The title of this book implies that it doesn't take itself seriously, and combined with the cheesy B-movie cover, it sounds like an upbeat Zombie Apocalypse story. And that's what it is.
There's a lot of Totally Radical dialog and narration, constant joking/sarcasm from the narrator, and it's all very cheesy, and really annoyed me for a while. But I came to accept what the story is, and appreciate it on its own merits.
Nate and Misty, two best friends in middle school, run away from home together, then come back to find everyone either is evacuated, or is a zombie. Trapped in town, they soon discover a way to kill the zombies, and eventually learn to survive in this collapse of civilization. Actually, it's a rather localized collapse - only their town has been infected. Their goal soon becomes to find a way out, which involves such things as driving a car and running over any zombies that get in the way, or constructing... the Super Zombie Juice Mega Bomb, with the help of 9-year-old Little Professor, Kali.
Yes, Kali is full of that annoying "use big words when small words will do just fine" dialog that hack writers think somehow indicates intelligence. I was eventually able to tolerate him as a character, but his very existence gives an indication of this book's tone.
There's plenty of violence, but most of it is rather matter-of-factly described. Zombies die in all manner of ways, but with this book's light tone, it's hard to really see it as anything more than just "fun killing of zombies". It's even hard to really care that all of civilization seems to have been destroyed thanks to our First Person Snarker. Which is why it's very surprising when the book suddenly decides to take itself seriously and permanently kill off a major character. Considering the fact that the heroes are 12 and 9, that's very unexpected, and truth be told, quite ballsy for any author to do.
I wouldn't call this a particularly good book, but it delivers what it implies - lots of zombies, a couple kids who are stuck in the middle of it all and have to fight it off, and an upbeat mood.
Light-hearted zombie apocalypse
The title of this book implies that it doesn't take itself seriously, and combined with the cheesy B-movie cover, it sounds like an upbeat Zombie Apocalypse story. And that's what it is.
There's a lot of Totally Radical dialog and narration, constant joking/sarcasm from the narrator, and it's all very cheesy, and really annoyed me for a while. But I came to accept what the story is, and appreciate it on its own merits.
Nate and Misty, two best friends in middle school, run away from home together, then come back to find everyone either is evacuated, or is a zombie. Trapped in town, they soon discover a way to kill the zombies, and eventually learn to survive in this collapse of civilization. Actually, it's a rather localized collapse - only their town has been infected. Their goal soon becomes to find a way out, which involves such things as driving a car and running over any zombies that get in the way, or constructing... the Super Zombie Juice Mega Bomb, with the help of 9-year-old Little Professor, Kali.
Yes, Kali is full of that annoying "use big words when small words will do just fine" dialog that hack writers think somehow indicates intelligence. I was eventually able to tolerate him as a character, but his very existence gives an indication of this book's tone.
There's plenty of violence, but most of it is rather matter-of-factly described. Zombies die in all manner of ways, but with this book's light tone, it's hard to really see it as anything more than just "fun killing of zombies". It's even hard to really care that all of civilization seems to have been destroyed thanks to our First Person Snarker. Which is why it's very surprising when the book suddenly decides to take itself seriously and permanently kill off a major character. Considering the fact that the heroes are 12 and 9, that's very unexpected, and truth be told, quite ballsy for any author to do.
I wouldn't call this a particularly good book, but it delivers what it implies - lots of zombies, a couple kids who are stuck in the middle of it all and have to fight it off, and an upbeat mood.