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A review by zoe_e_w
Generation Dead by Daniel Waters
5.0
I'm not as big a fan of zombies as I am of vampires and werewolves, so even though I bought Generation Dead...um, three years ago, it's sat on my TBR shelf collecting dust. Hubby read it and said it was good, and even then I skipped over it. I am totally kicking myself now for this grievous mistake. Holy hell, what a fantastic book.
Basically, American teenagers are coming back from the dead, and no one knows why. One high school has become the place for these risen teens to get a fair shake at an education, and the story follows several of the students, including a pair of goth girls, Phoebe and Margi, some jocks, Adam, Thorny, and Pete, and some differently biotic teens, Tommy, Evan, Karen, and Collette.
The one thing I didn't buy was the US-centric nature of the rising teens, but I'll set that aside because this story explores the prejudice encountered by the new minority, and everything about this rings true. While I initially wanted to compare the situation to desegregated schools during the civil rights movement, as the story played out, I began to think it was more fitting of the struggles of modern GLBT students. These teens who die have no legal protections, and so people are abusing and even killing them with no legal repercussions. This is to some extent what school life is like for queers, where school officials will allow or encourage bullying, and will even actively work to prevent student alliances from forming and creating a normalizing environment.
The risen teens are often abandoned by their families (like many GLBT teens when they come out), and at school they are the butt of jokes or the targets of hate speech of violence (ditto). They are seen by some as curious object to be studied (ditto), and by others as a new trend to be monetized and profited off of. (another ditto) And when they are murdered violently by the living, it doesn't make the evening news, because no one cares. (Major ditto!)
So yes, this story had a very strong ring of truth to its central theme of dealing with prejudice. It also was a nice change of pace for the use of third person perspective, where most YA uses first person. This let the narrator get inside more character's heads, and with the exception of Pete, I loved everyone. Pete's character is the school bully, and his prejudice is based on the weakest logic. And yet, even this has the ring of truth. Many people who have prejudices have no valid reason to hate, they just do. If pressed for a reason, their excuses would sound extremely stupid to an objective observer. Pete's certainly does, and I felt zero sympathy for him even after his back story was elaborated on. He is simply a bully who feels he's justified in harming others. A righteous asshole. But this makes his character disturbingly realistic, and I applaud the author for giving Pete his own chapters instead of just glossing over his role as the bad guy.
So, aside from my one very minor complaint about "only American teens are rising," I loved everything about this story. I loved the characters, the dialogue, the plot; I loved that it didn't sugar-coat the prejudice these kids were dealing with. And the book's conclusion fills me with a dire need to grab the next book in the series, Kiss of Life, ASAP. Once I've got it shipped here, I can promise you, it won't be collecting dust waiting to be read.
I give Generation Dead 5 stars, and I'd recommend it to fans of YA, of zombies, or of dark fantasy. No, not good enough. I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes a solidly written story that isn't afraid to tackle a tough topic without pulling punches. It's so, so good, and I need to stop here, or I'll be gushing till the crack of dawn, and that would spoil the book for y'all. But do look it up, really. It's a great story, and I can't speak highly enough about it.
Basically, American teenagers are coming back from the dead, and no one knows why. One high school has become the place for these risen teens to get a fair shake at an education, and the story follows several of the students, including a pair of goth girls, Phoebe and Margi, some jocks, Adam, Thorny, and Pete, and some differently biotic teens, Tommy, Evan, Karen, and Collette.
The one thing I didn't buy was the US-centric nature of the rising teens, but I'll set that aside because this story explores the prejudice encountered by the new minority, and everything about this rings true. While I initially wanted to compare the situation to desegregated schools during the civil rights movement, as the story played out, I began to think it was more fitting of the struggles of modern GLBT students. These teens who die have no legal protections, and so people are abusing and even killing them with no legal repercussions. This is to some extent what school life is like for queers, where school officials will allow or encourage bullying, and will even actively work to prevent student alliances from forming and creating a normalizing environment.
The risen teens are often abandoned by their families (like many GLBT teens when they come out), and at school they are the butt of jokes or the targets of hate speech of violence (ditto). They are seen by some as curious object to be studied (ditto), and by others as a new trend to be monetized and profited off of. (another ditto) And when they are murdered violently by the living, it doesn't make the evening news, because no one cares. (Major ditto!)
So yes, this story had a very strong ring of truth to its central theme of dealing with prejudice. It also was a nice change of pace for the use of third person perspective, where most YA uses first person. This let the narrator get inside more character's heads, and with the exception of Pete, I loved everyone. Pete's character is the school bully, and his prejudice is based on the weakest logic. And yet, even this has the ring of truth. Many people who have prejudices have no valid reason to hate, they just do. If pressed for a reason, their excuses would sound extremely stupid to an objective observer. Pete's certainly does, and I felt zero sympathy for him even after his back story was elaborated on. He is simply a bully who feels he's justified in harming others. A righteous asshole. But this makes his character disturbingly realistic, and I applaud the author for giving Pete his own chapters instead of just glossing over his role as the bad guy.
So, aside from my one very minor complaint about "only American teens are rising," I loved everything about this story. I loved the characters, the dialogue, the plot; I loved that it didn't sugar-coat the prejudice these kids were dealing with. And the book's conclusion fills me with a dire need to grab the next book in the series, Kiss of Life, ASAP. Once I've got it shipped here, I can promise you, it won't be collecting dust waiting to be read.
I give Generation Dead 5 stars, and I'd recommend it to fans of YA, of zombies, or of dark fantasy. No, not good enough. I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes a solidly written story that isn't afraid to tackle a tough topic without pulling punches. It's so, so good, and I need to stop here, or I'll be gushing till the crack of dawn, and that would spoil the book for y'all. But do look it up, really. It's a great story, and I can't speak highly enough about it.