Zombies vs. Unicorns

It's a question as old as time itself: which is better, the zombie or the unicorn? In this anthology, edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier (unicorn and zombie, respectively), strong arguments are made for both sides in the form of short stories. Half of the stories portray the strengths—for good and evil—of unicorns and half show the good (and really, really bad-ass) side of zombies. Contributors include many bestselling teen authors, including Cassandra Clare, Libba Bray, Maureen Johnson, Meg Cabot, Scott Westerfeld, and Margo Lanagan. This anthology will have everyone asking: Team Zombie or Team Unicorn?

Aithen's Review

This was a pretty awesome anthology, to say the least.

I adore zombies (though as a kid, I was a fervent believer that unicorns existed and would be back to save the world - some day), and I was already 100% team zombie before I even started reading this anthology. But that didn't stop me from loving many team unicorn stories (even if the zombies were better, in the end).

Something I really loved is the little introductions Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier gave before each story. They were really funny, and it was cute to see them argue about which kind of mythical creature was best.

It was amazing to see all the different stories that could be done with the theme. Every single one was different, even if a zombie or unicorn had to play a main part. They were all quite different, and that is what made every single story interesting.

Of course, I won't review every single story in the book, but I'll tell you the highlights of my read:

- The Children of the Revolution, by Maureen Johnson
A seriously deranged story that sent shivers down my spine. My favourite story of all. No story can even start to amaze me as much as this one. I had never heard of the author before, but I am definitely hunting down more of her books with my Christmas money.

- The Care and Feeding of your Baby Killer Unicorn, by Diana Peterfreund
A really amazing unicorn story. Killer unicorns? Count me in! This story was really, really cool, and the best of the unicorn stories. If all unicorn stories were as good as this one, maybe my unconditional zombie love would've wavered. Maybe.

- Inoculata, by Scott Westerfeld
A strange spin on a zombie story. Zombie-human hybrids are extremely interesting, and the fact that the main love-story is between two girls just adds to the awesomeness.

- Princess Prettypants, by Meg Cabot
Absolutely hilarious, this story kept me laughing all through physics class (don't do like me, kids, reading in class is bad, bad bad XD). It was a caricature, really, of the sparkling purple and white unicorns of our childhood, and it was exquisitely done, too. Another author I've never heard of and am going to read more from. (Okay, wait, scratch that. ALL her stories are sparkling-colorful-girlish stuff. Guhh. )

These stories could've given this book an easy 10. Sadly, some of them weren't as good (Like Cassandra Clare's Cold Hands. I was so disappointed with it, and I already didn't really like her books and wasn't expecting too much. Margo Lanagan's A Thousand Flowers actually disgusted me. Bestiality? With a unicorn? Uh, sorry, but no. Hating that.) and made me want to give this book a 6. That's the problem with anthologies, I guess. Some stories are amazing, some aren't, and you have to live with it. Overall, though, it was really excellent, and I recommend it to all zombie-, unicorn-, and fantasy-lovers out there.

What team will you be on? Zombie, or unicorn?

The awesome-tastic promotional video

-Aithen

Zombies vs. Unicorns edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier
Rating : 8,5/10

Beryl's Review

I'll tell you which story I liked, and which I didn't.

Those that I liked:

Love Will Tear us Apart (Alaya Dawn Johnson): This story is told by the point of view of a zombie, which I found interesting, since no other story did this. All the thoughts and the mentality of the protagonist who is actually the zombie really gave a cool insight.

Purity Test (Naomi Novik): Hilariously ridiculous. It's the kind of story that is so silly you just love it.

The Children of the Revolution (Maureen Johnson): This story was funny, but I found it a bit generic. I know Maureen Johnson is a popular and good author, but I found her story a bit unoriginal. She took the base concept of zombies and made her characters turn into them. Let's say there was no new element. She didn't try to redo the concept of zombies in her own way. The reading was nevertheless good.

The Care and Feeding of your Baby Killer Unicorn (Diana Peterfreund): I think this one is my favorite. I just found it really fun to read and I couldn't wait to learn what happened to the baby unicorn.

Inoculata (Scott Westerfeld) : This story had an interesting concept, and kudos for the lesbian pairing.

Princess Prettypants (Meg Cabot): I laughed so hard while I read this. This story really made me pity and relate to the protagonist. It's another of my favorite stories.

The Third Virgin (Kathleen Duey): The story is told by the point of view of a unicorn, and so it's another interesting insight. Loved the ending.

Prom night (Libba Bray): Libba Bray has a usual succeeded in creating this atmosphere that makes the reader want to keep reading. Her short story really seemed like the beginning of an awesome novel. It only lacked a bit more of zombie action.

Those I didn't like

The Highest Justice (Garth Nix): Very dull, lack of characterization, and a mess overall. I browsed through it quickly instead of wasting my time reading it.

Bougainvillea (Carrie Ryan): It had a nice decor and setting, but the rest was boring.

A Thousand Flowers (MargoLlanagan): Somewhat weird. A failed attempt at creating a sort of fairytale with bestiality. What I hated most was that the story was told by the point of view of three persons, but in the 1st person. You don't write a few pages using the 1st person point of view, because it has the effect that the reader quickly gets attached to the narrator. If you kill the narrator off a few pages after, and switch to another person, the reader is destabilized. The transactions from person to person were also messy.

Cold hands (Cassandra clare): Boring. It's Cassandra Clare, after all.

-Beryl

Rating : 9/10 (if you don't count the bad stories)

Boneshaker

In the early days of the Civil War, rumors of gold in the frozen Klondike brought hordes of newcomers to the Pacific Northwest. Anxious to compete, Russian prospectors commissioned inventor Leviticus Blue to create a great machine that could mine through Alaska’s ice. Thus was Dr. Blue’s Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine born.

But on its first test run the Boneshaker went terribly awry, destroying several blocks of downtown Seattle and unearthing a subterranean vein of blight gas that turned anyone who breathed it into the living dead.

Now it is sixteen years later, and a wall has been built to enclose the devastated and toxic city. Just beyond it lives Blue’s widow, Briar Wilkes. Life is hard with a ruined reputation and a teenaged boy to support, but she and Ezekiel are managing. Until Ezekiel undertakes a secret crusade to rewrite history.

His quest will take him under the wall and into a city teeming with ravenous undead, air pirates, criminal overlords, and heavily armed refugees. And only Briar can bring him out alive.

This, my dear friends, this is what I call a great book. With its brand new take on the zombie apocalypse, amazing characters and a refreshingly original plotline, it has everything a book needs to be good, grand, a must read.

Do you think you ever encountered a kickass female character? Yeah, so have I. But Briar, one of the main characters, sets all new standards for “kickass”. She is the wife of the deceased, evil scientist who brought the zombie plague upon mankind, she lives in the slums of Seattle, she works all day in a disgusting factory, yet still somehow manages to raise her son alone and not go completely crazy from the stress. Then, when her son Zeke runs off to meet the zombies and she has to retrieve him, she does everything, and I mean everything, in her power to find him. She has an incredible background that is very detailed, and her character is extremely consistent throughout the book.

As my friend (the one who lent me this book) said so well, don’t mess with an angry mom looking for her boy.

The background story of Briar, her father and her husband was only very slowly explained, subtly revealing a few parcels of information every two chapters or so. It was detailed and added a whole lot of suspense to the novel, and contributed to keep me hooked. Sadly, I had more or less guessed rather important parts of the story in the first few pages of the book. I hate to admit it, but some parts of the subplots were immensely predictable, while other ones were so far-fetched I’d never have guessed it, since there weren’t any clues at all to let one even try to guess. This made for a somewhat irregular book at times, but overall, it was great.

Since the very first pages, I was hooked. It kept me reading almost constantly, to the detriment of my rather urgent schoolwork (unlike Beautiful Creatures, which was a slow and very painful read).

The whole concept of a gas that turns people into zombies (called rotters in this novel), and not the bite of a zombie, was excellent. I also liked how it was a very heavy gas, and could therefore be contained in a bowl-like city, with hundred-foot tall walls to keep the gas inside. The zombies themselves were always wonderfully described, and even I was ever so slightly disgusted by their appearance.

Also, the action scenes were memorable, and always realistic and very well written. I absolutely loved how well the weapons were described, too, and all the innovative ones that were created by characters of the book.

In my opinion, there was only one major drawback: historically speaking, the city of Seattle, with its buildings and numerous populations, where the story takes place, didn’t concord with what truly happened in our world. Though I understand the reasons for which the author did this, I would’ve preferred something more accurate.

Boneshaker is a remarkable book that all zombie-lovers out there should most certainly read. But liking zombies isn’t necessarily a must, since its rich characters, plot, and story can hook anyone. Its steam punk feel is also a definite plus. I recommend it for anyone looking for a fun and intelligent read, and anyone who likes action and adventure alike.

-Aithen

Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
Rating: 8,8/10

The Forest of Hands and Teeth

In Mary's world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But, slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her. She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future—between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded in so much death?

Ah, I was disappointed by this book. Here's a zombie romance apocalyptic book for you, that could actually have chilled me to the bone if it wasn't for the poor characterization and dialogues. It's so sad it wasn't better, because it had such a good feel to it, especially after having watched the book trailer. My appreciation for the book could actually be described like a roller coaster. It went up and down, up and down.

I loved the plot. Postapocalyptic times, where humans have to fend for themselves and protect their village from the zombies roaming in the surrounding forest while living in fear and death. Ye good old zombies that nom on you. The story picks up well, we're already pushed into Mary's terrifying world and we don't wait for drama and action. My mood just fell when I realized how flat all the characters were.

It's as if none of them were developed. Mary, the protagonist, is pretty much two dimensional and you don't know what to think about her. In the first part of the book, I was tired how the only thing Mary did was sulk around and do mindless things without actually using her head. Afterward, I was irritated how she could never be happy with what she got, and how she always complained, and how she sometimes acted simply stupid. At those moments, when she stood there doing nothing while something should obviously have been done, I felt like smacking her. It's really at the end of the book when she started decapitating all those zombies that I thought 'about time you did something!' I actually liked how she kept searching for the ocean, and how she pushed herself to go to the end of it all.

But then again, the rest of the characters aren't better. I never saw why Travis was the love interest. Except for his good looks, there isn't much to him, and you don't see why Mary even likes him. You can't properly frame his personality, and it irked me all along. I think that the most developed character was Cass, for at least you get to know her better, and she actually stands out. In the end, you don't really fall for any of the characters, and thus I didn't really care about how things ended for them.

After that comes the dialogues. Pages and pages can pass without words being exchanged, and when characters finally interact, it's to say something meager, something that doesn't help us define them better. It could have been endurable if we didn't get so much of Mary's inner sulking. I don't think I've ever read a book with such a low amount of interaction.

I also realized that the author left a lot of sub plots behind, without developing them. It's as if Ryan started up with and idea, and than forgot about it, letting it rot away.

On the good sides, the story was good. Lots of action, lots of feelings. With those pages filled with descriptions and Mary's thoughts, you really get into the horrid mood of the story. At the end, I was starting to feel all the pressure that the Unconsecrated (aka zombies) pushed upon the characters, I was starting to share their desperation.

I ended up liking the book at the end, seeing as how bad endings meet most of the characters, and how there is a lot of drama. The ending didn't quite satisfy me, and it made me want to know more, to know what happened with everybody at the end, and I guess that's a good thing.

I wonder if this is a debut novel, because it sure does look like one. It could have been such an amazing book without all those lacks. Too bad, I guess. But it would do a good movie.

-Beryl

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
Rating: 7,8/10