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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
Review originally posted on Rather Be Reading Blog
I know, I know. This doesn’t seem like a typical Estelle book. I am partial to contemporary fiction, yes. But I do love to try new things, and I couldn’t help but dust off my copy of Alice in Zombieland when I heard such high praise from Betty over at Book Rock Betty. (Can you believe I picked it up because it had a pretty cover?)
And I am so very glad that I did.
We first meet Alice caught in a Molly Ringwald-like situation. Her parents have totally forgotten her 16th birthday, and to make it up to her, she wants her little sister, Emma, to be able to dance in her recital that evening. (Their relationship is adorable.) Sounds simple, right? Well. Not so much. Alice and Emma lead a very sheltered childhood due to their father’s fears about “monsters” lurking at nightfall. Because of this the girls haven’t been able to maintain much of a social life. Alice is frustrated because she thinks her dad is nuts (and he drinks too much) and because her mom will do very little to stand her own ground on this situation.
So it’s pretty exciting when Alice gets her parents to give in for once, and Emma has her chance to shine on stage. Unfortunately, the night ends in heartbreak and a horrible discovery: her dad was right. The monsters are real and Alice’s family are their latest victims. Stuck in a new school and living with her grandparents, Alice is starting all over as Ali, secretly spying on these creatures at all hours and having visions when she locks eyes with the gorgeous yet dangerous Cole Holland at school.
From Ali’s sarcasm to the uber-confidence of her new friend, Kat, to the grandparents desperately trying to be cool, Showalter injects a ton of personality in to Alice of Zombieland. I really liked that because it set up a nice balance with the whole fighting evil thing that was going on. I was reminded a little bit of Buffy the Vampire Slayer when I was reading it, with Ali going through normal high school stuff by day and looking out for zombies at night. (The two start to intertwine as time goes on.)
And then there is Cole Holland, who has violet eyes, tattoos, and a nipple ring. No joke. This guy is hot, but everyone keeps telling Ali to stay away. But she can’t help it because whenever they lock eyes, both of them are stuck in this bubble neither of them can figure out. Despite the tough exterior, I really liked Cole a lot. Yes, he was a total leader and liked to tell people what to do. But I think he had every reason to want to maintain control. Those scary things that lurk in the night had already turned his life upside down; he needed to have a grasp on something.
And oh gosh, the whole slow-burn romance between Cole and Ali equates to some super blazing moments.
I’m not much of an expert on zombies at all but I really liked Showalter’s even spookier take on them. They were more like ghosts or spirits, and even the way of attacking them was different. (Remember the thestrals from Harry Potter? Those weird creatures could only be seen by people who had been a witness to death. For some, Showalter’s zombies are like that too. Ali could only see them once she experienced a traumatic event.) The fighting, Ali coming to terms with her father being right, and the question of who to trust made this book a page turner.
I only have one gripe, really. Except for a few minor references (and chapter titles), the book didn’t relate all that much to Alice in Wonderland. All those references felt more coincidental than part of a bigger re-telling. Honestly, I’d forget all about it until I got to a new chapter.
That absence didn’t affect my enjoyment though. Zombieland was creepy, it was funny, and the lively dialogue and commentary definitely made me a fan. Bring on Book 2!
I know, I know. This doesn’t seem like a typical Estelle book. I am partial to contemporary fiction, yes. But I do love to try new things, and I couldn’t help but dust off my copy of Alice in Zombieland when I heard such high praise from Betty over at Book Rock Betty. (Can you believe I picked it up because it had a pretty cover?)
And I am so very glad that I did.
We first meet Alice caught in a Molly Ringwald-like situation. Her parents have totally forgotten her 16th birthday, and to make it up to her, she wants her little sister, Emma, to be able to dance in her recital that evening. (Their relationship is adorable.) Sounds simple, right? Well. Not so much. Alice and Emma lead a very sheltered childhood due to their father’s fears about “monsters” lurking at nightfall. Because of this the girls haven’t been able to maintain much of a social life. Alice is frustrated because she thinks her dad is nuts (and he drinks too much) and because her mom will do very little to stand her own ground on this situation.
So it’s pretty exciting when Alice gets her parents to give in for once, and Emma has her chance to shine on stage. Unfortunately, the night ends in heartbreak and a horrible discovery: her dad was right. The monsters are real and Alice’s family are their latest victims. Stuck in a new school and living with her grandparents, Alice is starting all over as Ali, secretly spying on these creatures at all hours and having visions when she locks eyes with the gorgeous yet dangerous Cole Holland at school.
From Ali’s sarcasm to the uber-confidence of her new friend, Kat, to the grandparents desperately trying to be cool, Showalter injects a ton of personality in to Alice of Zombieland. I really liked that because it set up a nice balance with the whole fighting evil thing that was going on. I was reminded a little bit of Buffy the Vampire Slayer when I was reading it, with Ali going through normal high school stuff by day and looking out for zombies at night. (The two start to intertwine as time goes on.)
And then there is Cole Holland, who has violet eyes, tattoos, and a nipple ring. No joke. This guy is hot, but everyone keeps telling Ali to stay away. But she can’t help it because whenever they lock eyes, both of them are stuck in this bubble neither of them can figure out. Despite the tough exterior, I really liked Cole a lot. Yes, he was a total leader and liked to tell people what to do. But I think he had every reason to want to maintain control. Those scary things that lurk in the night had already turned his life upside down; he needed to have a grasp on something.
And oh gosh, the whole slow-burn romance between Cole and Ali equates to some super blazing moments.
I’m not much of an expert on zombies at all but I really liked Showalter’s even spookier take on them. They were more like ghosts or spirits, and even the way of attacking them was different. (Remember the thestrals from Harry Potter? Those weird creatures could only be seen by people who had been a witness to death. For some, Showalter’s zombies are like that too. Ali could only see them once she experienced a traumatic event.) The fighting, Ali coming to terms with her father being right, and the question of who to trust made this book a page turner.
I only have one gripe, really. Except for a few minor references (and chapter titles), the book didn’t relate all that much to Alice in Wonderland. All those references felt more coincidental than part of a bigger re-telling. Honestly, I’d forget all about it until I got to a new chapter.
That absence didn’t affect my enjoyment though. Zombieland was creepy, it was funny, and the lively dialogue and commentary definitely made me a fan. Bring on Book 2!
It took me a while to get into this one, but it was overall entertaining. It has small ties to Alice in Wonderland and is definitely YA, but I enjoyed it.
I Was Expecting More
I've heard so much about this book and the series itself, that I just had to give it a try. However, I partly understood what I was getting into, mostly because I read the title. Alice in Zombieland. So, what does that mean? Well it means Alice (a very loosely based Alice from Lewis Caroll's tale) and zombies. If you're expecting the classic tale, a lot of similarties and a small dose of zombies, I encourage you to go back and read the title again. Because of this, I knew right away that I probably could expect a lot of differences from the classic tale, especially with the whole zombie thing. Yet I was excited. I imagined that Alice would fall into a warped, darker version of Wonderland in which zombies had taken over and it would be up to her to save them all (with her bad boy Cole of course). And then reality hit...hard. This book was nothing like I had imagined or what the synopsis/title made it out to be. Alice wasn't the heroine I wanted or needed her to be...she was whiny and half the time, weak. She constantly obsessed about her relationship with Cole or her fears instead of going out and kicking butt. Cole himself was an annoyance as well, always being too "mysterious" (aka a giant wuss). In fact, I found myself half the time just wishing there would be more to the story. But there wasn't. In the end, it wasn't the worst book I've read, however, it definitely wasn't the best. Will I read the sequels? Maybe...if I'm bored. Will I lose sleep if I don't know what happens? No.
I've heard so much about this book and the series itself, that I just had to give it a try. However, I partly understood what I was getting into, mostly because I read the title. Alice in Zombieland. So, what does that mean? Well it means Alice (a very loosely based Alice from Lewis Caroll's tale) and zombies. If you're expecting the classic tale, a lot of similarties and a small dose of zombies, I encourage you to go back and read the title again. Because of this, I knew right away that I probably could expect a lot of differences from the classic tale, especially with the whole zombie thing. Yet I was excited. I imagined that Alice would fall into a warped, darker version of Wonderland in which zombies had taken over and it would be up to her to save them all (with her bad boy Cole of course). And then reality hit...hard. This book was nothing like I had imagined or what the synopsis/title made it out to be. Alice wasn't the heroine I wanted or needed her to be...she was whiny and half the time, weak. She constantly obsessed about her relationship with Cole or her fears instead of going out and kicking butt. Cole himself was an annoyance as well, always being too "mysterious" (aka a giant wuss). In fact, I found myself half the time just wishing there would be more to the story. But there wasn't. In the end, it wasn't the worst book I've read, however, it definitely wasn't the best. Will I read the sequels? Maybe...if I'm bored. Will I lose sleep if I don't know what happens? No.
mon premier livre des éditions Harlequin (ça trainait dans mes piles de livres) et je suis loin d'être déçue <3
des personnages plats, insupportables, une intrigue peu originale et mal construite, de la misogynie, un manque de vraisemblance inattendu (je mens), des dialogues aussi inutiles qu'ennuyants, un concept que je n'ai pas compris (pour se battre avec les zombies, il faut que notre esprit quitte notre corps, ok ptdrrr)
petit bonus: ce n'est pas une réécriture de l'oeuvre de Lewis Carroll, et la traduction est vraiment pas dingue
des personnages plats, insupportables, une intrigue peu originale et mal construite, de la misogynie, un manque de vraisemblance inattendu (je mens), des dialogues aussi inutiles qu'ennuyants, un concept que je n'ai pas compris (pour se battre avec les zombies, il faut que notre esprit quitte notre corps, ok ptdrrr)
petit bonus: ce n'est pas une réécriture de l'oeuvre de Lewis Carroll, et la traduction est vraiment pas dingue
This book took me forever to read. I really didn't care for it at all. I thought the story was all over the place. I don't want to read any of the other books in the series. I just didn't care for it at all. I love Gena Showalter's other works, but this one just fell short for me.
Full of teenage angst and twilight parallels. I wanted more zombie gore and less whining about Mackenzie. Liked the homage paid to Alice in Wonderland, but it is definitely not a zombie fueled reselling of the story. More of a Buffy the vampire slayer/ twilight story with the emphasis on zombies who have to be "ashed" to be killed. Kat was by far the best character, though she started out sort of annoying.
Stephanie Mayer fans, buy and rejoice. Walking dead fans, avoid at all costs. Alice in wonderland fans, I'm not sure what to tell you. You're on your own.
Stephanie Mayer fans, buy and rejoice. Walking dead fans, avoid at all costs. Alice in wonderland fans, I'm not sure what to tell you. You're on your own.
3.5 stars. Definitely not what I expected but an interesting listen. I was hesitant to finish at first and then I got into and began to look forward to my drive to work.
