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Contaminated #1
Contaminated
After the Contamination—an epidemic caused by the super-trendy diet drink ThinPro that turned ordinary citizens into violent, uncontrollable creatures—the government rounded up the "Connies" to protect the remaining population. Now, two years later, the rehabilitated are being allowed home, complete with shock collars that will either control, or kill, them.
Velvet Ellis has struggled to care for her ten-year-old sister since her parents were taken in the round up. When she finds her mother in one of the "Kennels," Velvet resolves to do whatever it takes to put her family back together. But the danger isn’t over. It’s beginning all over again…
Gritty and grabbing, Velvet is a harrowing, emotionally charged novel for fans of Carrie Ryan and The Walking Dead.
Velvet Ellis has struggled to care for her ten-year-old sister since her parents were taken in the round up. When she finds her mother in one of the "Kennels," Velvet resolves to do whatever it takes to put her family back together. But the danger isn’t over. It’s beginning all over again…
Gritty and grabbing, Velvet is a harrowing, emotionally charged novel for fans of Carrie Ryan and The Walking Dead.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
47 people are currently reading
2376 people want to read
About the author
Em Garner
3 books70 followersEm Garner writes books.
She likes rainbows and unicorns and glitter and zombies, and she hates the feeling of corduroy, the grit of sand in her teeth (who doesn’t?) and the way banana candy tastes.
She lives by the ocean with her family, and she always goes in the water even though she’s afraid of sharks.
She likes rainbows and unicorns and glitter and zombies, and she hates the feeling of corduroy, the grit of sand in her teeth (who doesn’t?) and the way banana candy tastes.
She lives by the ocean with her family, and she always goes in the water even though she’s afraid of sharks.
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August 4, 2013
Clearly, the copywriter didn't read the actual book before writing this sentence, taken from the book's summary: "Gritty and grabbing, Velvet is a harrowing, emotionally charged novel for fans of Carrie Ryan and The Walking Dead."
Putting aside the fact that book isn't CALLED Velvet, it is because this book was nothing of the sort. I've read Carrie Ryan, I've watched The Walking Dead. There is no comparison. The Walking Dead was pretty boring for me, personally, but still manages to be exponentially more exciting than this book ever was.
There was no point in this book. There was no purpose, there was essentially no plot. This book could be titled "Proper Caretaking of your Zombie" and be a much more accurate representation of the book and its contents (or rather, lack of content).
This is a zombie book, but not a zombie book. The "Contaminated" or "Connies" in this book are still alive, they shamble, they moan, they're dangerous, but they are not undead. Still, for the sake of keeping the terminology short, we will call these things "zombies."
Maybe there really was an underlying message in this book. Awhile ago, I facetiously mentioned that most books have themes, something like "Zombies are people too." I was kidding. This book wasn't. If there was an underlying theme to this book at all, I would say that was it. And to be honest, this book wasn't too convincing, if that's what it was trying to prove. One speshul snowflake of a zombie does not convince me of the humanity of the Contaminated as a whole.
The book summary pretty much says all I care to say about the plot, but I take exception to this line. "But the danger isn't over. It's beginning all over again." What danger? There is no danger. This entire book is about Velvet's hard-knock life (and it really is a hard life) taking care of her baby sister and going to her job as a caretaker at an assisted living facility and taking care of her mom. And bitching and moaning and hating everyone and everything and acting like an absolute idiot in the meantime. But the book is nothing gritty, nothing harrowing, nothing exciting in the least. It is about a girl taking care of a zombie who's pretty much an old person in behavior and health. There is a lot of discrimination. There's a lot of annoying, unrealistic people (one of whom is the main character herself).
"How could I have been so stupid?" is a phrase you should get used to hearing, because it's what the main character constantly asks herself throughout this book. And sadly, you will always agree.
There is no danger, there is no intrigue, there is a half-assed attempt at a government conspiracy that just doesn't even try to make itself into a subplot.
Here is my list of complaints:
1. Prions: This current disease that created the epidemic is caused by proteins within a diet drink from a NutriSystem-type program, called ThinPro. There's a snarky commentary on people wanting to be thin, and how it's a Hollywood Disease, but I won't go into a rage over that when it's such a minor annoyance over everything else in the book. I'm not an expert on prions, but I do know how they work, and using them in this book is just foolish. If you're going to make up a disease to explain zombies, don't go into real science when you don't know how that science works realistically.
This is why it doesn't work as the premise of the breakout in this book. Fine, they're spread through proteins, that's accurate, so...contaminated protein drinks, sure. But the incubation period for these kinds of diseases, like the most commonly-known one, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (also known as mad cow disease) take a hell of a lot longer than a few years to propagate. Prions generally have a ridiculously long incubation period, up to 30 years in some cases. Such a large, overwhelming outbreak affecting this many, in such a SHORT span of time between ingestion of drink and onset of symptoms, causing hysteria and violence? Implausible.
Secondly, do you know what prions DO within the brain? They cause holes. Actual holes. Irreversible holes within your head. In case you missed that part, let me repeat it. IRREVERSIBLE. A person does not get better, holes in brains do not magically heal. Prions cause spongiform encephalopathy meaning holes in brain. It's cute that Velvet's mom regains her verbal skills and stuff, but that shit doesn't happen. All prion diseases are fatal. Once degeneration sets in, it sets in fast, and there is absolutely no recovery.
And particularly when said zombie has been lobotomized to be calmer and more manageable through the use of an actual fucking ice pick through the brain.
2. The dialogue: it is stilted, unnatural. People use phrases like "You...little...what a little...!'" The adults to whom Velvet talks seem to be unable to do so without insulting her, often in unrealistic ways and using unbelievable and unnatural dialogue. Nobody I know would ever talk in the way people do in this book.
3. Velvet's character: Our first-person narrator is a thoroughly unpleasant character. I have to feel sorry for her, she's had a really hard life with both parents losot to the Contamination, but her attitude is so incredibly bitchy and disagreeable. She snarks about people's appearance, their thinness (there is a lot of thinly-veiled body shaming in this book), their age, their ugliness, their clothes. Their attitude, their sexuality; more than once, she calls girls "skanks." I call her a bitch.
Velvet acts stupidly, she behaves contrary to how she should. She's not a child, she's had to be an adult in order to raise her sister and claim custody of her sister for the past two years, but I find her behavior in this book so contrary as to make me question how she could have managed to survive for that long. She is willful, she insists on doing foolish things because they make sense to her, because she believes things will turn out differently for her than it does for other people. She removes the safety restraints to a zombie despite knowing better. My mom is different than other zombies because SHE'S MY MOM. No, honey, it doesn't work that way.
4. Velvet's lack of consideration for the living: She is more concerned about her zombie of a mother and taking care of it than she is worried about her own life and that of her sister. Her mother, the zombie, has been caught; there's not even proof that she is conscious or aware of anything. Her mother, for all intents and purposes, acts like a mindless, unthinking zombie. Velvet is more concerned about taking care of that zombie, about keeping it with her and Opal, than about keeping a roof over their heads, having food in their stomach.
You see, there's a lot of prejudice against the lobotomized zombies. They may seem safe, but there are a lot of people who don't believe they are. The zombies aren't allowed on buses, at the discretion of the driver, despite policies passed by the government to protect them, people still believe what they want to believe: that they're unsafe, volatile creatures. Which isn't too far of a stretch; it hasn't been too long since the outbreak, and there hasn't been too much research done on the lobotomized creatures. So when Velvet brings her mom home, their landlord could kick them out.
Here's where I get angry. Instead of worrying about her sister and their lives, Velvet is willing to endanger everything to keep their zombie mother with them. She risks losing her sister to the state, she risks losing government food and cash aids to support her and her sister, she risks losing her home, she risks losing her job, she risks her sister's elementary education. All for the sake of one zombie, who is essentially mentally...gone.
5. The romance: utterly forced, and utterly on the rebound. Velvet was dating her steady boyfriend of years up, and a few days after meeting him, she insta-loves Dillon. The perfect Dillon. He is completely, utterly without flaw. He is generous, he has a bright, shiny smile (not kidding), he is good with her sister, he gives her money, he is understanding of her mother, he accepts her everything! Gag.
6. Opal: Velvet's 10 year old sister. Who acts more like a spoiled 5-year old than one who has grown to be mature, considering all the crap she's been through. She whines, she screams, she throws tantrums in the middle of the street, she refuses to do her homework, she doesn't like school, she dances in place when she needs to go pee...
7. The half-assed government conspiracy: This doesn't even deserve a mention, since it's a poorly contrived subplot that reappears every hundred page or so, to be forgotten about completely. There's some vague thing, message, whatever, about government media control and manipulation, and it doesn't merit another mention until it's brought up again at the end seemingly as a hook for the sequel.
Which I will not read. Never ever ever.
Putting aside the fact that book isn't CALLED Velvet, it is because this book was nothing of the sort. I've read Carrie Ryan, I've watched The Walking Dead. There is no comparison. The Walking Dead was pretty boring for me, personally, but still manages to be exponentially more exciting than this book ever was.
There was no point in this book. There was no purpose, there was essentially no plot. This book could be titled "Proper Caretaking of your Zombie" and be a much more accurate representation of the book and its contents (or rather, lack of content).
This is a zombie book, but not a zombie book. The "Contaminated" or "Connies" in this book are still alive, they shamble, they moan, they're dangerous, but they are not undead. Still, for the sake of keeping the terminology short, we will call these things "zombies."
Maybe there really was an underlying message in this book. Awhile ago, I facetiously mentioned that most books have themes, something like "Zombies are people too." I was kidding. This book wasn't. If there was an underlying theme to this book at all, I would say that was it. And to be honest, this book wasn't too convincing, if that's what it was trying to prove. One speshul snowflake of a zombie does not convince me of the humanity of the Contaminated as a whole.
The book summary pretty much says all I care to say about the plot, but I take exception to this line. "But the danger isn't over. It's beginning all over again." What danger? There is no danger. This entire book is about Velvet's hard-knock life (and it really is a hard life) taking care of her baby sister and going to her job as a caretaker at an assisted living facility and taking care of her mom. And bitching and moaning and hating everyone and everything and acting like an absolute idiot in the meantime. But the book is nothing gritty, nothing harrowing, nothing exciting in the least. It is about a girl taking care of a zombie who's pretty much an old person in behavior and health. There is a lot of discrimination. There's a lot of annoying, unrealistic people (one of whom is the main character herself).
"How could I have been so stupid?" is a phrase you should get used to hearing, because it's what the main character constantly asks herself throughout this book. And sadly, you will always agree.
There is no danger, there is no intrigue, there is a half-assed attempt at a government conspiracy that just doesn't even try to make itself into a subplot.
Here is my list of complaints:
1. Prions: This current disease that created the epidemic is caused by proteins within a diet drink from a NutriSystem-type program, called ThinPro. There's a snarky commentary on people wanting to be thin, and how it's a Hollywood Disease, but I won't go into a rage over that when it's such a minor annoyance over everything else in the book. I'm not an expert on prions, but I do know how they work, and using them in this book is just foolish. If you're going to make up a disease to explain zombies, don't go into real science when you don't know how that science works realistically.
This is why it doesn't work as the premise of the breakout in this book. Fine, they're spread through proteins, that's accurate, so...contaminated protein drinks, sure. But the incubation period for these kinds of diseases, like the most commonly-known one, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (also known as mad cow disease) take a hell of a lot longer than a few years to propagate. Prions generally have a ridiculously long incubation period, up to 30 years in some cases. Such a large, overwhelming outbreak affecting this many, in such a SHORT span of time between ingestion of drink and onset of symptoms, causing hysteria and violence? Implausible.
Secondly, do you know what prions DO within the brain? They cause holes. Actual holes. Irreversible holes within your head. In case you missed that part, let me repeat it. IRREVERSIBLE. A person does not get better, holes in brains do not magically heal. Prions cause spongiform encephalopathy meaning holes in brain. It's cute that Velvet's mom regains her verbal skills and stuff, but that shit doesn't happen. All prion diseases are fatal. Once degeneration sets in, it sets in fast, and there is absolutely no recovery.
And particularly when said zombie has been lobotomized to be calmer and more manageable through the use of an actual fucking ice pick through the brain.
2. The dialogue: it is stilted, unnatural. People use phrases like "You...little...what a little...!'" The adults to whom Velvet talks seem to be unable to do so without insulting her, often in unrealistic ways and using unbelievable and unnatural dialogue. Nobody I know would ever talk in the way people do in this book.
"'She might! She just might! Oh, heavens, oh, mercy, she could do that!' Mrs. Wentling clutches the throat of her coat around her thick neck. 'Oh!'"
3. Velvet's character: Our first-person narrator is a thoroughly unpleasant character. I have to feel sorry for her, she's had a really hard life with both parents losot to the Contamination, but her attitude is so incredibly bitchy and disagreeable. She snarks about people's appearance, their thinness (there is a lot of thinly-veiled body shaming in this book), their age, their ugliness, their clothes. Their attitude, their sexuality; more than once, she calls girls "skanks." I call her a bitch.
Velvet acts stupidly, she behaves contrary to how she should. She's not a child, she's had to be an adult in order to raise her sister and claim custody of her sister for the past two years, but I find her behavior in this book so contrary as to make me question how she could have managed to survive for that long. She is willful, she insists on doing foolish things because they make sense to her, because she believes things will turn out differently for her than it does for other people. She removes the safety restraints to a zombie despite knowing better. My mom is different than other zombies because SHE'S MY MOM. No, honey, it doesn't work that way.
4. Velvet's lack of consideration for the living: She is more concerned about her zombie of a mother and taking care of it than she is worried about her own life and that of her sister. Her mother, the zombie, has been caught; there's not even proof that she is conscious or aware of anything. Her mother, for all intents and purposes, acts like a mindless, unthinking zombie. Velvet is more concerned about taking care of that zombie, about keeping it with her and Opal, than about keeping a roof over their heads, having food in their stomach.
You see, there's a lot of prejudice against the lobotomized zombies. They may seem safe, but there are a lot of people who don't believe they are. The zombies aren't allowed on buses, at the discretion of the driver, despite policies passed by the government to protect them, people still believe what they want to believe: that they're unsafe, volatile creatures. Which isn't too far of a stretch; it hasn't been too long since the outbreak, and there hasn't been too much research done on the lobotomized creatures. So when Velvet brings her mom home, their landlord could kick them out.
Here's where I get angry. Instead of worrying about her sister and their lives, Velvet is willing to endanger everything to keep their zombie mother with them. She risks losing her sister to the state, she risks losing government food and cash aids to support her and her sister, she risks losing her home, she risks losing her job, she risks her sister's elementary education. All for the sake of one zombie, who is essentially mentally...gone.
5. The romance: utterly forced, and utterly on the rebound. Velvet was dating her steady boyfriend of years up, and a few days after meeting him, she insta-loves Dillon. The perfect Dillon. He is completely, utterly without flaw. He is generous, he has a bright, shiny smile (not kidding), he is good with her sister, he gives her money, he is understanding of her mother, he accepts her everything! Gag.
6. Opal: Velvet's 10 year old sister. Who acts more like a spoiled 5-year old than one who has grown to be mature, considering all the crap she's been through. She whines, she screams, she throws tantrums in the middle of the street, she refuses to do her homework, she doesn't like school, she dances in place when she needs to go pee...
7. The half-assed government conspiracy: This doesn't even deserve a mention, since it's a poorly contrived subplot that reappears every hundred page or so, to be forgotten about completely. There's some vague thing, message, whatever, about government media control and manipulation, and it doesn't merit another mention until it's brought up again at the end seemingly as a hook for the sequel.
Which I will not read. Never ever ever.
November 17, 2013
I want to get something straight here, right at the beginning of this review. If you are looking for an action-packed, gut-spilling, bucket-of-blood gore fest, you’re not going to get it. You’re also not going to get the grave-bursting, brain-craving undead. This is not a traditional or clichéd zombie novel. Please don’t rush out, buy this book hoping for a YA World War Z, and then complain it’s not what you expected. Consider yourselves warned.
Contaminated is a nice slow burn. Instead of throwing shocking deaths and bed-wetting surprises on every page, it concentrates on an element that is much more vital to a good novel: character. Velvet is in her late teens. Her parents are missing and she has legal custody of her younger sister. Velvet goes to school part-time, holds down a job at a care home and is a mother to little Opal. The diet drink ThinPro turned much of the population into dangerous zombie-like creatures, and Velvet is trying to survive in a world that is dealing with the aftermath of that. The story is told from Velvet’s point of view and it is remarkable how far into her head and life the reader gets. If this book had been about her jumping about beheading the walking dead, I would have become very bored very quickly. But instead, we get to see her struggle in a world that’s already been shaken by death and terror. We see her cope with the change from a world where she was an ordinary child with school, a boyfriend and two normal parents, to a world where she’s on her own. She’s lost almost everything and is expected to behave like an adult and make adult decisions. For Velvet, coming of age means abandonment.
One of the things I love about Contaminated is the stark and very believable reality it portrays. The horror is not in shambling zombie people and their victims. The zombies are the victims. The horror is in the world the contamination has created. People affected by the diet drink (Connies) and not exterminated during the first few waves of infection, were either lobotomised or, later, fitted with special collars. Both methods ‘neutralise’ the Connie and allow relatives to take them home. That Connies wear these collars and are kept in kennels says something about the climate in which Velvet lives. There is a subtle little metaphor slipped in where Velvet see a pack of dogs running loose in her old neighbourhood. What does that say? It says the Victims of ThinPro are hunted, collared, kennelled and even put down – they are treated worse than animals and certainly far less than a human being.
There is a parallel between old age and the Connies. Connies have trouble doing everyday activities for themselves. Many of them need help bathing, eating and even going to the toilet. When a family member collects a Connie from the kennel, they get a complimentary adult diaper and a set of restraints. When you consider the horror ThinPro has caused and then have a look at the goodie bag the kennel gives out, it tells you all you need to know about how much help is available to care for a family member. Assisted housing, transport, carers allowance – nothing is set up to encourage or help someone care for another individual. Just like real life. I was a carer for my grandfather for many years. He suffered from dementia and had mobility problems. But in order for both of us to survive, I had to work. But while I was at work who cares for him? Who stops him wandering into the street? At what point was I expected to lock him up? Use restraints when he became frightening? At what point was anybody going to notice that it wasn’t just him that needed help; I did too. But that help wasn’t there, and it nearly killed me. Why would anyone care for a zombie, some reviewers have asked. It’s unrealistic. Well, is it really? Ask instead why would anyone would give up their life to care for someone they love.
Contaminated is beautifully written. I couldn’t fault a single word. Good chapter lengths, no melodrama, strong and engaging characters, and just enough to spike the adrenaline and keep the reader in a constant state of caution and consternation. No, it’s not action packed, but the story is first class. I read the whole book straight through, only breaking for tea and to re-fill my Scooby Doo hot water bottle. I loved every word and I hope there will be a sequel. Em Garner is an author I will be keeping a close eye on from now on.
I received an ebook copy from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review. This did not alter my opinion in any way.
More reviews at http://sjhollis.blogspot.co.uk/
Contaminated is a nice slow burn. Instead of throwing shocking deaths and bed-wetting surprises on every page, it concentrates on an element that is much more vital to a good novel: character. Velvet is in her late teens. Her parents are missing and she has legal custody of her younger sister. Velvet goes to school part-time, holds down a job at a care home and is a mother to little Opal. The diet drink ThinPro turned much of the population into dangerous zombie-like creatures, and Velvet is trying to survive in a world that is dealing with the aftermath of that. The story is told from Velvet’s point of view and it is remarkable how far into her head and life the reader gets. If this book had been about her jumping about beheading the walking dead, I would have become very bored very quickly. But instead, we get to see her struggle in a world that’s already been shaken by death and terror. We see her cope with the change from a world where she was an ordinary child with school, a boyfriend and two normal parents, to a world where she’s on her own. She’s lost almost everything and is expected to behave like an adult and make adult decisions. For Velvet, coming of age means abandonment.
One of the things I love about Contaminated is the stark and very believable reality it portrays. The horror is not in shambling zombie people and their victims. The zombies are the victims. The horror is in the world the contamination has created. People affected by the diet drink (Connies) and not exterminated during the first few waves of infection, were either lobotomised or, later, fitted with special collars. Both methods ‘neutralise’ the Connie and allow relatives to take them home. That Connies wear these collars and are kept in kennels says something about the climate in which Velvet lives. There is a subtle little metaphor slipped in where Velvet see a pack of dogs running loose in her old neighbourhood. What does that say? It says the Victims of ThinPro are hunted, collared, kennelled and even put down – they are treated worse than animals and certainly far less than a human being.
There is a parallel between old age and the Connies. Connies have trouble doing everyday activities for themselves. Many of them need help bathing, eating and even going to the toilet. When a family member collects a Connie from the kennel, they get a complimentary adult diaper and a set of restraints. When you consider the horror ThinPro has caused and then have a look at the goodie bag the kennel gives out, it tells you all you need to know about how much help is available to care for a family member. Assisted housing, transport, carers allowance – nothing is set up to encourage or help someone care for another individual. Just like real life. I was a carer for my grandfather for many years. He suffered from dementia and had mobility problems. But in order for both of us to survive, I had to work. But while I was at work who cares for him? Who stops him wandering into the street? At what point was I expected to lock him up? Use restraints when he became frightening? At what point was anybody going to notice that it wasn’t just him that needed help; I did too. But that help wasn’t there, and it nearly killed me. Why would anyone care for a zombie, some reviewers have asked. It’s unrealistic. Well, is it really? Ask instead why would anyone would give up their life to care for someone they love.
Contaminated is beautifully written. I couldn’t fault a single word. Good chapter lengths, no melodrama, strong and engaging characters, and just enough to spike the adrenaline and keep the reader in a constant state of caution and consternation. No, it’s not action packed, but the story is first class. I read the whole book straight through, only breaking for tea and to re-fill my Scooby Doo hot water bottle. I loved every word and I hope there will be a sequel. Em Garner is an author I will be keeping a close eye on from now on.
I received an ebook copy from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review. This did not alter my opinion in any way.
More reviews at http://sjhollis.blogspot.co.uk/
December 23, 2013
One of those author blurbs called this book a "debut". Now, far be it from me to say that a professional user of words doesn't use them correctly, I leave you with this information: Yes, this is the first book published under the name Em Garner, but that's actually a pseudonym for a New York Times Bestselling Author, and whose work I really enjoy. This is her first young adult novel, though. So overall debut, no; but in certain circumstances, yes. Actually, I was reading two books during the same period: Contaminated, and one by the author's adult novels under a non-Em Garner name, and the difference in quality is so vast it's almost hard to believe they're written by the same person. I really liked the adult novel, but this YA is just...not good. I almost wish it were her debut, so we'd assume the storytelling would get better with each book. And the only reason I'll be tuning in to Book 2 is because I like the author's adult works so much.
Now onto Contaminated itself. I call it a zombie novel, though I don't remember seeing the Z-word. It's like how there are vampire novels in which the V-word is never used. Anyhoo, the Contaminated (also referred to as Connies) seem at first to be an analogy for the treatment of dogs, then the elderly, then people with disabilities, and since there doesn't seem to be a particular analogy, it was probably never an analogy in the first place. My fault for thinking this was deeper than it actually is. Eejit Tez.
Look, I'm just going to refer you to the Bookistry review. It describes the science-fail in this novel. You know me: I love science, and love when it's used in fiction...correctly. But when used incorrectly, that makes me rant and rave and despair. (I have issues.) But in short: when prions get at your brain, THERE IS NO RECOVERY. Only there is recovery in the book. Why? Special Snowflake. "But, Tezzy," I hear you say, "what about neuro-plasticity?" First of all, I don't think that term was ever used in the novel. Second: click the review link, read, and learn. It's not like a stroke, where there can be recovery. It's more like forms of dementia: the only way is down. IT DOESN'T GET BETTER. Not very inspiring but that's real life, and it would be insulting and patronising and condescending to pretend that everything's going to be okay.
But hey - the book's fiction, so Special Snowflakes happen, and martyr Velvet knows better than scientists.
If you're not mentally growling at that, you and I are on two very different wavelengths.
Yes, her name's Velvet and her sister is Opal. No, I don't know why their parents thought those were decent names when the kids are probably going to be picked on for them all their lives, but I'm not a parent so our thinking is not similar.
Speaking of getting picked on, ten-year-old Opal (whom I swear seems more like five, or younger due to her temper tantrums) is getting picked on at school because her parents were Contaminated, and they think she might be, too. The principal thinks it would be best to move Opal to another class, and Velvet blows a gasket and takes Opal out of school instead. Because she thinks it's better to have NO education than SOME education? Velvet says she'll home-school Opal, which screams of logic-fail to me, because where I come from you have to get a licence to home-school, some form of certification that proves you're qualified to educate someone. Velvet just threatens to go Contaminated on the principal, and gets her way. So bullying is wrong, but threatening people is totally okay? Oh Velvet, you hypocrite. "Do as I say, not as I do," right? Some kind of double standards going on, anyway.
And we haven't even started on Opal yet, who is single-handedly the most annoying character I've read in recent memory. I can't remember wanting to yell at a character so much. Please tell me I wasn't that much of a brat at ten. I think I was quieter, rather than constantly bitching about everything. (I saved that constant bitching about everything for my twenties, where I keep my rants to typing and not voicing them aloud. Because I'm considerate like that, or whatever.)
And of course the love interest, Dillon, is perfect in every way and he thinks Velvet is perfect in every way, and there's - I'm not kidding - a ROMANTIC DINNER at home (cooked by Dillon's mom, but no doubt Dillon could've cooked it himself because he's THAT PERFECT). Now, I'm no expert on teen dating, but does any of that kind of stuff happen in real life? Someone who's perfect and romantic in every way, or is that the kind of wish fulfilment tripe that's unfortunately so overdone in fiction nowadays?
As I said, the only reason I'll be reading Book 2 is because I like the author's adult novels so much. But I don't have high hopes.
Now onto Contaminated itself. I call it a zombie novel, though I don't remember seeing the Z-word. It's like how there are vampire novels in which the V-word is never used. Anyhoo, the Contaminated (also referred to as Connies) seem at first to be an analogy for the treatment of dogs, then the elderly, then people with disabilities, and since there doesn't seem to be a particular analogy, it was probably never an analogy in the first place. My fault for thinking this was deeper than it actually is. Eejit Tez.
Look, I'm just going to refer you to the Bookistry review. It describes the science-fail in this novel. You know me: I love science, and love when it's used in fiction...correctly. But when used incorrectly, that makes me rant and rave and despair. (I have issues.) But in short: when prions get at your brain, THERE IS NO RECOVERY. Only there is recovery in the book. Why? Special Snowflake. "But, Tezzy," I hear you say, "what about neuro-plasticity?" First of all, I don't think that term was ever used in the novel. Second: click the review link, read, and learn. It's not like a stroke, where there can be recovery. It's more like forms of dementia: the only way is down. IT DOESN'T GET BETTER. Not very inspiring but that's real life, and it would be insulting and patronising and condescending to pretend that everything's going to be okay.
But hey - the book's fiction, so Special Snowflakes happen, and martyr Velvet knows better than scientists.
If you're not mentally growling at that, you and I are on two very different wavelengths.
Yes, her name's Velvet and her sister is Opal. No, I don't know why their parents thought those were decent names when the kids are probably going to be picked on for them all their lives, but I'm not a parent so our thinking is not similar.
Speaking of getting picked on, ten-year-old Opal (whom I swear seems more like five, or younger due to her temper tantrums) is getting picked on at school because her parents were Contaminated, and they think she might be, too. The principal thinks it would be best to move Opal to another class, and Velvet blows a gasket and takes Opal out of school instead. Because she thinks it's better to have NO education than SOME education? Velvet says she'll home-school Opal, which screams of logic-fail to me, because where I come from you have to get a licence to home-school, some form of certification that proves you're qualified to educate someone. Velvet just threatens to go Contaminated on the principal, and gets her way. So bullying is wrong, but threatening people is totally okay? Oh Velvet, you hypocrite. "Do as I say, not as I do," right? Some kind of double standards going on, anyway.
And we haven't even started on Opal yet, who is single-handedly the most annoying character I've read in recent memory. I can't remember wanting to yell at a character so much. Please tell me I wasn't that much of a brat at ten. I think I was quieter, rather than constantly bitching about everything. (I saved that constant bitching about everything for my twenties, where I keep my rants to typing and not voicing them aloud. Because I'm considerate like that, or whatever.)
And of course the love interest, Dillon, is perfect in every way and he thinks Velvet is perfect in every way, and there's - I'm not kidding - a ROMANTIC DINNER at home (cooked by Dillon's mom, but no doubt Dillon could've cooked it himself because he's THAT PERFECT). Now, I'm no expert on teen dating, but does any of that kind of stuff happen in real life? Someone who's perfect and romantic in every way, or is that the kind of wish fulfilment tripe that's unfortunately so overdone in fiction nowadays?
As I said, the only reason I'll be reading Book 2 is because I like the author's adult novels so much. But I don't have high hopes.
June 24, 2013
Blergh. I really didn’t want to finish this book. But I did. Through the first 100 pages I had hoped that something would happen that would suck me into the story and really get the ball rolling. Then once I was passed those 100 pages and it hadn’t happened I felt that I was past the point of no return and decided to finish off the book even though I wasn’t a fan of it.
My main issue with this book is that it felt completely aimless. The story focuses on Velvet and Opal. Two sisters who are surviving on their own after a weight loss drink has contaminated the world and turned people into living, breathing zombies. When the outbreak first occurred it was thought that the only way to save these people was with an ice pick in the eye to do a lobotomy but things have moved forward and when we meet Velvet they are quite different. They have found a way to neutralize the Connies (what they call the contaminated.) They use shock collars to keep them tame and they have them living in kennels until loved ones come and lay claim to them.
When we meet Velvet she is a frequenter of the kennels as she searches for her mother. Of course she finds her and signs all of the papers so that she can finally bring her mom home and they can be a family again. That is basically the story. It’s a lot of Velvet playing house and taking care of her younger sister and her mom. Her mom is basically an invalid, needing to be bathed and wearing a diaper and all that jazz. Along with taking in her mother from the kennel, Velvet also gets a heavy dose of discrimination. There were moments where I felt bad for Velvet and how she had to grow up so fast and be responsible for her little sister and eventually her mother. But I can’t say that I ever found myself caring enough to actually get emotional about anything. In my waiting for something to happen I had a constant feeling of detachment from the story.
While I did find myself at least feeling bad for Velvet, I didn’t find myself feeling anything for any of the other characters. Her first boyfriend, Tony, was an ass who cheated on her so I hated him. At the tail end of the story she meets a new guy in Dillon and he felt too much like a knight in shining armor to me. He came in and was so sweet and overly good to Velvet that it just felt too good to be true. After such darkness was used to portray pretty much everyone in the world he felt much too perfect and I think I would have been able to be sold on his character had I gotten to see some of his flaws. They also fall for each other pretty fast with left me longing for more natural development so that I could ship them, but it just wasn't there.
Some of the early buzz for Contaminated that I saw uses phrases like “relentlessly horrifying” and “bone chilling” and “unputdownable”, I have to say that I didn’t see any of this. I put the book down after every few chapters and had to force myself to pick it back up, so I am deeming it “unpickupable”.
An Advanced Reader's Copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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You can read more of my reviews at Alluring Reads.
My main issue with this book is that it felt completely aimless. The story focuses on Velvet and Opal. Two sisters who are surviving on their own after a weight loss drink has contaminated the world and turned people into living, breathing zombies. When the outbreak first occurred it was thought that the only way to save these people was with an ice pick in the eye to do a lobotomy but things have moved forward and when we meet Velvet they are quite different. They have found a way to neutralize the Connies (what they call the contaminated.) They use shock collars to keep them tame and they have them living in kennels until loved ones come and lay claim to them.
When we meet Velvet she is a frequenter of the kennels as she searches for her mother. Of course she finds her and signs all of the papers so that she can finally bring her mom home and they can be a family again. That is basically the story. It’s a lot of Velvet playing house and taking care of her younger sister and her mom. Her mom is basically an invalid, needing to be bathed and wearing a diaper and all that jazz. Along with taking in her mother from the kennel, Velvet also gets a heavy dose of discrimination. There were moments where I felt bad for Velvet and how she had to grow up so fast and be responsible for her little sister and eventually her mother. But I can’t say that I ever found myself caring enough to actually get emotional about anything. In my waiting for something to happen I had a constant feeling of detachment from the story.
While I did find myself at least feeling bad for Velvet, I didn’t find myself feeling anything for any of the other characters. Her first boyfriend, Tony, was an ass who cheated on her so I hated him. At the tail end of the story she meets a new guy in Dillon and he felt too much like a knight in shining armor to me. He came in and was so sweet and overly good to Velvet that it just felt too good to be true. After such darkness was used to portray pretty much everyone in the world he felt much too perfect and I think I would have been able to be sold on his character had I gotten to see some of his flaws. They also fall for each other pretty fast with left me longing for more natural development so that I could ship them, but it just wasn't there.
Some of the early buzz for Contaminated that I saw uses phrases like “relentlessly horrifying” and “bone chilling” and “unputdownable”, I have to say that I didn’t see any of this. I put the book down after every few chapters and had to force myself to pick it back up, so I am deeming it “unpickupable”.
An Advanced Reader's Copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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You can read more of my reviews at Alluring Reads.
July 15, 2013
1.5 stars.
Em Garner's debut Contaminated is a fresh take on the standard zombie story. It is, however, poorer in its depth, emotionality, and relatability than previous zombie-centric books gone before, like Isaac Marion's Warm Bodies and, most prominently, Richard Matheson's I Am Legend. The post-apocalyptic world of Contaminated is uninviting and conflicting due to the epidemic created by a weight-loss drink, but it lacks believability and is filled with generic and unappealing characters of whom 95% are depicted as soulless, intolerant beings, unable to accept the integration of the treated and recovering "Connies" (the contaminated) back into society and their families.
"Realistic" and "unputdownable"? "Most human" and "heartbreaking"? ... Was I reading the same book?
There was no purpose to Contaminated. The presentation of a discriminatory society (as frequently seen in today's world in relation to minority groups) in a zombpocalyptic future was noticeable but failed to generate any natural interest or effort to retaliate against the injustice that saturates this book. I basically pulled a Kanye, waiting for something surprising to happen other than the discriminatory conflict...
All Contaminated involved was Velvet and her younger sister Opal helping and integrating their contaminated mother back into their home, whom was previously kennelled like a dog and fed dog treats as all Connies were, and constantly barraged with negativity and bigotry. Velvet also has to deal with her boyfriend's mother's shit and also Tony himself who cheats on her and is a complete douche, unable to stand up to his bitch of a mother. And also Velvet's attraction to Dillon later on, Jean's son (the lady who owns the land/the compound Velvet found her mother in), the perfect boy in this bleak and hatred-filled world she lives in, the only other person she comes across who is accepting of her mother. A second outbreak then erupts and the government begins to round up shock-collar-wearing Connies again – the docile ones, the recovering, the integrating Connies – and Velvet tries to save her mother once and for all.
The book was intriguing before I read it, something I thought I would enjoy. Highly. Now I find it was a complete waste of my time. I thought Contaminated could be satirical but thought-provoking at the same time in its handling of the modern weight loss obsession, appearance, and general discrimination of minority groups, but it was just another dull and generic novel hidden behind a "this-looks-and-sounds-amazing" facade. I had read no reviews prior to reading, but it seems as though Contaminated has people who enjoyed it and some people who thought it was dullsville.
Contaminated was an example of what not to do when told by established authors to "show" and not "tell". Contaminated was filled with lengthy information dumps about the Connies, the government, the ThinPro drink and its company complications, the characters (Tony), the past (e.g., her mother, father) – everything. There was not enough captivating dialogue, all too simple and snooze-worthy, and the verbal conflict between Velvet and every person around her became all too repetitive. Also, I thought Velvet knew way too much about the world around her, therefore leading onto all the info-dumping, most noticeable in the first five chapters.
Though I must say, I enjoyed Velvet's loyalty to her distant mother and defending her against the neighbours and bus driver who have a sheer detestation for the Connies and the government that allows them to return back to their families. And although her counterattacks in the hostile arguments with Tony's mother and the Connie-hating neighbours were quite juvenile and full of teen angst, they were pretty funny to read.
Comparable [and possibly better] Titles:
• Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
• The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
• I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
• Aftertime by Sophie Littlefield
Em Garner's debut Contaminated is a fresh take on the standard zombie story. It is, however, poorer in its depth, emotionality, and relatability than previous zombie-centric books gone before, like Isaac Marion's Warm Bodies and, most prominently, Richard Matheson's I Am Legend. The post-apocalyptic world of Contaminated is uninviting and conflicting due to the epidemic created by a weight-loss drink, but it lacks believability and is filled with generic and unappealing characters of whom 95% are depicted as soulless, intolerant beings, unable to accept the integration of the treated and recovering "Connies" (the contaminated) back into society and their families.
"Realistic" and "unputdownable"? "Most human" and "heartbreaking"? ... Was I reading the same book?
There was no purpose to Contaminated. The presentation of a discriminatory society (as frequently seen in today's world in relation to minority groups) in a zombpocalyptic future was noticeable but failed to generate any natural interest or effort to retaliate against the injustice that saturates this book. I basically pulled a Kanye, waiting for something surprising to happen other than the discriminatory conflict...
.
.
All Contaminated involved was Velvet and her younger sister Opal helping and integrating their contaminated mother back into their home, whom was previously kennelled like a dog and fed dog treats as all Connies were, and constantly barraged with negativity and bigotry. Velvet also has to deal with her boyfriend's mother's shit and also Tony himself who cheats on her and is a complete douche, unable to stand up to his bitch of a mother. And also Velvet's attraction to Dillon later on, Jean's son (the lady who owns the land/the compound Velvet found her mother in), the perfect boy in this bleak and hatred-filled world she lives in, the only other person she comes across who is accepting of her mother. A second outbreak then erupts and the government begins to round up shock-collar-wearing Connies again – the docile ones, the recovering, the integrating Connies – and Velvet tries to save her mother once and for all.
The book was intriguing before I read it, something I thought I would enjoy. Highly. Now I find it was a complete waste of my time. I thought Contaminated could be satirical but thought-provoking at the same time in its handling of the modern weight loss obsession, appearance, and general discrimination of minority groups, but it was just another dull and generic novel hidden behind a "this-looks-and-sounds-amazing" facade. I had read no reviews prior to reading, but it seems as though Contaminated has people who enjoyed it and some people who thought it was dullsville.
Contaminated was an example of what not to do when told by established authors to "show" and not "tell". Contaminated was filled with lengthy information dumps about the Connies, the government, the ThinPro drink and its company complications, the characters (Tony), the past (e.g., her mother, father) – everything. There was not enough captivating dialogue, all too simple and snooze-worthy, and the verbal conflict between Velvet and every person around her became all too repetitive. Also, I thought Velvet knew way too much about the world around her, therefore leading onto all the info-dumping, most noticeable in the first five chapters.
Though I must say, I enjoyed Velvet's loyalty to her distant mother and defending her against the neighbours and bus driver who have a sheer detestation for the Connies and the government that allows them to return back to their families. And although her counterattacks in the hostile arguments with Tony's mother and the Connie-hating neighbours were quite juvenile and full of teen angst, they were pretty funny to read.
I also enjoyed that the "zombies" of this book were not dead, just heavily diseased with lesioned and hole-punched brains because of the drink.
If you want tame zombie, more "oooh, oooh, oooh" than "aaah-MUNCH, aaah-MUNCH, aaah-MUNCH", more internal thought than action and plot, more easy teen than heavy spleen, then Contaminated may be just for you. The faint-hearted will enjoy the distinct lack of gore and ripping of extremities and probably much more invested in Velvet's plight to care for her mother – which I unfortunately wasn't. Sad, because caring for the less fortunate is in my top priorities.
• • •
Comparable [and possibly better] Titles:
• Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
• The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
• I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
• Aftertime by Sophie Littlefield
June 14, 2025
my cells after i risk the unlabeled media in the back of the fridge:
July 19, 2013
Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy
I wasn’t always a zombie fan. It’s taken shows like The Walking Dead and emotionally intelligent books like Sophie Littlefield’s Aftermath series to bring me around to the reality that zombies don’t have to just be about gore and horror (two things that don’t especially appeal to me). CONTAMINATED is a book about tragedy, determination, and devotion in the wake of an epidemic that just happened to turn a large portion of the population into zombies.
Unlike many stories involving zombies, CONTAMINATED is really focused on the human reaction after the zombie outbreak. How does the world go on? How do the children survive? Em Garner’s hauntingly imagined world is one where zombies are gathered up and kenneled like stray dogs. They are essentially lobotomized and outfitted with behavioral correcting shock collars and sent home to families that claim them. Velvet is one of the lucky ones. She finds her mother and brings her home. What follows is often excruciatingly painful as this girl, only seventeen herself, is forced to care for a mother who is a shell, and care for her ten year old sister.
The writing is simple and poignant whether describing the quiet agony of a neighbor bringing home her three year old boy from the kennels or the panicked confusion of a wife witnessing the feral transformation of her husband in the produce section of a grocery store. It’s not about gore and savagery, although the human reactions are often every bit as savage as the zombies. CONTAMINATED is more tender, more bleak, and ultimately more beautiful than I’ ever thought a zombie book could be.
The ending is hopeful and ominous at once, so I’m all the more relieved to learn that the author has already finished writing a sequel. Publication is expected in 2014.
Sexual Content:
Kissing. Vague references to attempted assault
I wasn’t always a zombie fan. It’s taken shows like The Walking Dead and emotionally intelligent books like Sophie Littlefield’s Aftermath series to bring me around to the reality that zombies don’t have to just be about gore and horror (two things that don’t especially appeal to me). CONTAMINATED is a book about tragedy, determination, and devotion in the wake of an epidemic that just happened to turn a large portion of the population into zombies.
Unlike many stories involving zombies, CONTAMINATED is really focused on the human reaction after the zombie outbreak. How does the world go on? How do the children survive? Em Garner’s hauntingly imagined world is one where zombies are gathered up and kenneled like stray dogs. They are essentially lobotomized and outfitted with behavioral correcting shock collars and sent home to families that claim them. Velvet is one of the lucky ones. She finds her mother and brings her home. What follows is often excruciatingly painful as this girl, only seventeen herself, is forced to care for a mother who is a shell, and care for her ten year old sister.
The writing is simple and poignant whether describing the quiet agony of a neighbor bringing home her three year old boy from the kennels or the panicked confusion of a wife witnessing the feral transformation of her husband in the produce section of a grocery store. It’s not about gore and savagery, although the human reactions are often every bit as savage as the zombies. CONTAMINATED is more tender, more bleak, and ultimately more beautiful than I’ ever thought a zombie book could be.
The ending is hopeful and ominous at once, so I’m all the more relieved to learn that the author has already finished writing a sequel. Publication is expected in 2014.
Sexual Content:
Kissing. Vague references to attempted assault
November 5, 2013
I loved the first half of this book so much that I almost put it down to start raving about it on Twitter. But as the book progressed, sadly, it didn't live up to the riveting nature of the first half. I think it's because things get easier too quickly for the main character - that final moment needs to be earned for us to really feel it, and right now it's not. Still a solid book, however, that many YA readers will really enjoy, and a book that I enjoyed despite not caring much for zombie narratives overall.
October 15, 2014
3.5 stars
Extra points for the unique origination of the "contaminated" and how they came to be. I was enjoying the story for the most part, and then the ending really sucks you in and makes you want the next book RIGHT NOW! Luckily, I have it, so I can start right away.
Extra points for the unique origination of the "contaminated" and how they came to be. I was enjoying the story for the most part, and then the ending really sucks you in and makes you want the next book RIGHT NOW! Luckily, I have it, so I can start right away.
December 1, 2017
3.5 Stars
This was a really easy read with a pretty interesting plot, however I found it very predictable. I think I finished dot more because the writing made it go dad than because I really enjoyed it a ton. The ideas were all good though, And from the sneak peek in the back I'd say the sequel is probably done much better, so it's still worth a read if you like YA dystopians!
This was a really easy read with a pretty interesting plot, however I found it very predictable. I think I finished dot more because the writing made it go dad than because I really enjoyed it a ton. The ideas were all good though, And from the sneak peek in the back I'd say the sequel is probably done much better, so it's still worth a read if you like YA dystopians!
November 18, 2014
I almost made a "skimmed" category to put this book in, but really how many books do you skim and feel like you read the entire book? Well this was my first one.
I didn't really read even one whole page, okay maybe I did read whole chunks near the back. But really the premise is a little odd and I have to say I'd probably be one of those people who wouldn't claim their relatives (not to say I even believe any of this is possible in real life, nor would my mother drink thin-pro but I'm just saying it's all kind of insane to believe you'd feel safe with a zombie living with you no matter what they say about it being safe!) so I found the girl's decisions a little suspect. So I skimmed ahead a little - we all do it, this time though the skimming got out of control, still I believe I read most of the pertinent parts.
*Some mild spoilers - read with caution*
The relationships were really well done. I liked the lady at the reclamation center, her son who becomes a love interest and support later on as well as our lead's family: her sister and mother. One of the "villains" a neighbor's son and a boyfriend who becomes her first "ex" both felt filled out enough to be real-ish and added quite a bit of conflict. I admit I liked the story once they moved back to their old home the best (the final third I guess). It has a survival angle to it that I enjoyed and I became really caught up in the boy who she starts to date as well as what happens to her mother who actually seems to be coming out of the zombie-fication!
I really enjoyed the unexpectedness of that last third of the book and how the situation grew (if not the actual characters!) These zombies while not real different from a typical zombie were taken in a different more genetic direction that was intriguing at least.
I didn't read, read the book because honestly it was too darn preachy! I get sick of someone telling me that I need to fall in line with what the current trends are! I get it - your mom is able to get better, but such is not true for everyone, and in fact some never get better. Not that I don't believe in forgiveness but there is this idea abroad in the world that if a small group of people say some acts should be accepted then everyone else is expected to accept them - why not go about your business and stop trying to force people, act tolerant of them and they may learn from your example.
BOTTOM LINE: A run-of-the-mill zombie story with a few little twists.
I didn't really read even one whole page, okay maybe I did read whole chunks near the back. But really the premise is a little odd and I have to say I'd probably be one of those people who wouldn't claim their relatives (not to say I even believe any of this is possible in real life, nor would my mother drink thin-pro but I'm just saying it's all kind of insane to believe you'd feel safe with a zombie living with you no matter what they say about it being safe!) so I found the girl's decisions a little suspect. So I skimmed ahead a little - we all do it, this time though the skimming got out of control, still I believe I read most of the pertinent parts.
*Some mild spoilers - read with caution*
The relationships were really well done. I liked the lady at the reclamation center, her son who becomes a love interest and support later on as well as our lead's family: her sister and mother. One of the "villains" a neighbor's son and a boyfriend who becomes her first "ex" both felt filled out enough to be real-ish and added quite a bit of conflict. I admit I liked the story once they moved back to their old home the best (the final third I guess). It has a survival angle to it that I enjoyed and I became really caught up in the boy who she starts to date as well as what happens to her mother who actually seems to be coming out of the zombie-fication!
I really enjoyed the unexpectedness of that last third of the book and how the situation grew (if not the actual characters!) These zombies while not real different from a typical zombie were taken in a different more genetic direction that was intriguing at least.
I didn't read, read the book because honestly it was too darn preachy! I get sick of someone telling me that I need to fall in line with what the current trends are! I get it - your mom is able to get better, but such is not true for everyone, and in fact some never get better. Not that I don't believe in forgiveness but there is this idea abroad in the world that if a small group of people say some acts should be accepted then everyone else is expected to accept them - why not go about your business and stop trying to force people, act tolerant of them and they may learn from your example.
BOTTOM LINE: A run-of-the-mill zombie story with a few little twists.
June 30, 2013
One of the more plausible takes on the perennial zombie story.
When Velvet Ellis finds her mother in a ConKennel, it sets into motion a startling series of events. Her mother, a brain-Dead zombie from drinking the contaminated diet drink ThinPro, needs round-the-clock care, forcing Velvet first out of school, then out if her full-time job at an assisted living home. Her younger sister, Opal, is having trouble with bullies in school on top of normal 10 year old feelings that school sucks. Velvet's boyfriend cheats on her, the creepy neighbor boy breaks into her apartment to gawk at her mother the "Connie," and finally Velvet and her sister are evicted from their government-subsidized housing out of fear and discrimination towards their mother, despite repeated assurances from Velvet and the government's paperwork that her mother has been neutralized: she wears a shock collar that's wirelessly connected to electrodes in her brain that will stop her from getting violent or hurting someone again.
A LOT of crap is thrown at Velvet in a very short period of time, leaving her running on nothing but adrenaline, and it's written well enough that it kept me going too! But on reflection, I think that was all that was keeping me going: the constant shock of revelation after revelation of how much bad stuff could happen to Velvet and her tiny broken family. A lot of it ends up feeling like filler, to pad out the story long enough to be a full novel while still allowing for the requisite cliffhanger.
I liked the world building here - it's not perfect but a gripe I have about a lot of post-apoc stories is the total lack of discussion about what happens outside the narrow physical confines of the story. Velvet's access to information on what is happening now is limited, but at least she can address things like what parts of the US were hit hardest, and the fact that other countries hardly saw the disease at all.
This is a series I'll probably return to when the sequel comes around, as I am genuinely curious about the events of the cliffhanger, but it's not one I'll be counting the days for.
When Velvet Ellis finds her mother in a ConKennel, it sets into motion a startling series of events. Her mother, a brain-Dead zombie from drinking the contaminated diet drink ThinPro, needs round-the-clock care, forcing Velvet first out of school, then out if her full-time job at an assisted living home. Her younger sister, Opal, is having trouble with bullies in school on top of normal 10 year old feelings that school sucks. Velvet's boyfriend cheats on her, the creepy neighbor boy breaks into her apartment to gawk at her mother the "Connie," and finally Velvet and her sister are evicted from their government-subsidized housing out of fear and discrimination towards their mother, despite repeated assurances from Velvet and the government's paperwork that her mother has been neutralized: she wears a shock collar that's wirelessly connected to electrodes in her brain that will stop her from getting violent or hurting someone again.
A LOT of crap is thrown at Velvet in a very short period of time, leaving her running on nothing but adrenaline, and it's written well enough that it kept me going too! But on reflection, I think that was all that was keeping me going: the constant shock of revelation after revelation of how much bad stuff could happen to Velvet and her tiny broken family. A lot of it ends up feeling like filler, to pad out the story long enough to be a full novel while still allowing for the requisite cliffhanger.
I liked the world building here - it's not perfect but a gripe I have about a lot of post-apoc stories is the total lack of discussion about what happens outside the narrow physical confines of the story. Velvet's access to information on what is happening now is limited, but at least she can address things like what parts of the US were hit hardest, and the fact that other countries hardly saw the disease at all.
This is a series I'll probably return to when the sequel comes around, as I am genuinely curious about the events of the cliffhanger, but it's not one I'll be counting the days for.
July 11, 2013
This review and others are posted at Read, Rinse, Repeat.
1.5 stars
If only it were true - a special water that makes people lose weight. There's just one problem. This diet potion turns users into raving, violent, nearly brain-dead maniacs. Hmmm...maybe a few extra pounds aren't so bad after all.
While reading Contaminated, I was continually reminded of the fantastic Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion. Unfortunately, Contaminated suffered in comparison. Both books featured zombies who slowly emerged from their murderous states, all while being persecuted by society. But while Warm Bodies was warm, funny, sharp, and always exciting, this story just trudges along to an obvious ending that still managed to be cheesy.
In Contaminated, the infected people, referred to as "Connies," are essentially zombie-lite creatures (even the nickname Connie sounds cute and harmless). They're not ALWAYS flesh-eating monsters, and they can be rehabilitated. Rather than simply killing the Connies, the government locks them up in "kennels." Eventually, those determined to be the least dangerous are allowed to be released into the care of their family members. Velvet, the 17-year-old protagonist of Contaminated, is one of these caretakers. She already cares for her younger sister, and when her Connie mother is deemed controllable, she is released into Velvet's custody.
With the emphasis in the synopsis on the contaminated diet water, I thought Contaminated might be a satirical take on society's obsession with weight and appearance. That might have been more fun, but instead, it just serves as a not-terribly-interesting means of initiating the outbreak. The story was incredibly dull, and too much focus was placed on minute details like the shock collars worn by released Connies. Skip it, and pick up Warm Bodies instead.
1.5 stars
If only it were true - a special water that makes people lose weight. There's just one problem. This diet potion turns users into raving, violent, nearly brain-dead maniacs. Hmmm...maybe a few extra pounds aren't so bad after all.
While reading Contaminated, I was continually reminded of the fantastic Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion. Unfortunately, Contaminated suffered in comparison. Both books featured zombies who slowly emerged from their murderous states, all while being persecuted by society. But while Warm Bodies was warm, funny, sharp, and always exciting, this story just trudges along to an obvious ending that still managed to be cheesy.
In Contaminated, the infected people, referred to as "Connies," are essentially zombie-lite creatures (even the nickname Connie sounds cute and harmless). They're not ALWAYS flesh-eating monsters, and they can be rehabilitated. Rather than simply killing the Connies, the government locks them up in "kennels." Eventually, those determined to be the least dangerous are allowed to be released into the care of their family members. Velvet, the 17-year-old protagonist of Contaminated, is one of these caretakers. She already cares for her younger sister, and when her Connie mother is deemed controllable, she is released into Velvet's custody.
With the emphasis in the synopsis on the contaminated diet water, I thought Contaminated might be a satirical take on society's obsession with weight and appearance. That might have been more fun, but instead, it just serves as a not-terribly-interesting means of initiating the outbreak. The story was incredibly dull, and too much focus was placed on minute details like the shock collars worn by released Connies. Skip it, and pick up Warm Bodies instead.
November 26, 2017
The book Contaminated was overall a good book. It's about a contamination caused by a diet drink called Thin-pro. It turns ordinary citizens into raging, wild creatures. The government rounded up these people and put shock collars on them called "kennels". The creatures were nicknamed "connies". Now the protagonist Velvet Ellis lives on her own with her younger sister Opal without her parents. They disappeared during the contamination. When Velvet finds her mother in one of those kennels, Velvet hopes to make her mother herself again. The contamination is said to be over, or is it?
I really liked the concept of the book. The book had many intense/entertaining moments like when Velvet fought a connie. I didn't like Opal's character because she whined a lot and acted like she was five even though she is ten years old. I did like Dillion's character. We learn about him later in the story. I would recommend this to anyone who likes fiction because zombies are a fictional element. This book ended up leaving a good impression on me.
I really liked the concept of the book. The book had many intense/entertaining moments like when Velvet fought a connie. I didn't like Opal's character because she whined a lot and acted like she was five even though she is ten years old. I did like Dillion's character. We learn about him later in the story. I would recommend this to anyone who likes fiction because zombies are a fictional element. This book ended up leaving a good impression on me.
June 26, 2013
This is the tamest zombie book I've come across, but it's also the most plausible one. Velvet is a seventeen-year-old girl who finds her zombified mother in a kennel and takes her home to live with her. But the zombie apocalypse isn't a mob of the undead. It's a severe disease similar to mad cow disease where people just lose their minds and don't feel pain. Now that Velvet has to take care of her mother (similar to caring for an Alzheimer's patient), she has to deal with the incivilities of others as she tries to assimilate her mother back into normal life.
This was more an emotional read than an action one, as you would expect for a "zombie" story.
This was more an emotional read than an action one, as you would expect for a "zombie" story.
December 30, 2020
When Velvet finds her 'zombie' mom at a kennel and brings her home, life gets a lot harder.
This is an excellent mock zombie book. The 'zombies' are still alive - they're people who drank diet water contaminated by prions, and had their brains messed up. The outbreak resulted in several murdered people and the government stepping in to 'fix' things. Velvet was a solid character - she's doing her best to keep her, her sister, and her mother's life afloat. The science is ridiculous, but the slowly building worry for what's coming at Velvet is excellent. I intended to read the sequel and decided to re-read the first book before moving to the second. I'm glad I revisited this story!
This is an excellent mock zombie book. The 'zombies' are still alive - they're people who drank diet water contaminated by prions, and had their brains messed up. The outbreak resulted in several murdered people and the government stepping in to 'fix' things. Velvet was a solid character - she's doing her best to keep her, her sister, and her mother's life afloat. The science is ridiculous, but the slowly building worry for what's coming at Velvet is excellent. I intended to read the sequel and decided to re-read the first book before moving to the second. I'm glad I revisited this story!
September 13, 2013
Man, wouldn't it have been awesome if I'd finished this book tomorrow? On Friday the 13th?
This was not your typical zombie apocalypse book. It was so much better and deeper than that. This book showed a more human, realistic side to what would happen if suddenly one day, a bunch of people turned into aggressive, human attacking killers. The horror didn't come so much from where you'd expect it to.
Anyone who likes zombie books or dystopian or books about boys that are really worth falling in love with should read this book!
This was not your typical zombie apocalypse book. It was so much better and deeper than that. This book showed a more human, realistic side to what would happen if suddenly one day, a bunch of people turned into aggressive, human attacking killers. The horror didn't come so much from where you'd expect it to.
Anyone who likes zombie books or dystopian or books about boys that are really worth falling in love with should read this book!
March 1, 2023
it’s a very interesting take on zombies, i don’t even know if i can call them zombies? they’re so different but definitely makes you see zombies differently… hershel from the walking dead would love this book
July 8, 2013
Warning: This is not your typical zombie story, and that's a good thing. While I enjoy post-apocalyptic and dystopian stories, they can be formulaic and predictable. Not so with this one. If you're a fan of zombie violence and gore, this is not the book for you. If, however, you enjoy books with likeable characters and a compelling storyline, put this one on your list. Looking forward to the next one in this series!
ARC received from NetGalley in return for an honest review.
ARC received from NetGalley in return for an honest review.
July 1, 2015
Velvet and Opal are "Pennsylvania-Strong" sisters dealing with an outbreak of zombie-like folks, all from drinking a diet beverage! Yikes!!! But not your blood, guts, and gore zombies, so don't expect that!
A thoroughly enjoyable read from Megan Hart! I will recommend this one to any one who likes YA, dystopian, and fans of Sheetz! (Extra relatable to us follow Pennsyvanians)
A thoroughly enjoyable read from Megan Hart! I will recommend this one to any one who likes YA, dystopian, and fans of Sheetz! (Extra relatable to us follow Pennsyvanians)
August 1, 2013
Ok so I keep trying to read this book and I just can't do it. I love zombies and the whole apocalypse story lines..Just cannot hold my attention with this book. I may give it another go later on but for now..kinda blech.
May 3, 2015
I never thought I'd write these words: this is such a sweet Zombie Apocalypse novel--a touching story, really. There is little violence, and themes of devotion and family are really the focus here. I adored the relationship between the two sisters.
April 26, 2016
This book was amazing!! I had some high expectations that this book met! It had a great twist on modern day zombies and it could honestly connect to today's world. The suspense was real, making me want to keep reading! Can't wait to read Mercy Mode!!!
August 12, 2015
3.5 stars. Interesting zombie take YA tale. Not as gross as many, but it has its "ew" moments. Makes you think - what would you do for your family?
June 26, 2016
I enjoy a good zombie read once in a while. This was good until .. well, you'll have your own opinion. Does make me think about giving up consumption of animal protein, tho ; )
November 17, 2023
This review originally published in Looking For a Good Book. Rated 3.5 of 5
There's a formula for angsty YA books and it's there because when done well, it works. That formula includes a teenage, female protagonist, without her parents (generally recently gone or taken away), responsible for a younger sibling/friend, imminent danger, and there's usually a boy - nice and not pushy (he understands what she's going through) - but she can't think about him with everything else going on ... until that moment when she needs him. Think about some of the top YA books, like The Hunger Games, and you'll see these points.
You'll also see this formula in action in Em Garner's Contaminated ... also done very well.
An epidemic (a pandemic?) was recently caused by a very trendy diet drink, which has created a 'contamination'. Those contaminated become, mindless, aggressive people - essentially 'zombies.' Teenager Velvet Ellis has been alone with her little sister since their parents were taken in the 'Round Up' when the cities started to get a handle on how to control the contaminated. Now Velvet's mother has been identified and she's been neutralized with a special collar ... she's still contaminated but she won't get aggressive or attack anyone.
Velvet's problems should be over, but she's kicked out of her government funded apartment because her mother now lives with them, she quits school, loses her job, and there's a new wave of contamination starting and the government is rounding people up again if they show any signs of contamination.
It's interesting to look at a book like this, written before the COVIS-19 pandemic, and see how well the author predicted some of the chaos. Not bad here.
Velvet is a pretty good protagonist. She doesn't wallow in self-pity like so many characters in these YA books tend to do. We maybe spend a little too much time setting up the situation of being totally alone. Leaving the school was probably the least interesting of the early encounters and I'm not sure what it bought us. A simple paragraph about having to quit school to take care of her sister would have been believable and sufficient.
The situation with losing her job was frustrating, and I wanted her to stand up to her boss a bit more. I did think we'd see the boss again, given the exit we see, but I was a bit disappointed there. Maybe in the next book?
The little sister is nicely portrayed - her desires and unabashed innocence really work. And the 'romance' was nicely handled.
I like the writing and the characters and the world-building, but given it all, there's very little action in the book (and by 'action' I mean 'something happening that causes something else to happen'). Velvet is pretty much in control through it all - sometimes it's hard, but she's never at anyone else's mercy.
I like the new take on zombies and YA readers will want to identify with Velvet. I like the writing and world-building, a little more plot would push this higher up in the ratings.
Looking for a good book? Contaminated by Em Garner is a YA dystopian, zombie novel with much to like, but lacks a real bite.
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.
There's a formula for angsty YA books and it's there because when done well, it works. That formula includes a teenage, female protagonist, without her parents (generally recently gone or taken away), responsible for a younger sibling/friend, imminent danger, and there's usually a boy - nice and not pushy (he understands what she's going through) - but she can't think about him with everything else going on ... until that moment when she needs him. Think about some of the top YA books, like The Hunger Games, and you'll see these points.
You'll also see this formula in action in Em Garner's Contaminated ... also done very well.
An epidemic (a pandemic?) was recently caused by a very trendy diet drink, which has created a 'contamination'. Those contaminated become, mindless, aggressive people - essentially 'zombies.' Teenager Velvet Ellis has been alone with her little sister since their parents were taken in the 'Round Up' when the cities started to get a handle on how to control the contaminated. Now Velvet's mother has been identified and she's been neutralized with a special collar ... she's still contaminated but she won't get aggressive or attack anyone.
Velvet's problems should be over, but she's kicked out of her government funded apartment because her mother now lives with them, she quits school, loses her job, and there's a new wave of contamination starting and the government is rounding people up again if they show any signs of contamination.
It's interesting to look at a book like this, written before the COVIS-19 pandemic, and see how well the author predicted some of the chaos. Not bad here.
Velvet is a pretty good protagonist. She doesn't wallow in self-pity like so many characters in these YA books tend to do. We maybe spend a little too much time setting up the situation of being totally alone. Leaving the school was probably the least interesting of the early encounters and I'm not sure what it bought us. A simple paragraph about having to quit school to take care of her sister would have been believable and sufficient.
The situation with losing her job was frustrating, and I wanted her to stand up to her boss a bit more. I did think we'd see the boss again, given the exit we see, but I was a bit disappointed there. Maybe in the next book?
The little sister is nicely portrayed - her desires and unabashed innocence really work. And the 'romance' was nicely handled.
I like the writing and the characters and the world-building, but given it all, there's very little action in the book (and by 'action' I mean 'something happening that causes something else to happen'). Velvet is pretty much in control through it all - sometimes it's hard, but she's never at anyone else's mercy.
I like the new take on zombies and YA readers will want to identify with Velvet. I like the writing and world-building, a little more plot would push this higher up in the ratings.
Looking for a good book? Contaminated by Em Garner is a YA dystopian, zombie novel with much to like, but lacks a real bite.
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.
February 12, 2018
Its official. The end of the world comes at our own hands. A food borne pathogen eats tiny holes in the brains of those who have consumed it. Leaving its victums completely subject to their basic instincts. No one knows how much of the pathogen must be consumed before it deteriorates the brain to these violent creatures.
When the first wave hit. The army simply killed them. When the second wave hit they knew it was a pathogen and the victums were given a lobotomy to keep them calm. When the third wave hit they understood it better and could control it through electric shocks. The contaminated are treated and fitted with shock collars. Their families must claim them or they go back to the labs for "testing"
Velvet lost her father in the first wave. She lost her mother in the third wave. As sole guardian of her younger sister she lives in assisted housing. Every day she visits the shelters (most people call the kennels) where in Contaminated (most people call the Connies for short) are housed searching for her mother. When she finally finds her another layer of pressure falls on her shoulders.
Velvets gets attacked by a wild contaminated and is saved by an unlikly hero. She looses her boyfrind. She looses her job. They are ejected from their home. They return to the home they once lived in. Thing begin to look up. She meets a young man, Dillion, who understands where she is coming from. Understands the trials she has faced when others don't have a clue. Her mother is doing better than anyone ever expected. There is actually hope on the horizon.
Then the road blocks begin reappearing. The curfew gets earlier and earlier. The military is rounding up every Contaminated individual. Radio stations and television stations begin repeating themselves. No news is getting out.
The books leaves you hanging on what will happen next. Its is a good thing the next book in the series is already out.
When the first wave hit. The army simply killed them. When the second wave hit they knew it was a pathogen and the victums were given a lobotomy to keep them calm. When the third wave hit they understood it better and could control it through electric shocks. The contaminated are treated and fitted with shock collars. Their families must claim them or they go back to the labs for "testing"
Velvet lost her father in the first wave. She lost her mother in the third wave. As sole guardian of her younger sister she lives in assisted housing. Every day she visits the shelters (most people call the kennels) where in Contaminated (most people call the Connies for short) are housed searching for her mother. When she finally finds her another layer of pressure falls on her shoulders.
Velvets gets attacked by a wild contaminated and is saved by an unlikly hero. She looses her boyfrind. She looses her job. They are ejected from their home. They return to the home they once lived in. Thing begin to look up. She meets a young man, Dillion, who understands where she is coming from. Understands the trials she has faced when others don't have a clue. Her mother is doing better than anyone ever expected. There is actually hope on the horizon.
Then the road blocks begin reappearing. The curfew gets earlier and earlier. The military is rounding up every Contaminated individual. Radio stations and television stations begin repeating themselves. No news is getting out.
The books leaves you hanging on what will happen next. Its is a good thing the next book in the series is already out.
May 16, 2023
So I'm going to try something new with my reviews from now on. When I look at reviews for spoilers, I actually don't even see what I'm looking for which is the ending. I am one of those people that enjoys spoiling the end of a novel, because I apparently have no patience to read a book to the end. So as a test drive, I will be putting the ending of the book at the end of my reviews.
Hmmm. I know this is a Young Adult novel which I'm not normally a fan of, and after reading several other reviews, I can safely say that a lot of them were right!
The gist of the other reviews were: Velvet is a mostly unlikeable character, Dillion is too perfect for a teenager, their love is a little unbelievable, Opal acts like a four year old and not a ten year old, want to be zombies and not real zombies, no real action happens and it's more of a guide of how to take care of a Connie.
All of those comments apply to my review as well.
If you want to know the ending: Dillon's parents are taken by the government because there is a new outbreak that isn't related to the FitPro drink. More people are turning so the government decided "fuck personal liberties" and decided Connie's are too dangerous. Dillon makes his way to Velvet's house where they stay there until a random group of soldiers come by to round up more Connie's and have a mandatory house check. There is a radio signal that makes Velvet's mom's collar go red. Velvet takes the collar off just in time for the soldiers to enter the house and start questioning them. The book ends with the mom finally speaking because apparently she is healed.
You're welcome.
Hmmm. I know this is a Young Adult novel which I'm not normally a fan of, and after reading several other reviews, I can safely say that a lot of them were right!
The gist of the other reviews were: Velvet is a mostly unlikeable character, Dillion is too perfect for a teenager, their love is a little unbelievable, Opal acts like a four year old and not a ten year old, want to be zombies and not real zombies, no real action happens and it's more of a guide of how to take care of a Connie.
All of those comments apply to my review as well.
If you want to know the ending: Dillon's parents are taken by the government because there is a new outbreak that isn't related to the FitPro drink. More people are turning so the government decided "fuck personal liberties" and decided Connie's are too dangerous. Dillon makes his way to Velvet's house where they stay there until a random group of soldiers come by to round up more Connie's and have a mandatory house check. There is a radio signal that makes Velvet's mom's collar go red. Velvet takes the collar off just in time for the soldiers to enter the house and start questioning them. The book ends with the mom finally speaking because apparently she is healed.
You're welcome.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 14, 2020
First of all: this is a zombie book. Basically, there was a contaminant in a fitness drink which turned people into violent zombies. This story is about Velvet, a 17 year old, who has to take care of her little sister and become an adult fast when both her parents are infected. Some of the zombies have been neutralized by a shock collar and Velvet’s mother is one of them. She takes her home and that’s when problems start. She gets kicked out of her apartment, loses her job, and drops out of school. The family moves back into their old house and Velvet meets a boy and suddenly her problems are better. Her mom is also seeming to get better. At the end, soldiers come right as they remove the shock collar from her mom and all of a sudden her mom can speak and all is well. It really seemed like it took a lot to get to that point when really it could have taken half the amount of time. I wonder a little how the series goes from here, but I don’t think I have enough patience to actually read another one of these books.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 27, 2017
This is an interesting twist on the dystopian genre. Velvet and her young sister are abandoned when their parents, like millions of Americans, become ill after drinking from a contaminated batch of a popular diet drink, ThinPro. By ill, I mean violent and zombie-like. Their dad was killed by the police in the first wave of sickness, but their mom has been taken by authorities and "neutralized" - she wears a collar that measures her brainwaves and shocks her if she thinks. In this state she is released to Velvet's care, prompting Velvet to drop out of school in her attempt to put her shattered life back together. This is not a happy story, and the author's attempt at introducing romance for Velvet was weak, but I did enjoy imagining what life might really be like if so much of the world went haywire, and I appreciated that it wasn't the same old zombie virus we keep hearing about.
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