notesquotesscarletmotes 's review for:

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

5.0

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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It's a civil war era zombie apocalypse, and Jane McKeene is just trying to make it through finishing school, or what passes for that as dead rise and walk.

This special school teaches young black women important combat skills so that they can be hired by rich white families as protection against the shamblers.

All Jane wants is to graduate so she can return home to her mother, but she hasn't heard from her mother in far too long for comfort.

Dread Nation is well paced with strong, driven young women as main characters. I grinned at the pages pretty frequently as the two main characters have hilarious banter between them in addition to the engaging inner monolog from Jane.

There is Black, bisexual, and asexual representation. There were romantic sparks at different moments throughout the story, but that doesn't take center stage.

Overall, it was a fun and exciting story that didn't go overboard with gore. I'm looking forward to the sequel!