ZOM-B Angels by Darren Shan
| ZOM-B Angels by Darren Shan | |
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| Category: Teens | |
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Reviewer: Jill Murphy
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| Summary: Vintage Shan - which we love! - but does this series really need twelve books? | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 240 | Date: June 2013 |
| Publisher: Simon & Schuster | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 0857077643 | |
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Ok. I'm going to do this for all books in this series except the first one. Before we begin. If you haven't read the first book in this series, DON'T read this review. It contains spoilers. Read my review of the first book, read the first book itself, then come back. If you don't, you'll be sorry...
Jus' fillin' a bit of space in case your eyes, like mine, scroll down a page before you even start reading it...
A bit more...
And a bit more...
Hopefully, that's enough...
We're now on book four of Darren Shan's zombie series. Zombies are everywhere just now, aren't they? Even Auntie Beeb has got in on the act with In The Flesh - loved that. And Brad Pitt is due to star in the adaptation of World War Z by Max Brooks. That film comes out just a day after ZOM-B Angels. I'm in rotter heaven, I really am. I love zombies. Much better'n vampires, don't you think?
Becky Smith is a zombie with a difference. She's a zombie with marbles intact - well, intact so long as she keeps up with a diet of brains. No brains = no marbles. In this series, B is a revitalised. There are plenty of reviveds, too, though, and these are the senseless shuffling zombies we all know - and love, right?
In Angels, B meets Doctor Oystein and a new band of revitalised. Having been rejected by the remaining human population - there's no persuading soldiers with machine guns of her good intentions - B knows that Doctor Oystein's Angels are probably her only chance of a meaningful future. So, despite her misgivings and distrust - B distrusts everyone, it's her best defence and her worst character flaw, depending how you look at it - Becky gives the group a go.
But Doctor Oystein has a long story to tell. And by the end of it, B's future is looking as rocky as ever...
I am enjoying this series. I always enjoy a good zombie tale and I always enjoy Darren Shan, who isn't afraid to be gross, or to kill off sympathetic characters, or to eschew a happy ending. The ZOM-B books are ending on cliffhangers, which is usually a major bugbear for me, but with new releases every four months I'm prepared to swallow it. There's never long to wait for the next instalment. BUT. But, but, but. It does all feel a tiny bit thin. I would like more meat in each book. I feel like this is a six book series, but instead, it's all being spread out over twelve books with each not quite enough to satisfy. I might start saving them to read two at a time.
Slightly mercenary publication schedule aside, this is all classic Shan - pacy, pitiless, pukey and, of course, stonkingly good fun. Recommended for all fans of Shan, of horror, and particularly of the undead.
Ok, well, don't forget to read Zom-B by Darren Shan first, will you? My favourite zombie series are Generation Dead by Daniel Waters - these zombies don't eat you - and Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry - these zombies do!
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You can read more book reviews or buy ZOM-B Angels by Darren Shan at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
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