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Revision as of 15:44, 5 September 2020
, 15:44, 5 September 2020no edit summary
The plot is perhaps a little heavy-handed. I had no doubt as to the eventual outcome very early on, including the clever, but not surprising, moral ambiguity right at the end. But even so, I couldn't put the book down. Waters has an excellent ear for dialogue and taps successfully into the adolescent psyche - Phoebe, Adam and friends are all deeply credible characters. And so are the zombies. Tommy, Karen, and the others aren't cardboard cutouts - and they are capable of failing or flourishing; their moral decisions mirror those of the living teenagers. Do they? Don't they? Should they? Shouldn't they? Do they dare? Will anyone love them? These are universal questions, it seems, whatever one's biotic status.
The whole thing is saved from lumbering by some witty writing and a spot -on knowledge of pop culture. It's a credit to Waters that I actually came away from this book almost believing its premise to be possible, even if it did rather creep me out. A great many teenagers are going to love it.
My thanks to the nice people at Simon & Schuster for sending the book. We also have a review of [[Kiss of Life by Daniel Waters]].
[[My Swordhand is Singing by Marcus Sedgwick]] is a more traditional zombie tale, while those interested in the social issues in ''Generation Dead'' might like [[The Wave by Morton Rhue]].
