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4.15 AVERAGE
4.15 AVERAGE
This had a lot of potential. I liked the premise behind this book, but I ultimately didn’t like the execution. There were characters, plot lines, and world building elements that could have been better explored. It’s probably just a me thing, but I just thought it could have been better.
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Sorry, ahem, zombies, not for me. Hate the thought of rotting corpses walking. Can't stomache it.
Find this review and more on my blog at Worlds Unlike Our Own.
American history takes a darker turn in this narrative where the Civil War grinds to a halt in the wake of a zombie apocalypse. Several years later, due to an Act passed by the government, Jane McKeene finds herself attending Miss Preston’s School of Combat, where black girls train to become Attendants and learn to fight the dead so that they can protect rich white families from the zombies. All Jane wants, however, is to finish her education and return to her home in Kentucky, mostly ignoring the political tensions in Baltimore. But when families in the area start to go missing, Jane finds herself with a mystery on her hands and is quickly drawn into a conspiracy far more dangerous than anything she imagined.
Going into this book, I didn’t really expect to like it all that much – zombies (or shamblers as they are called here) are so overdone – so I kept my expectations low. But Dread Nation took me by surprise at how much I ended up enjoying it, and the audiobook narration was a significant part of it. The narrator has done a great job with this and even the early chapters which are comparatively slower paced, were made very interesting. The snippets from Jane’s letters to her mother, and later, her mother’s responses, were an excellent way to learn introduce more of Jane’s story and also provide glimpses into the happenings back at her home of Rose Hill. I also really appreciated that despite this having all the elements of a zombie horror story, the depiction was not particularly gory or described in excessive detail.
Jane was a great protagonist, smart, brave, sassy and a truly delightful narrator whose POV it was so much fun to read from. I wasn’t all that fond of Katherine, but I really liked how the friendship between the two of them developed. Even more than the characters, I enjoyed the world building. Putting the walking dead to one side, the world Justina Ireland paints is one where slavery has been outlawed, but the extreme discrimination and racism is far from gone. Dread Nation puts a darker twist on an already dark period in history, where the zombies are the monsters you can see, but the true monsters are other humans.
The only thing I didn’t enjoy that much was when all our characters abruptly find themselves out West. The new setting took some time to get used to, especially after all the comparative refinement of the east coast, and Summerland is much more harsh than Baltimore. I felt that this part of the story was introduced rather late and hence pushes the majority of the action and mystery to the end, resulting in a somewhat uneven pacing.
Overall, this was a fantastic, unique read, both entertaining and thought-provoking, and I can’t wait to start reading the next book! Highly recommended!
American history takes a darker turn in this narrative where the Civil War grinds to a halt in the wake of a zombie apocalypse. Several years later, due to an Act passed by the government, Jane McKeene finds herself attending Miss Preston’s School of Combat, where black girls train to become Attendants and learn to fight the dead so that they can protect rich white families from the zombies. All Jane wants, however, is to finish her education and return to her home in Kentucky, mostly ignoring the political tensions in Baltimore. But when families in the area start to go missing, Jane finds herself with a mystery on her hands and is quickly drawn into a conspiracy far more dangerous than anything she imagined.
Going into this book, I didn’t really expect to like it all that much – zombies (or shamblers as they are called here) are so overdone – so I kept my expectations low. But Dread Nation took me by surprise at how much I ended up enjoying it, and the audiobook narration was a significant part of it. The narrator has done a great job with this and even the early chapters which are comparatively slower paced, were made very interesting. The snippets from Jane’s letters to her mother, and later, her mother’s responses, were an excellent way to learn introduce more of Jane’s story and also provide glimpses into the happenings back at her home of Rose Hill. I also really appreciated that despite this having all the elements of a zombie horror story, the depiction was not particularly gory or described in excessive detail.
Jane was a great protagonist, smart, brave, sassy and a truly delightful narrator whose POV it was so much fun to read from. I wasn’t all that fond of Katherine, but I really liked how the friendship between the two of them developed. Even more than the characters, I enjoyed the world building. Putting the walking dead to one side, the world Justina Ireland paints is one where slavery has been outlawed, but the extreme discrimination and racism is far from gone. Dread Nation puts a darker twist on an already dark period in history, where the zombies are the monsters you can see, but the true monsters are other humans.
The only thing I didn’t enjoy that much was when all our characters abruptly find themselves out West. The new setting took some time to get used to, especially after all the comparative refinement of the east coast, and Summerland is much more harsh than Baltimore. I felt that this part of the story was introduced rather late and hence pushes the majority of the action and mystery to the end, resulting in a somewhat uneven pacing.
Overall, this was a fantastic, unique read, both entertaining and thought-provoking, and I can’t wait to start reading the next book! Highly recommended!
Didn’t realize this was a series, veryyyyyy interested to see how this turns out. For now, I am in suspense.
This YA book was interesting in concept and story. Though I thought the story moved somewhat slowly, yet I didn't want to stop reading it. I think it's an important book for all of us to be reading and talking about - especially the author's note at the end that talks about the factual bases for this fictional interpretation and telling.
WOMEN WHO KNOW HOW TO DO SHIT AND SLAY (literally and figuratively) IS. MY. JAM!!
In all seriousness though, I really liked this book. Zombie media is my favorite. I love the idea that this takes place in a historical setting while there’s also a paranormal aspect there. I also loved Jane because she honestly reminds me a little of myself. Stubborn and has a lot of mouth. The book kept me entertained and I didn’t feel like I was bored at all. That being said, I would recommend this people who liked Kingdom on Netflix and/or zombie media.
In all seriousness though, I really liked this book. Zombie media is my favorite. I love the idea that this takes place in a historical setting while there’s also a paranormal aspect there. I also loved Jane because she honestly reminds me a little of myself. Stubborn and has a lot of mouth. The book kept me entertained and I didn’t feel like I was bored at all. That being said, I would recommend this people who liked Kingdom on Netflix and/or zombie media.
This is a fun young adult novel about a black girl in an alternate universe version of the US, where a zombie plague coincided with the civil war. Jane and her frenemy Katherine are students at Miss Preston’s, where they are learning to become attendants, which are like hybrid ladies in waiting and zombie slayers. The universe is very strong, with the combat schools for both blacks and Native Americans based on the actual Indian schools that we had in the US post civil war, and some interesting stuff about passing. My issue was that the plot and some of the style was a bit too YA for me. It makes me wish Ireland would write an adult novel set in this universe, ala Paolo Bacigalupi. I’ll still read the second one though, since it ended with the start of a new adventure. Also, it’s just incredibly satisfying to see historical sci fi with black characters dive well, in a way that feels true and plausible. And, besides the racial diversity, there’s sexual diversity too, with both a bi and an ace/aro main character.