Indie Book Club discussion

Slightly fortuitously (we had a three-way tie which I resolved by random selection via random.org), I, Zombie is the Other Book of the Month (OBOTM).

Staggeringly, this is a book I've actually read, so I'll be posting my own thoughts on it. It's YA, which is a little outside my usual preference, but I did enjoy it.

Let the discussion begin!

One thing I really liked was the opening scene/chapter, which takes place halfway through the story. Because it tells the tale from a zombie's perspective it neatly twists the 'They're becoming monsters' theme on its head (ie the humans rather than the zombies are becoming monstrous).

After the initial chapter it jumps back in time to a 'normal' time. The protagonist is a teenage schoolgirl, and the story's mostly about (initially) typical high school stuff. The rise of zombies (I won't give away how it occurs) is well done. It's fairly gradual rather than sudden, and I think it works better that way.

Also, by establishing Trixie's basic situation (and friends) pre-zombie it helps to see how they (and also the wider world) are affected by and react to the arrival of zombies.

Is this Kindle-only? I couldn't find it on Kobo. There's a lot of books with this title, though! Even Hugh Howey has one...

Yeah, I noticed that when searching (same thing happened with Walter Spence's House of Shadows, actually).

A quick search suggests it is only Kindle, I'm afraid.

Oh, and I added it to the front page. One day I'll remember to do that on time.

Apologies for my absence, computer issues.

I thought the story was well-written, and the way to moves from the mid-point opening and then progresses from pre-outbreak to catch up with the start (if you see what I mean) worked very well, I thought.

Mika, the author did get in touch behind the scenes to offer Steph a copy.

One aspect of the book I was less fond of, but can't seriously criticise it for, was the YA feel. I don't need books to be grimdark and doom-laden, but I've never really read YA books and I do prefer the more adult (ahem) ones. That said, I read it much faster than I expected (only 4-5 sittings or so) and found it very easy to read.

I read this book a while ago. I won it in a raffle the author was doing or else I probably wouldn't have picked it up. Like Mika and Thaddeus, I'm not a huge fan of YA. More so, I rarely step outside of fantasy/sword/sorcery type books.

That said, this book moved fast enough that it held my interests despite the fact it isn't in my preferred genre, which was a pleasant surprise. It only took me a morning of reading to finishing it.

What I liked even more was that the meat of the story didn't revolve around some weird romance (which is the main reason I don't pick up YA. I'm so afraid I'll end up reading a soap opera). There was romance, but it wasn't the focus of story.

Mika, New Adult's the one that baffles me. I can see the need for an intermediate stage between Spot the Dog and A Song of Ice and Fire, but if you're an adult, you're an adult (and if you want YA, read YA).

LK, I'm not a huge zombie fan either, but I liked the fact that the perspective was changed but lots of the problems were still the same (instead of "Argh, the zombies will kill us!" it was "Argh, the humans will kill us!").

Thaddeus wrote: "Mika, New Adult's the one that baffles me. I can see the need for an intermediate stage between Spot the Dog and A Song of Ice and Fire, but if you're an adult, you're an adult (and if you want YA,..."

Ooo... Totally agree on the new adult. It makes absolutely no sense.

And yes, the different prospective was quite nice. I also liked some of the descriptions about them changing over to zombies.

As I understand it, YA is centered on college age adults, generally pre-marriage. It's not that it's written FOR those people as much as about them. I don't have a preference for it, but apparently a lot of people do. I guess they don't like reading about married couples or 'older' people, but they don't like reading about teens, either.

Young adult fiction has a protagonist who is usually between 14 and 18 and it is mostly about coming of age or self discovery. The plots can be easy to follow or multi-layered, depending on the story. In new adult the protagonist is between college age to mid twenties and often includes slightly more mature situations. New adult is a very new trend and there is a lot of grey area between it and young adult. I read a lot of both. I haven't run into much erotica in the new adult stuff but that could be because I wasn't looking for it.

Bringing it back to I, Zombie: there was one aspect I felt perhaps unnecessary (and detracted from the otherwise realistic approach to zombies). I shan't spoil it, though it's revealed fairly early on, but at the end it did fit quite neatly into the final twist.

LK, the gradual transition from human to zombie was very nicely done. The attention paid to the personal/psychological impact, as well as physical changes, was a definite plus.