GIF Review: Zombies Vs. Unicorns, Edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier

This book is a short story battle. Like a dance battle but with WORDS. So basically AWESOME. On one side, led by Holly Black, is Team Unicorn, featuring the skills of Meg Cabot, Margo Lanagan and Garth Nix to name a few.

 

On the other side, led by Justine Larbalestier, is Team Zombie, with the talents of Libba Bray, Carrie Ryan and Maureen Johnson, amongst others.

The book alternates between zombie stories and unicorn stories, each trying to answer the question: which creature makes for a better tale? Now, when I began the book I declared myself Team Unicorn because, well, unicorns combine basically all of my favourite things: mythology, romance, pretty things, sparkles, rainbows, pretty smells, magic, and all that is good in the world. Zombies on the other hand are stinky and ugly and evil and GROSS. Ugh. Don't get me wrong, I love a zombie story as much as the next person. But give me a unicorn over a zombie ANY DAY.

After the first few stories I became a bit worried that I would turn Team Zombie. Because while I liked the unicorn stories, it was the zombie stories I was really blown away by. But, thankfully, by the end of the book I found myself still firmly on Team Unicorn - but also, strangely, ALSO on Team Zombie. Basically I can't declare a winner because both Teams were brilliant and both creatures are fascinating and compelling, for completely different reasons. In the end EVERYONE wins because what we got from this battle was a remarkable, entertaining and moving collection of short stories. Here are my brief thoughts on each one. With GIFS! Because that's a thing that I do these days apparently.

"The Highest Justice" By Garth Nix
In a sentence: A more traditional unicorn tale, in the sense it involves kings and queens, wishes and magic, but also MURDER and REVENGE, this was fun but the characters were quite flat and it was rather predictable, so it wasn't amazing.
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"Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Alaya Dawn Johnson
In a sentence: Ah, the old zombie hunter falls in love with the zombie story - brilliantly told here with compelling characters and raw, powerful emotions.
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"Purity Test" by Naomi Novik
In a sentence: Unicorns meet urban fantasy when they take over New York City in a quest to defeat an evil wizard - a very funny take on the genre.
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"Bougainvillea" by Carrie Ryan
In a sentence: A dystopian zombie world in which a young woman dreams of romance and a normal life - until everything changes. I can't say any more except WOW this was awesome - gripping and beautiful.
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"A Thousand Flowers" by Margo Lanagan
In a sentence: Beautiful, poignant and more than a little bit twisted, this deals with the fallout of one magical evening in the forest.
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"The Children of the Revolution" by Maureen Johnson
In a sentence: This is basically what would happen if Angelina Jolie adopted zombie kids - a darkly hilarious send up of celebrity culture.
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"The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn" by Diana Peterfreund
In a sentence: Unicorns have come back from extinction, but they're not the nice healing creatures we think - they're man-eating monsters! Creepy and entertaining but the ending felt a little abrupt.
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"Inoculata" by Scott Westerfeld
In a sentence: How do you rebel in a post-apocalyptic world? By becoming the thing your parents hate... I loved this take on growing up and being a teenager surrounded by zombies.
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"Princess Prettypants" by Meg Cabot
In a sentence: In which a unicorn is used to help with typical 17-year-old problems - like dealing with bullies and douchnozzle boys, and getting nice boys to kiss you. LOVE.
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"Cold Hands" by Cassandra Clare
In a sentence: In Zombietown, your boyfriend's death doesn't mean the end of your relationship... Gotta admit, this one made me a little uncomfortable.
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"The Third Virgin" by Kathleen Duey
In a sentence: The first story I've read with an evil, suicidal unicorn as the protagonist - creepy and amazing.
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"Prom Night" by Libba Bray
In a sentence: All the adults have turned into zombies, leaving the teens to fend for themselves and do whatever the hell they want. So fun and yet surprisingly bleak - but, not surprisingly, fantastic.
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Overall this was an awesome read. What really struck me was just how unique and creative each story was, and how deep and varied the worlds of these two creatures can be. Team Zombicorn for lyf!

Rating: 4/5

Fine Print
Published: 2010, Allen & Unwin
Get It: Bookworld

Audiobook Series Review: White Trash Zombie By Diana Rowland

This series is so, so fun. I picked up the first two books on sale on Audible and I was instantly hooked. The narrator, Allison McLemore, does an awesome job capturing all of the different characters - each voice was distinct and believable. As for story, I loved Angel, the heroine, who is a hot mess until she nearly dies and wakes up as a zombie. Becoming undead allows her to finally pull her life together. She's a strong, fierce, imperfect heroine who is easy to root for. She reminded me a little of Sookie Stackhouse - cute, Southern, uneducated but smart, caring, suddenly thrown into the supernatural world - but a way more awesome version. She doesn't get all dependent and stupid around guys. The romance is secondary to Angel's own journey, which I loved. OK, I would have liked a little more action in that department - just a little - because the love interest was pretty freaking hot. But I really appreciated that there was more to Angel and her story than guys.

My Life as a White Trash Zombie
The first in the series, this book focuses on Angel's transformation and her figuring out what the hell is happening to her. While she's dealing with her sudden craving for brains and adapting to her new job at the morgue (convenient for her meal supply), she finds out there's a serial killer on the loose who is decapitating victims. Her zombie senses are tingling and she gets entangled in the mystery. This is an awesome start to the series, establishing the world while also drawing you in to the story. It's a complete arc within itself, while also leaving room for continuation.
Rating: 4.5/5

Even White Trash Zombies Get The Blues
Angel is finally getting used to life as a zombie when things get even more complicated. Her past comes back to haunt her and she thinks there's a zombie mafia conducting experiments on people. This is another great mystery with some fun romance thrown in. It's awesome to see Angel develop as a character and become even stronger in herself. I really liked all the secondary characters in this, too. It's a very compelling story, completely addictive to listen to.
Rating: 5/5

White Trash Zombie Apocalypse
After racing through the first two books as fast as my ears could take me, I immediately bought the third in the series. I was a little disappointed in this one, and I think the narrator may have played a part in that. It was the same narrator as the previous two books (who had been awesome throughout both), but I feel like this one must have been recorded a fair time after the others, because the performance was pretty different. The voices were all slightly changed which, having just listened to the first two amazingly consistent books, was quite jarring. McLemore also sounded in parts like she had a cold, which was distracting. It was still a great book, with the mystery this time centering around a zombie movie being filmed in Angel's small town, with a worryingly authentic cast of extras. One thing that did annoy me was the suggestion of a couple of new love interests towards the end - it had been so refreshing to have no love triangle in the series thus far. I hope it stays that way. While I didn't love this book as much as the first two, it was still a lot of fun and I'm really looking forward to the next one, which is out later this year.
Rating: 3.5/5

Review: This Is Not A Test By Courtney Summers

Holy crap did I love this book.

It reminded my a little of The Walking Dead, in that it’s set in a zombie apocalypse but the zombies are merely the backdrop for the human drama. But while The Walking Dead features a mostly adult cast (give or take an annoying kid or two), This Is Not A Test focuses on six teens as they hole up in their high school and try to figure out how to survive. Or if they even want to.

You see, the book opens with the protagonist, Sloane, contemplating suicide. But not because of a zombie apocalypse. Because of the very human problem of living in an abusive home and feeling abandoned by her sister, the one person who promised to take care of her. Then zombies appear on the scene and it’s almost a relief to her. She’s away from her abuser for the first time in her life, but she’s still despairing that her sister left her. Oh, and the fact that the world’s gone to hell. Much of the book centres around the tension between her desire to die and her increasing interest in life, and it’s quite a fascinating concept.

I also really enjoyed watching the dynamics of the group unfold. A lot of conflict derived from who survived when they perhaps shouldn’t have – and who didn’t survive when they should have. It was also interesting to see how people who wouldn't normally interact adapted to living in constant close quarters. There was a lot of tension but also a lot of lovely bonding moments.

The setting of the school and the atmosphere of impending doom was awesomely claustrophobic. There's one particular section early on where the zombies are constantly banging on all doors and windows and it's dreadful (in a good way). The repeated unchanging messages of "This is not a test" also added to the tense mood. It all felt very authentic.

What I loved most of all about This Is Not A Test were the raw emotions. Anger, despair, hope, fear, love, hate, attraction, detest, grief... there are so many emotions the characters go through and they're all beautifully and realistically rendered. Forget braaaaains, this zombie book will grab your heart and twist it and rip it and squish it until all your left with are frayed nerves and FEELS. So many feels.

Rating: 5/5

Headcanon Cast

Lily Collins as Sloane

Steven R. McQueen as Rhys

 
Fine Print
Published: 2012, St Martin's Griffith
Get It: Book Depository

Bookish Buys: The Walking Dead

I'm a bit obsessed with The Walking Dead at the moment. I know it's a TV show, but it's also a graphic novel, and I thought that was enough justification to do a Bookish Buys post on it. Besides, this here blog is a Belletatorship, which admittedly doesn't have the same ring to it as a Ricktatorship but... it's my blog and I'll do what I want. Ahem. On with the merch...

Daryl Dixon figurine from Amazon

Daryl Dixon mug from Gold Label

Board game from Amazon

Rick Grimes Macbook decal from Fixer Up

Garden stake from Garden Stakes

Deal from Walking Dead Promotions

Daryl Dixon print from Radiant Grey

Zombie necklace from CH Gallery

Finger puppets from Felt Up Fandom

The Walking Dead/Love Actually mash-up tee from Nude and Loitering Tees

Cross-stitch pattern from Pixel Power Design

Print from Duke Dastardly

Zombie family car decal from Remarkable Walls

Badges from Epic Buttons

Michonne action figure from Amazon

Tote from Gold Label

Mousepad from Gold Label

Follow Friday: Zombies and Mel Gibson

Follow Friday is a blog hop hosted by Parajunkee's View. This week the question is, "What are you doing to prepare for an upcoming zombie apocalypse and/or the return of Mel Gibson to the silver screen? (Both of which could be terrifying.)"

This question has made me realise I'm doing NOTHING to prepare for a zombie apocalypse, eep! Unless, of course, you count watching Zombieland and Shaun of the Dead repeatedly. Y'know, for research purposes. I also watch A LOT of trashy TV, which turns my brain to mush, so the zombies wouldn't want them anyway, right? RIGHT?!

As for Mel Gibson, well, I'll just continue to ignore his existence. Hey, do you think that'll work for the zombies, too?