Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter

Published: September 25, 2012

So this is a Young Adult novel. I know, I know, I’ve always said that I don’t read YA novels. But I generally don’t read them because I don’t think the writing is very good but I know Gena Showalter’s writing and I know it is amazing and that I’ll love whatever she puts out. I honestly wasn’t disappointed in this novel at all!! I couldn’t put it down! What many of you may not know about me is that I love zombie shows. I don’t know why but I have loved The Walking Dead since it came on TV. Anyway, this series has a much different type of zombie and zombie slayers.

Alice Bell has always thought her father was crazy. He sees monsters that don’t exist and no one is allowed in or out of the house after dark. She doesn’t understand why her mother doesn’t leave him and when they forget her birthday yet again she convinces them to allow her little sister Emma to go to her ballet recital and for them to stay through the whole thing. That is when everything in her life changed. On their way home they are in a fatal car crash and Alice is the only one of her family to survive. Her entire world changes in a matter of minutes.

After her recovery she goes to a new high school and she immediately is enraptured by the bad boy, Cole Holland. His group is always beat up and nobody knows why. She has a new friend, Kat Parker, who has the best self-esteem imaginable. Kat is/was dating Frosty who is a vital part of Cole’s group. When Ali ensnares Cole’s attention Frosty is all over it and Kat will not have anyone making her best friend feel less.

This story is the first book in a series and as such it is constantly developing. Starting with Ali’s first life change and then her second one when she realizes she can see zombies. Cole doesn’t know what is going on between them but he does know that he needs her. This is a love story for sure but at the PG-13 level. I would have really liked to have seen Cole’s point of view throughout the book. We only ever hear from Ali. And even though she is the main protagonist I think learning what is going on in Cole’s head would have been awesome. Additionally, Gena’s zombies are different than the standard version of zombies. They are evil spirits and can only be seen by those who have a higher connection to their spirit. They can also only be killed by spirits. Well, Ali’s spirit is extra special and is poisonous to the zombies. So that was a twist in the zombie world that was unexpected. This book ended in a bang and I know the series will only keep getting better. I’m sure I’ll be done with this series in no time.

A side note before I leave you all, I started this book by listening to the audio. I love audiobooks but I hate female narrators. Every now and again I have try and listen to a female narrator and have my hatred reconfirmed. This was the book to do it. She did a wonderful job whenever the female characters were speaking but it got to the point that I couldn’t tell the difference between Ali and Cole. Cole is supposed to be an alpha male who is 17 years old. Not a pre-pubescent boy. So I will not be listening to the other books in this series. I’m just glad my library had the novel so I could read it instead of finishing listening to it.

—“Never forget that evil is evil. You cannot change it. You cannot lead it to the light. But, if you let it, evil can lead you to the darkness.”—