Scan barcode
anxietygirl89's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
oriannajoi's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
2.25
zoepagereader's review against another edition
4.0
I liked the characters, but I wished the plot had picked up a little faster, but it was really good. My only other note is that the MC thought every single one of the guy actors were the hottest people in the world.
noosh's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
It’s just a simple fun and an enjoyable read.
liralen's review against another edition
3.0
Have I mentioned that I really hate zombies? I really, really hate zombies—for pretty much exactly the same reasons that June loves them:
But more than that, I like that zombies are clean. Not physically, because ew. But, like...emotionally.
They only want to eat you. They don't want to hurt you, or torture you. Pain is just a by-product of how they want your meat. They're not sadistic. They're just hungry.
Zombies are basically human sharks.
If the sharks were also dead. And if a shark bit you and you then were destined to become a shark.
Okay, so not really like sharks. (12)
Except this is precisely why I'm (irrationally) afraid of zombies and (at least 1% less irrationally) afraid of sharks: they can't be reasoned with. They're dead behind the eyes, and you're dead if they bite you and NO THANK YOU NO THANK YOU.
I would totally swim with sharks, though, given the opportunity. But when the zombie apocalypse happens, I want to be real dead, real fast. Which, on that note...
And she's one of the last ones to die. Which is pretty good if you're trapped in the zombie apocalypse. It's all you can hope for, really. (61)
No. Just no. Surviving until the end of the zombie apocalypse sounds like a special kind of hell. Everyone you know dying while you're terrified for your life and limbs 24/7? Why is that somehow better than dying in the first five minutes? June. My dear. We cannot be friends.
Three and a half stars, with the extra half star entirely due to Janet, who is a delight. (She might have earned the book a rounded-up fourth star, except.)
But more than that, I like that zombies are clean. Not physically, because ew. But, like...emotionally.
They only want to eat you. They don't want to hurt you, or torture you. Pain is just a by-product of how they want your meat. They're not sadistic. They're just hungry.
Zombies are basically human sharks.
If the sharks were also dead. And if a shark bit you and you then were destined to become a shark.
Okay, so not really like sharks. (12)
Except this is precisely why I'm (irrationally) afraid of zombies and (at least 1% less irrationally) afraid of sharks: they can't be reasoned with. They're dead behind the eyes, and you're dead if they bite you and NO THANK YOU NO THANK YOU.
I would totally swim with sharks, though, given the opportunity. But when the zombie apocalypse happens, I want to be real dead, real fast. Which, on that note...
And she's one of the last ones to die. Which is pretty good if you're trapped in the zombie apocalypse. It's all you can hope for, really. (61)
No. Just no. Surviving until the end of the zombie apocalypse sounds like a special kind of hell. Everyone you know dying while you're terrified for your life and limbs 24/7? Why is that somehow better than dying in the first five minutes? June. My dear. We cannot be friends.
Three and a half stars, with the extra half star entirely due to Janet, who is a delight. (She might have earned the book a rounded-up fourth star, except
Spoiler
her sacrifice doesn't even work, which means she dies for nothing, which is such a waste of a badass characterkingbeanreads's review against another edition
lighthearted
tense
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.0
atlasinwars's review against another edition
3.0
not to be gay on your updates page or anything, but this book would’ve felt so much more real if queer. i’ll get into that later.
this book was fun, light, and i haven’t read a zombie comedy in a while, so refreshing in a sense? i don’t think i would read it again for a multitude of reasons:
the writing and pacing really bothered me. i was so bored - zombie action only occurred like 100 pages in and this is a ZOMBIE book, dude - and also i had trouble comprehending the floor plan and also their plans. perhaps my comprehension skills are at an all time low, but what the fuck was going on most of the time?
the writing felt like riverdale and basically any netflix show right now: 30-year-olds attempting to mimic teenage behaviours. it made me want to rip my own eyes out, or perhaps be bitten by a zombie. there was also an intense, unnecessary amount of detail that never amounted to anything. we never even got to meet (i forgot her name briefly) imani’s sister, so why did we need to know that she liked photography and special effects makeup and wanted to get into a college?
the romance didn’t feel very believable, either. hunter and june meet halfway through and they just sorta… hit it off. their first encounter is written in a way that i wrote my characters at thirteen, which is never a good sign. i understand they’re in a pressured situation and that elevates emotions, but what the fuck? no! that’s not how people work! i have to say that hunter grew on me as the book progressed, though. if i just block out the cringey parts, i’ll be okay.
some characters that were killed off early didn’t matter to me because they weren’t properly fleshed out. i don’t feel like getting into it because it’s not that big of a deal and it’s 3am.
other characters went through extremely fast character arcs. annie’s was fine, it was understandable, realistic- on the other hand… so yeah.
NOW, the big thing, the romance. i already mentioned june and hunter. you knew it was going to happen the moment you read it. you just KNEW because it was such a fanfic-y cliche moment. i was desperately hoping this book would be above that and subvert it somehow (MAKE YOUR CHARACTERS GAY, PEOPLE) but i was sorely mistaken. now this is where the queer part comes in: june and her little posse of girls were so queercoded it was ridiculous. the book is written in first person from the perspective of june, and you should HEAR the way she describes her friends. in fact, i’ll tell you. this is how she describes blair, a friend who is introduced as no longer a friend at the start:
"With Blair it was intensity. She made me feel so immediate, a little unsafe, a little thrilled, being around her like being on a roller coaster that hasn’t been tested.
I don’t know what she liked about me."
it’s giving major "aster-flores-about-ellie-chu" energy. but blair isn’t even the main one. june’s best friend is imani, and i’ll give you a quote from the beginning about her, but the book is LITTERED with moments like these:
“Did I mention she’s gorgeous? While our relationship is purely platonic, it doesn’t keep me from admiring how beautiful she is. Beauty is just beauty.” sure it is, sweetheart.
okay, i’m wrapping this up now. i’ll leave you with this quote, which definitely has no gay subtext at all:
“If I’m being honest, I wanted to have you to myself,” Imani says, with that sly side-smile that makes it feel like the sun is rising in my heart.
“I liked that, too,” I say.”
alright, that would’ve been a fun ending, but i have more thoughts. i’m a little torn. on one hand, i LOVE to see good female friendship in books because they’re not so well done i guess? but also, there needs to be more sapphic stuff in the world. i don’t know. it’s not for me to decide.
wrapping this up now. 3.5 stars for a cutesy little book.
this book was fun, light, and i haven’t read a zombie comedy in a while, so refreshing in a sense? i don’t think i would read it again for a multitude of reasons:
the writing and pacing really bothered me. i was so bored - zombie action only occurred like 100 pages in and this is a ZOMBIE book, dude - and also i had trouble comprehending the floor plan and also their plans. perhaps my comprehension skills are at an all time low, but what the fuck was going on most of the time?
the writing felt like riverdale and basically any netflix show right now: 30-year-olds attempting to mimic teenage behaviours. it made me want to rip my own eyes out, or perhaps be bitten by a zombie. there was also an intense, unnecessary amount of detail that never amounted to anything. we never even got to meet (i forgot her name briefly) imani’s sister, so why did we need to know that she liked photography and special effects makeup and wanted to get into a college?
the romance didn’t feel very believable, either. hunter and june meet halfway through and they just sorta… hit it off. their first encounter is written in a way that i wrote my characters at thirteen, which is never a good sign. i understand they’re in a pressured situation and that elevates emotions, but what the fuck? no! that’s not how people work! i have to say that hunter grew on me as the book progressed, though. if i just block out the cringey parts, i’ll be okay.
some characters that were killed off early didn’t matter to me because they weren’t properly fleshed out. i don’t feel like getting into it because it’s not that big of a deal and it’s 3am.
other characters went through extremely fast character arcs. annie’s was fine, it was understandable, realistic- on the other hand…
Spoiler
cuellar (which i kept reading as cruella) was a misogynistic, selfish asshole until suddenly he wasn’t? and then he decided to sacrifice himself? seems unachievable because it takes FOREVER to get through to those sons of bitches. take brent from the good place [THE GOOD PLACE SPOILERS UP AHEAD LMAO], for example. he sucked. and even on his 2000th? (don’t quote me on that) attempt, he was still sucking. so. yeah. good luck making me believe anything about cuellar.NOW, the big thing, the romance. i already mentioned june and hunter. you knew it was going to happen the moment you read it. you just KNEW because it was such a fanfic-y cliche moment. i was desperately hoping this book would be above that and subvert it somehow (MAKE YOUR CHARACTERS GAY, PEOPLE) but i was sorely mistaken. now this is where the queer part comes in: june and her little posse of girls were so queercoded it was ridiculous. the book is written in first person from the perspective of june, and you should HEAR the way she describes her friends. in fact, i’ll tell you. this is how she describes blair, a friend who is introduced as no longer a friend at the start:
"With Blair it was intensity. She made me feel so immediate, a little unsafe, a little thrilled, being around her like being on a roller coaster that hasn’t been tested.
I don’t know what she liked about me."
it’s giving major "aster-flores-about-ellie-chu" energy. but blair isn’t even the main one. june’s best friend is imani, and i’ll give you a quote from the beginning about her, but the book is LITTERED with moments like these:
“Did I mention she’s gorgeous? While our relationship is purely platonic, it doesn’t keep me from admiring how beautiful she is. Beauty is just beauty.” sure it is, sweetheart.
okay, i’m wrapping this up now. i’ll leave you with this quote, which definitely has no gay subtext at all:
“If I’m being honest, I wanted to have you to myself,” Imani says, with that sly side-smile that makes it feel like the sun is rising in my heart.
“I liked that, too,” I say.”
alright, that would’ve been a fun ending, but i have more thoughts. i’m a little torn. on one hand, i LOVE to see good female friendship in books because they’re not so well done i guess? but also, there needs to be more sapphic stuff in the world. i don’t know. it’s not for me to decide.
wrapping this up now. 3.5 stars for a cutesy little book.
healingtothemax's review against another edition
3.0
Grrrrrrrl power abounds in this YA zombie apocalypse action thriller full of laughs, chills and love — of fandom, friends, family (blood & found) and yeah, cute boys act in a hit TV show about... a zombie apocalypse. While you can play match up with which TV stars were mashed up to create the book's characters, its the main quartet of female friends who are the stars of this book's show. Author Ash Parsons bravely wrestles with the toxicity existing within girl bonds, as a thematic note (the wound of betrayal keeps festering until it infects the group) and in a relatable plot-driving dynamic: do you keep cold-shouldering your (former) BFF when only your cooperation can save (or doom) the world? This theme was the unexpected gem powering the book's killer concept; our heroine's raw emotional wound from her friendship injury kept me reading despite a slow shambling start (lose those first 50 pages), the odd constant fawning over one girl's beauty/brains, and the workmanlike prose describing the living vs. the undead battles waged in an amorphous convention center. GIRLS is a fun take on an overdue concept and ripe for movie adaptation, ideally by cable TV alongside its inspirational "mother show." Brains.... are always in demand.
thedizzyreader's review against another edition
4.0
Funny, fast-paced and full of girl power! This friendship/zombie apocalypse story was such a fun read.
anapaula's review against another edition
4.0
This was such a cute read, it was refreshing reading about a group of teens that actually focus on surviving (although there are mentions of romance, its far from being the main focus)
I feel like it would make an amazing graphic novel or cartoon show
I feel like it would make an amazing graphic novel or cartoon show