Audio Book Review: Alice In Zombieland by Gena Showalter

Description:

She won’t rest until she’s sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever.

Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that’s all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.

Her father was right. The monsters are real….

To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn’t careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies….

Review

Alice In Zombieland by Gena Showalter

5 out of 5

I think I laughed more than anything with this book.  The tone, the sarcasm, the general ideas were all wonderfully light, and helped to make this book a great book.  It was honestly the lightest tone zombie book than I ever expected to read.  And I loved it!

Now, this is not an exact re-telling of Alice in Wonderland. Rather, this is a pleasant story that has some elements from Alice in Wonderland.  Characters like Ali (Alice), Cat (Cheshire Cat), McKinely Love (Queen of Hearts), Cole Holland (the Black Knight), and then we have the rabbit cloud… I think it was a great way to tell this story. 

I really loved Alice.  Her struggles to adjust, and then her struggles emotionally about losing her family, and then about Cole and then everything in between just made her loveable.  You can’t help but want her to win.  She is very curious and full of questions (a very Alice characteristic, if you ask me), stubborn, and intelligent. 

Cole… The good guy in the bad boys clothing.  Yummy.  I loved him, and I thought he was one of the best characters in the book.  I mean, how many bad boy look-alikes do you find that are actually perfectly wonderful good guys that kick zombie ass and is willing to do whatever you want because he secretly (and not so secretly) loves you.  He is strong, intelligent, stubborn, and brave.  All this makes him wonderful!

Emma & Cat were so similar, that at times (if I wasn’t paying attention), I would think they were the same person.  They are both great characters who added a lot of humor to the book. 

Now, I am not sure how I feel about Zombie-ghosts.  Better yet, I’m not sure how I feel about well-dressed zombie-ghosts.  I mean, suits, prom dress, wedding dresses… Really? 

I think for a book that is secular, I must admit that it has some great faith-based lessons, and no matter what faith you practice or have, we could all use those messages/lessons in our lives. 

There were a lot of surprises, a lot of shocking moments, and I honestly was caught off guard a couple of times.  I mean, kudos on trying to keep us on our toes while reading (or listening) to this book, Ms. Showalter. 

I think that out of all the Adult/YA Adult authors that are out there writing books for both ages, I think Ms. Showalter did an amazing job!  Nowhere did this book cross a line between Adult, Mature YA, or YA, and I think that is wonderful!  (And trust me, I’ve read a lot of Ms. Showalter’s Adult books...).

Overall, this is an amazing book.  Highly recommend.  

Happy Reading!

Cana