This is not a test, it wasn't the best.

This is not a test by Courtney Summers

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
323 pages
Released: June 2012
Buy it @ book depository

It’s the end of the world. Six students have taken cover in Cortege High but shelter is little comfort when the dead outside won’t stop pounding on the doors. One bite is all it takes to kill a person and bring them back as a monstrous version of their former self. To Sloane Price, that doesn’t sound so bad. Six months ago, her world collapsed and since then, she’s failed to find a reason to keep going. Now seems like the perfect time to give up. As Sloane eagerly waits for the barricades to fall, she’s forced to witness the apocalypse through the eyes of five people who actually want to live. But as the days crawl by, the motivations for survival change in startling ways and soon the group’s fate is determined less and less by what’s happening outside and more and more by the unpredictable and violent bids for life—and death—inside. When everything is gone, what do you hold on to?

Review

 

This was one of those books that I've been dying to read for a while, and when I finally did read it I was a little disappointed. I wasn't expecting a zombie novel with lots of blood & gore because I knew that it wasn't all about that. I get that there was more to this novel, but it wasn't doing it for me.

This is a story about six teenagers trying to survive the zombie apocalypse, and as I mentioned earlier it's more than that. There's issues of death, abuse, suicide and under-age sex to name a few. Very hard hitting at times.

Courtney Summers writes a fantastic book with realistic characters that have flaws. I think I have a love/hate relationship with her books because I enjoy the writing and the story but I usually dislike the characters. As with her books, nothing is off limits and intimate issues are discussed.

There are a few squeamish zombie moments in this, but it's good for someone who scares easily because they're not that bad. Overall I'm glad I read it, but I couldn't connect with the characters.

On the cover

 

I like this cover but not as much as the normal book cover. They are very similar with the hair flowing across the face and the light blue. The cover shows an actual scene that happens in the book, well I'm pretty sure anyway.

What I'm listening to next: More than this by Patrick Ness

 

 

 

Not your average zombie

Ashes (Ashes Trilogy #1) by Ilsa Bick

Rating: 4 out of 5 hearts

465 pages

Released: September 2011

Buy it @ book depository

It could happen tomorrow . . .

An electromagnetic pulse flashes across the sky, destroying every electronic device, wiping out every computerized system, and killing billions.

Alex hiked into the woods to say good-bye to her dead parents and her personal demons. Now desperate to find out what happened after the pulse crushes her to the ground, Alex meets up with Tom—a young soldier—and Ellie, a girl whose grandfather was killed by the EMP.

For this improvised family and the others who are spared, it’s now a question of who can be trusted and who is no longer human.

Author Ilsa J. Bick crafts a terrifying and thrilling post-apocalyptic novel about a world that could become ours at any moment, where those left standing must learn what it means not just to survive, but to live amidst the devastation.

Review

This was not what I was expecting at all! That's not a bad thing though, it's a really good thing. I was expecting a gory zombie novel, which it is at times, but there was so much more than gore. It was a slightly romantic story where people are trying to survive during a confusing time.

Zombies aren't my favourite thing to read or watch, I think the whole idea of cannibalism is terrifying! But my boyfriend LOVES zombies and wishes the zombie apocalypse was here already... so because of this I've seen a lot of zombie movies and videogames. Normally in those movies there's usually an epidemic/viral outbreak that turns people into the undead. In this book they are called 'the changed' which is a completely different twist on your average zombies.

I think this was more scary because the idea of an electronic impulse knocking out all technology could happen now. Our society relies so much on technology that if everything was suddenly shut off not many people would survive, I know I wouldn't!

The story was very intriguing but the characters were also really easy to like as well. Although Ellie, who is an 8 year old tag along was quite annoying at times, but I guess most kids that age would find it hard to get used to living without technology. Alex is the main character and the story is told from her point of view. She is a very strong female character, but she has her weaknesses and I liked that she was both strong at times while also being weak at times because it makes her real.

There are two male characters in this that are vying for Alex's affections, but it's not a love triangle as such because they happen at different points in the novel (I don't want to give too much away). The romance was very slow paced, no insta love in this book. I like that guys who read this would not be put off because there isn't any mushy love.

Oh and that ending!! I was like "wha....??? There has to be another disc, that can't be the end please!" It was so excruciating, there are so many unanswered questions and you're left hanging. Have the changed become clever? I don't know if I should wait to get the audiobook version or just go out and read the book. I think the latter might win. I highly recommend this to people who would be put off by flesh-eating zombies because it's not a book about just that.

On the cover

That face is so creepy, I think it's the eyes that make it kind of scary - There's no pupils and they're white. I also understand now all the lines across the face, I guess they're to represent the Electro-magnetic pulse.

What I'm listening to next: The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta