A review by celjla212
This Is Not a Test by Courtney Summers

4.0

Sloane was planning on doing something drastic...until some even more drastic happened. Not only to her, but to the entire world. Her town of Cortege has been overrun by infected dead, and Sloane and 5 of her schoolmates are barricaded inside the high school with little hope of survival.

For those of you looking for a zombie-killing, brain splattering blood and gore fest, this is not your book. This book is more of a study in personality conflict and psychological changes to individuals in traumatic, unimaginable situations. So, just a fair warning.

Did I like the main character? No, I can't necessarily say that I did. I think most of what I felt for Sloane was pity. At times I found her very weak, but I'm not sure I can fault her for that after all the horrible things she had gone through in her life. She was definitely a change from the kick-ass, fiercely independent heroines that seem to be so popular in books these days.

This book has a taut line of tension that stretches throughout the entire story until the characters finally snap. The characters were archetypes: the leader, the hothead, the good girl, the rebel, etc. This was one aspect of the story I didn't care for--I was hoping for more originality in that aspect.

In the end, Sloane finally understands why she has made it so far and is lucky to be still alive. Especially since there were so many close to her, who did not.