Changes

I bet you read ''Zom-B'' right up until the reveal before you realised B was girl. Didn't you? How could someone so aggressive, so bolshy, so bitter and so racist be, shock horror, a girl. These are not feminine qualities, even in a post-feminist age, are they? I bet you also thought B was going to be a zombie-hunter par excellence. Didn't you? And she actually ended up as one of the undead. Well, wise up. Things aren't always as they seem and this important realisation is shaping up to be the theme of Shan's latest series. It took a while to get there, but - as I predicted - it was worth it in the end. B ''is'' a girl. And thanks to an horrendous family background, she is also prone to anger and violence and has racist tendencies. She is also a zombie. So she won't be a lone, heroic survivor. She'll be a central character with flesh-eating tendencies.

In this second instalment, B revitalises - she's herself despite the hole in her chest where her heart was ripped out, and despite the fangs and claws she has grown. She can't cry any more - no tears, you see - but she wants to. Wouldn't you? She awakes to find herself held captive in a mysterious research lab. And there are other young revitaliseds around, too. I'm not sure how many of them will make it through to the end of the series - this is Darren Shan, after all - but they all have interesting back stories.