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4.15 AVERAGE
4.15 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A great novel about the civil war era but the war ceases because of zombies. One girl, who is black is sent to a school to learn to fight the undead. She gets into trouble and is sent to a community in Kansas. She and her friend Kate want to get out of the town because they send blacks to hard labor and to defend the town without giving the proper weapons. In the end they kill the sheriff and are about to head to a Californian town where Jane's mother is.
I’m not sure why there’s a need to debate the validity of the themes within this book. It almost feels like folks want to nitpick because its been so well-received by the masses.
Such things happen. Whatever.
I’ll skip over the part where I address the nitpicking and say this: I enjoyed the book.
Unlike a lot of folks, I’m as tired of zombies as I was of vampires (I loathe any and every book that's been inspired by "Twilight". I also never much cared for "Twilight". So there's that).
I don’t watch “The Walking Dead”, nor do I wish to after reading this. Even with my loathing of zombies and all things zombie-related, I was riveted by this book.
Navigating the North and South during the post-reconstruction/pre-Jim Crow era was beyond difficult for minorities.
Ireland did a better than average job, in my opinion, of addressing those difficulties, and bringing to light the ignorance which existed, without stepping too far away from the plot and veering into territory where it felt more historical fiction than dystopian.
While I was a bit put off by the way the lone Native American was portrayed, and could certainly understand how others would be as well, I didn’t feel "Red Fern" was a large enough part of the plot to distract from the main storyline.
That said, I was put off by the colorism aspect. Jane was obviously bothered by Katharine's ability to "pass" and the issue came up at multiple junctures.
At some point I wanted Jane to view her friendship with Katherine without the lens of jealousy colorism created; Jane was a strong character but being constantly reminded of the self-consciousness created via Katherine’s ability to “pass” distracted me from that confidence, at times.
Aside from that, I truly enjoyed the book and I look forward to the next installment in the series. View all my reviews
Such things happen. Whatever.
I’ll skip over the part where I address the nitpicking and say this: I enjoyed the book.
Unlike a lot of folks, I’m as tired of zombies as I was of vampires (I loathe any and every book that's been inspired by "Twilight". I also never much cared for "Twilight". So there's that).
I don’t watch “The Walking Dead”, nor do I wish to after reading this. Even with my loathing of zombies and all things zombie-related, I was riveted by this book.
Navigating the North and South during the post-reconstruction/pre-Jim Crow era was beyond difficult for minorities.
Ireland did a better than average job, in my opinion, of addressing those difficulties, and bringing to light the ignorance which existed, without stepping too far away from the plot and veering into territory where it felt more historical fiction than dystopian.
While I was a bit put off by the way the lone Native American was portrayed, and could certainly understand how others would be as well, I didn’t feel "Red Fern" was a large enough part of the plot to distract from the main storyline.
That said, I was put off by the colorism aspect. Jane was obviously bothered by Katharine's ability to "pass" and the issue came up at multiple junctures.
At some point I wanted Jane to view her friendship with Katherine without the lens of jealousy colorism created; Jane was a strong character but being constantly reminded of the self-consciousness created via Katherine’s ability to “pass” distracted me from that confidence, at times.
Aside from that, I truly enjoyed the book and I look forward to the next installment in the series. View all my reviews
Wow - this was a great book. 4.5 stars rounded up because there is a pandemic and I felt like breaking my rules because this made me happy (despite this having zombies and a plague! I wish this fulfilled my desire to kick COVID’s ass somehow).
I knew I would like this book when 30% in, I was not annoyed by the first person POV which is usually kryptonite. It helped that Jane was a great protagonist - snarky, angry, impulsive and flawed. She came across as a teen - which was a refreshing change. She doesn’t have enough history to know better and that matters to the story. I especially liked how she was distracted by pretty boys - it made me giggle which was needed levity given some of the other awful things happening in the book (and no, zombies are hardly the biggest evil on display).
The exploration of racism and its impact on black people was excellent. Jane displays anger at the injustice but there is a powerless to the anger which I thought was real and visceral. It made me upset and angry on her behalf which is testament to the author.
I am not sure how the history stacks up for the post Civil war period but the theme of “re-enslavement” (is that a word) through law was done well. The book talks about how black children were sent to combat school and how people felt that it was their God-given role to protect white people. The author was inspired by residential schools as well which gave this a context which was heart-breaking.
The zombie plague was excellent sugar to disguise the medicine of the history lessons. Racism, slavery, residential schools all combine and are the focus of this book despite the zombie plague. The book can be read as a straight action novel but knowing the real world context makes this more poignant for me.
I would have liked to see the zombies used a little better though. There is so much other stuff happening here that the SFF premise is kind of underused. I am not sure if it was meant to show “any excuse to oppress former slaves” or just a lack of integration of the premise into the rest of the novel. It felt like a plot device rather than integral to the world - still there is enough there I think for the sequel.
The plague is used to set up the combat schools and the bigotry of white people who called it a plague from god so it’s not like it’s not used but again mostly to talk about the human response. The zombies themselves don’t get much page time except as cannon fodder.
Most of the book is well paced with some good action and background story for Jane. It was a fast read generally with a needed lull in Part 2. The end was a little abrupt where the author seemed to run out of page space and veered towards bombast that wasn’t set up properly. I enjoyed the last burst of action but it was not set up well. The book needed perhaps another 40 pages to make the denouement more complete. Being a debut, I am hopeful the author does better in the sequel.
I was also surprised that I don’t see more holds for this in the library. People you’re missing out …
PS. I hope zombies eat all the bigots in the next book. Yes, I am annoyed.
I knew I would like this book when 30% in, I was not annoyed by the first person POV which is usually kryptonite. It helped that Jane was a great protagonist - snarky, angry, impulsive and flawed. She came across as a teen - which was a refreshing change. She doesn’t have enough history to know better and that matters to the story. I especially liked how she was distracted by pretty boys - it made me giggle which was needed levity given some of the other awful things happening in the book (and no, zombies are hardly the biggest evil on display).
The exploration of racism and its impact on black people was excellent. Jane displays anger at the injustice but there is a powerless to the anger which I thought was real and visceral. It made me upset and angry on her behalf which is testament to the author.
I am not sure how the history stacks up for the post Civil war period but the theme of “re-enslavement” (is that a word) through law was done well. The book talks about how black children were sent to combat school and how people felt that it was their God-given role to protect white people. The author was inspired by residential schools as well which gave this a context which was heart-breaking.
The zombie plague was excellent sugar to disguise the medicine of the history lessons. Racism, slavery, residential schools all combine and are the focus of this book despite the zombie plague. The book can be read as a straight action novel but knowing the real world context makes this more poignant for me.
I would have liked to see the zombies used a little better though. There is so much other stuff happening here that the SFF premise is kind of underused. I am not sure if it was meant to show “any excuse to oppress former slaves” or just a lack of integration of the premise into the rest of the novel. It felt like a plot device rather than integral to the world - still there is enough there I think for the sequel.
The plague is used to set up the combat schools and the bigotry of white people who called it a plague from god so it’s not like it’s not used but again mostly to talk about the human response. The zombies themselves don’t get much page time except as cannon fodder.
Most of the book is well paced with some good action and background story for Jane. It was a fast read generally with a needed lull in Part 2. The end was a little abrupt where the author seemed to run out of page space and veered towards bombast that wasn’t set up properly. I enjoyed the last burst of action but it was not set up well. The book needed perhaps another 40 pages to make the denouement more complete. Being a debut, I am hopeful the author does better in the sequel.
I was also surprised that I don’t see more holds for this in the library. People you’re missing out …
PS. I hope zombies eat all the bigots in the next book. Yes, I am annoyed.
fun but felt incomplete, which makes sense because it's the beginning of a series
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Violence
Moderate: Death, Gore, Slavery
I'm not usually a fan of zombies, but I enjoyed this alternative history set after the Civil War. I like how the main character was really interesting and also really ruthless which you don't see a lot of in ya fiction.
The book also touched on the deep racism even right after slavery was abolished Native Americans and Black Americans in this book are sent to boarding schools to fight zombies so the white people can be protected. But the author points out in the author's note that this did happen in actual history that Native American children were separated from their familes and stripped away of their culture to assimilate in White America at these schools. Certainly history that teens should learn about in this book that they might not learn about in their schools.
The book also touched on the deep racism even right after slavery was abolished Native Americans and Black Americans in this book are sent to boarding schools to fight zombies so the white people can be protected. But the author points out in the author's note that this did happen in actual history that Native American children were separated from their familes and stripped away of their culture to assimilate in White America at these schools. Certainly history that teens should learn about in this book that they might not learn about in their schools.
I really enjoyed this book. I saw that it was such a clever premise period I did take away a star just because I felt like even though obviously this is a fictitious world. There were some actions that the main character's tape just seen a little bit too fantasized so it took me out of the fantasy while reading it. This book has a little bit of everything as far as mystery, thriller, romance, history really all emcompassing and I appreciate that.
adventurous
dark
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes