Reviews with content warning for Death - Dread Nation

This was a really interesting alternate history of post civil war American during a zombie outbreak. Jane was a really likeable character and I liked how action packed this story was. Some very horrific things happened as a result of the racism and dehumanization of Black people at the time, and was balanced out by some of the humour that came with Jane’s personality and her dynamic with Katherine.

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clarissag's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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maryellen's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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sweetmusic22's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

For the most part, I really enjoyed this book. I loved that Jane McKeene is a black bisexual woman, and her supporting character Katherine is Ace. I loved the concept of the dead rising and walking the streets of Gettysburg. Justina Ireland did such a good job of making sure that we don't forget the racism and sexism that was going on during this time. The only thing I had to pick on was the indigenous representation in Dread Nation. Red Jack's character was definitely flawed, and I feel like he was portrayed as a stereotype. Other than that, I still think this is a good book to read during October, and if you want to read a horror, that deals with social issues.

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lezzieborden's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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booksthatburn's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny sad tense fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Dread Nation is fantastic alternate history; refined, resourceful and kick-ass. The zombies are a backdrop for explorations of racism, colorism, cultural genocide, religious zealotry, and sexism, shot through with a mystery thriller/escape story.

The characters are amazing. Jane is calculatedly blunt and extremely savvy, I hope to get more of Jackson in the sequels. The gradual unveiling of Jane's backstory is satisfying, making me think I know what's happening, repeatedly, then showing just one more thing. Jane makes a lot of snap judgement about people as part of her survival strategy and I appreciate how she isn't always right, but she's close enough often enough to get by and keep going.

This whole book needs cws/tws for racism, sexism, colorism, genocide, murder... It manages to be pretty upbeat overall, but it definitely isn't light reading. YMMV on whether it'll be a relaxing read, but it's very well done.

I like zombie stories, the best ones are more about the people left alive than about the actual undead, and this one lives up to that legacy. It's smart social critique, including extrapolating from the very real existence of schools for carrying out cultural genocide of Native Americans to assume that, given the hypothetical existence of zombies in the late 19th century, America might take the opportunity to try and "reeducate" former slaves and their children in a similar manner.

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