-companions, young-adult, zombies

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

No, she thought. No, please, God, I'm not seeing this

Seventeen-year-old Alex is hiking through the wilderness when it happens: an earth-shattering electromagnetic pulse that destroys almost everything.

Survivors are divided between those who have developed a superhuman sense and those who have aquired a taste for human flesh. These flesh-hunters stalk the land: hungry, ruthless and increasingly clever...

Alex meets Tom, a younge army veteran, and Ellie, a lost girl. They will fight together and be torn apart, but Alex must face the most difficult question of all: 
In such a vastly changed world, who can you trust?

A srtory of high-wire tension, gut-wrenching twist, and burgeoning love, Ashes will leave you breathless.

Buy this book:

The Book Depository / Amazon (US/INT) / Amazon UK

I bought Ashes last year and to be honest, I'm really not sure why it took me so long to get around to it. I absolutely loved the premise of this one as I'm a big fan of post-apocalyptic type books, even if they do scare me a little bit! As the next book in this trilogy, Shadows, is being released very soon, I thought it was definitely time to pick this one up off my shelves.

Ashes is about a girl named Alex who has a brain tumour and seems to have given up on all of the available treatments, instead deciding to live her life by herself, exploring the wilderness. When Alex is out in theforest, she comes across an old man, his somewhat troubled granddaughter, Ellie, and her dog, Mina. After forming a bond with the old man and being frustrated by Ellie, something very strange happens. The real action of the book starts when the world is hit with several electromagnetic pulses (EMPs) which changes everything. The old man dies, and Alex is left with Ellie and her dog and no idea of what has happened.

I really loved the start of this book. Learning about our protagonist was enjoyable and so was the mystery of the big 'zap' that changed the world. I loved moving through the wilderness with Alex and was quite captivated. The first half of the book was certainly a page turner. Parts of the story were very gruesome and quite disgusting, but the vivid imagery did work well - it gave the book a rather horrifying edge - I certainly wouldn't recommend this for younger teens, though!

Unfortunately, as the book progressed I did start to become a little bored. I absolutely loved following Alex, Ellie and Tom but around halfway or three-quarters of the way through, the book felt a bit disjointed as the characters were separated and I started to lose interest. The last section of the book, where Alex is led into living with some sort of cult was okay but it just didn't capture my imagination as the rest of the book had. The whole cult situation felt a little bit random and the introduction of a love triangle was unnecessary.

Getting to know our main character was very fascinating - Having a character with a terminal illness was different and interesting, I liked reading about her past and the thoughts she had in the present-day. We got to learn more about her as the book progressed and I found her to be a very likeable character. Whilst I didn't find anything about her particularly stand-out or striking, she was strong yet still very human and vulnerable - I liked that about her. I also came to love Ellie, the girl who was at first quite hostile but came to be slightly more mature, yet still kept her fragility. During their exploration of the woods to try and find some safety, we also met Tom, a character who certainly played a big role and is one of the romantic interests in the book. I did like Tom, he seemed like a genuine, caring guy but I personally wouldn't have been able to trust someone as quickly as Alex trusted him, especially in the situation that they were in. We do meet several other characters during the book and they are all well written and quite well formed.

This book does end on quite a big and somewhat exciting cliffhanger, so I do want to know what will happen next to all of our characters. It will be interesting to discover what has become of each character and what they plan to do in regards to the cult. This book had enough positive features in the first half for me to want to read on, so I will be looking forward to trying out the second book, Shadows.

Oliver Twisted

Oliver Twisted by J.D. Sharpe, Charles Dickens

Paperback, 274 pages

Published February 6th 2012 by Egmont Books

My shelves: arc-or-review, better-than-expected,
books-i-own, currently-reading, fantasy, horror, 
read-in-2012, shapeshifters,vampires, 
young-adult, zombies

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

“FLESH", the woe-begotten moaned at Oliver, baring teeth which were ragged and black.

“FLESH”, came another moan, and he turned to see two more woe-begottens behind. They began to shuffle towards him, barefoot – toes blue from cold, arms outstretched.

The world according to Oliver Twisted is simple. Vampyres feed on the defenceless. Orphans are sacrificed to hungry gods. And if a woe-begotten catches your scent it will hunt you for ever. When a talking corpse reveals that Oliver will find his destiny in London, he sets out to seek the truth. Even if it means losing his soul.

My thanks go to Egmont's new imprint, Electric Monkey, for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.

I am not usually tempted by books of this type - an idea taken from a classic book, but changed by a new author, adding new ideas. However, I was glad to see that this wasn't the original work with some new parts stuck in, but instead it was reworked and retold in a very original manner by an author who obviously loved the original characters.

As many of you will know, it was the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Dickens this week, and so I thought, although it's not a traditional work of his, but rather a modern reworking, I'd pick up Oliver Twisted and see how it was. With it's great foundation and it's modern ideas, this was a fun read. Ashamedly, I haven't read Oliver Twist, but of course I am aware of the basic aspects of the story from other media, like most. From the altered name of this novel and it's very apt tagline 'Please, I want some gore', I knew that this was going to be a bit different from the original!

Our new story follows Oliver who is, as a lone orphan, travelling to London where he befriends Dodge and subsequently gets drawn into a world where he is used by Fagin in order to try and gain power for his evil brotherhood. The story is well written, thanks to a good basis and good original characters. 

For our main character, Oliver Twisted, a new and very gory story including zombies, vampires, werewolves and soul stealers is created. Due to these creatures that are very popular at the moment in young adult literature, I think that this book will appeal a lot of young adult readers, especially those who enjoy the paranormal genre. 

Characters that appear and that you may recognise include Fagin, Dodge, Bill Sikes and Nancy. These all possess the characteristics of their original personalities, but Sharpe has also expanded and added a new lease of life to them, making them react realistically to their new situations. 

The writing was good - there was still reference to the old english writing style right at the beginning, but for the most part, the writing was modern and very easily accessible to middle grade children upwards. The book is extremely gruesome - the grotesque descriptions made me squirm several times but were very effective - I can imagine that a lot of children would love this aspect, but beware if you have a sensitive stomach! The pace of the story is very fluid and it does become quite action packed towards the end. This was easy to read and rather quick, too - so there's no excuse not to give this one a go.

I think that JD Sharpe does do justice to this book and is successful in achieving what she intended - a twist to Oliver Twist, turning it into a modern 'horror' story - something that  will certainly appeal to the majority of older children and young adults today. I would definitely recommend this and hopefully it will encourage more people to read the original work too - I know I certainly will, and I would love to read more from Sharpe, too!

The Other Life

The Other Life by Susanne Winnacker
Paperback, 320 pages

Expected Publication: February 1st 2012 by Usborne Publishing Ltd.

My shelves: arc-or-review, apocalyptic, books-i-own, cover-appeal, dystopian, horror, read-in-2012, sci-fi, young-adult, zombies

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

3 years, 1 month, 1 week and 6 days since I’d seen daylight. One-fifth of my life. 98,409,602 seconds since the heavy, steel door had fallen shut and sealed us off from the world 

Sherry has lived with her family in a sealed bunker since things went wrong up above. But when they run out of food, Sherry and her dad must venture outside. There they find a world of devastation, desolation...and the Weepers: savage, mutant killers. 
When Sherry's dad is snatched, she joins forces with gorgeous but troubled Joshua - an Avenger, determined to destroy the Weepers. 
But can Sherry keep her family and Joshua safe, when his desire for vengeance threatens them all?

My thanks go to Usborne for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.

Since I first heard about The Other Life late last year, it quickly became one of my most anticipated books of 2012. When I was welcomed to read and review the book before official publication, I couldn't wait to get stuck in! This book wasn't a disappointment and I think that it will appeal to fans of fast-paced dystopian books, especially those such as Life As We Knew It and the recently published Dark Inside. 

Whilst for the most part, I did enjoy this novel and it's fast paced action, there were a few flaws that irritated me at the beginning. Thankfully, by the end of the novel, the book did level out and it certainly felt as though the author had more confidence in what she was writing.

I found Sherry, our protagonist, took a little getting used to. I was slightly annoyed by her naiveté, lack of self awareness and also the fact that she asked so many questions to others even though they were no more aware of anything than her - I think that there should have been some more time for me, as a reader, to ask my own questions. When Sherry is told about the reason that everyone has been 'quarantined' in bunkers, to be protected from a mutation of the rabies disease (which turns humans into zombie 'Weepers'), by order of the Government/Military at the beginning of the book, she doesn't seem to have very strong feelings upon something that had such a huge impact on her life. This uncertainty was, however, quite apt at the same time - it would be easy to feel confused in her situation. I think that Sherry did evolve throughout the book and by the end, I found her to be a more determined, strong and likeable character.

Joshua, the love interest of this book, was quite atypical. He was handsome, but not perfect and he certainly had a sense of attitude to him. His quite secretive past life was also very intriguing. As a secondary character, I did enjoy reading about him. I thought that the relationship between Sherry and Joshua felt awkward, which was appropriate and realistic to their situation. I actually found their troubled friend, Tyler, to be one of the most interesting characters of the story. He has fantastic space for potential in the next books and I will look forward to learning about more of his story. It will also be interesting to see how other characters such as George, who has knowledge about the mutation, contribute to the next books.

The story is an interesting one and it is interesting to see how Sherry, her family and new-found friends adapt to their new, harsh reality and the fact that death and destruction is the norm. Seeing the contrast between her present life and her past life allowed me to see how much things had changed. I found the recollections of Sherry's past before each chapter to work very effectively. It's a very harrowing story with some very gruesome descriptions and events. We are kept on constant alert with the near constant action which helps you to feel as though you're in Sherry's position.

There are unanswered questions by the end of The Other Life and the revelations that we have  already found out have left me wanting more. This was a compelling book that made me look forward to discovering more on the next page and it was a very easy read. The ideas behind the story are very intriguing and the progression of this will be interesting to see in the next book, coming out in 2013.