Zom-B Bride

Book ten in Darren Shan’s Zom-B series was published in the early months of 2015 in the form of Zom-B Bride.

Following on directly from the last book we finally find out the fate of our heroine B Smith. We also begin to see the evil side’s story, including some delving into origins of key evil characters. Add to that some twisted new concepts and we begin to see that Shan has no limits to his weird concoction of ideas.

In fact this is probably the most crazy so far of this series, there’s that many often gory twists on the normal aspects of life or UNlife. The book is also fast paced so it goes from nice, even cute in a messed up kind of way, one moment to action packed, surreal and twisted the next, the result being that the reader is often left reeling from the turn of events. We’re definitely gearing up for the end (no pun intended) here.

And with the insights into the enemies’ back stories it’s even possible that we start to understand them somewhat, even the really screwed up ones that could only come from Shan’s imagination. In a way these characters are somewhat humanized… until the fun begins, naturally.

These insights also clear up a few details and mysteries that the series has so far produced (because this series will always be producing mysteries, even as others are solved). The story too answers some other mysteries, with the hope of the rest, even the ones raised during this book, being answered by the finale. Knowing Shan though he might screw us over right at the end and leave a little mystery for us all to theorize over. Thanks in advance.

The best quotes from this novel are:

• ‘Friends, Romans, countryman, lend me your arses.‘
• But how disappointed would you be if I stopped annoying you now?’

 

Still with questions unanswered this series is far from over and therefore promises two brilliant ending books to come for the readers. The question now remains: what will Shan’s twisted ideas be next? Actually, it’s best not thought about!

An 8.0 out of 10.

Zom-B Clans

Zom-B Clans. Book eight of twelve of Darren Shan’s zombie apocalypse series. Meaning, in another year, we will know the story’s conclusion. And it had better be some ending after all these goddamn questions that have been raised!

Following on from the previous book’s cliff-hanger it’s pretty much action packed from start to finish, with a few shock moments and twists. Some questions are answered here, but others are definitely raised with the promise of them being answered when ‘the time is right’. Literally said like that too by a character. Plus there’s another cliff-hanger, and it’s a big one.

Overall, this is one of the better books in the series to date, and it does beg the question of whether the rest of the series will be just as entertaining now that we seem to have broken the whole ‘good one book, ok the next’ circle.

Though there isn’t as much gore in this one the story still commands an edge that keeps the reader entertained pretty much all the way through. This is usually from the secrets divulged or the witty banter between our heroine B and her enemies and the other Angels.

There’s a bit more character development of lesser characters in this one too. Unfortunately with some of these characters you get slightly attached to them and then Shan twists everything and, boom, you’re left reeling and wanting to hit Mr Shan for playing with your soul *shakes fist*. Or at least needing to take a breather.

Continuing on with character development, it would seem that a lot of walls have been knocked down in this one and we are allowed to start to understand some of the more elusive characters. Perhaps this is another clever ploy for Shan to allow us to sympathize with these characters before he brutally kills them off. Or before they meet another fate entirely. Basically don’t trust or get close to any of the other characters except B… she knows as little as we do!

The best quotes from this book are:

• ‘…every one of them a true, rotten son or daughter of a bitch.’
• ‘As long as I’m able to scratch my bum, I’m happy.’
• ‘They’ll fire so many bullets into you that there’ll be nothing left but ash.’

It’s almost like this book is the calm before the storm, setting up characters ready to be knocked down in due course and giving us a few more answers as well as raising more questions. And no doubt these questions will have the most jaw-dropping answers of them all. With this being one of the better books in the series, one can only hope that the next four follow by example.

An 8.4 out of 10.

Zom-B Mission

Darren Shan’s Zom-B series has its habit of being interesting one book then close to boring the next.

And yet it seems like we may now be breaking that trend as the series gets closer to the end, which is still pretty much unclear. This book continues on with the interesting after the last one’s turns of surprising events.

3 months after the whole boat fighting incident, B is sent on a mission with a group of Angels to safely deliver a group of human survivors to a human settlement just outside of London. But things don’t go according to plan, which is to be expected in the zombie apocalypse.

These books are great for their easy readability. The flow of the story makes  the shocking moments that bit more unexpected. Let’s just say you should expect a surprise attack from a friend, killer dogs and birds and clever ways of getting over a rather tall wall.

The gore levels are very much the invention of Shan, with such fight scenes involving zombie fingers pushed through the skull. It is gratifying for a writer such as Darren Shan to finally write a series about zombies, as opposed to his two other series about vampires and demons, with the demon series very briefly depicting a zombie, with it being a rather memorable, gory moment. With this scene it did  leave people demanding more zombies from Shan.

And my favourite quotes from this book are:

• “‘Don’t give yourself all the credit,’ I tell him, standing and pointing to the hole in the left side of my chest. ‘I was a heartless bitch long before I came here.'”
• ‘I doubt if you cried even when you came out of the womb.’

Hopefully we can continue the streak of interesting in this series from here on out. This whole story has every potential to have a great build up and a brilliant ending. Bring it on Mr Shan.

An 8.2 out of 10.

 

 

 

Zom-B Gladiator

At the beginning of 2014 Darren Shan released the sixth book in his Zom-B series: Zom-B Gladiator.

After B returns to County Hall to help the Angels with their mission, she finds herself out on a scouting trip with a group of Angels, which quickly turns for the worst when she gets captured by a familiar face. She is taken to the HMS Belfast on the Thames where she is forced into gladiatorial style games by a group of rich, inhuman humans, who call themselves the Board. Can she survive this grizzly new turn of events?

With this series as a whole I have noticed how each book fluctuates from the previous one. One book will have lots of action and questions answered, or more raised, the next one will be the opposite. For me, the last book had little happening in the way of story. But this one makes up for it, with its usual bout of gore, craziness and some rather controversial suggestions made by certain characters.

Some particular moments to look out for are the practise fight in the tunnel that gets a bit screwed up; B getting captured; B’s first gladiator style fight aboard the HMS Belfast for the Board; and finally B’s rescue from the cruiser, as this is a bunch of ewws, ahhs and awws in equal quantities! (Don’t judge me :P)

And my favourite quotes from this book are:

• ‘What have you sacrificed lately?’   ‘My sense of compassion.’
• ‘…bears the scar of hope.’
• ‘…but coincidence is a far more complex beast than most people give it credit for.’
• ‘They find the peaceful unity in death that is so rare in life.’
• ‘After the blows to his wedding tackle, I think death comes as a relative blessing.’
• ‘…chunk by chunky chunk.’
• ‘See you later, alligator.’   ‘It’ll be sooner than you’d like, crocodile.’
• ‘…he only kept you around in case he ever needed an organ transplant.’
• ‘…into the sunset (well, it’s not long after midday, but he’s earned a bit of poetic licence)…’
• ‘He looks like the cat that not only got the cream but a mouse-flavoured stick to stir it with.’
• ‘I might even hug a few of you beautiful buggers while I’m at it.’

We’re now half way through this series and I still do not have a clue where this series is gonna go. Overall this book is one of the better ones in the series, and here’s hoping the next one follows by example.

An 8.1 out of 10.

Zom-B Baby

Darren Shan released Zom B Baby, the fifth one in his Zom B series, in September of 2013.

After Dr Oystein’s revelation, B has trouble coming to terms with it and ends up leaving the Angels and striking out into the ruined city of London alone. Struggling to fit in with the other zombies she soon encounters an old friend… and an old nightmare. And, as ever, chaos quickly ensues.

I felt, just like with the last instalment, there was little action in this one. I do understand that this is a 12 book series so Shan has to stretch the storyline over the course of 12 books, but perhaps he could have spiced things up with a little more zombie action, gore or some other strange event.

However, he did introduce some bizarre and twisted moments that make you go ‘Waaaaa’… or other similar strange noises. Also he sets the scene beautifully. I actually love when B is out in the remains of the city of London, because Shan has a real knack for capturing an apocalyptic feel just through describing the environment, yet simultaneously capturing the beauty of such a world.

What do you mean I’m not making sense? I’m making perfect sense, you’re just not keeping up!

I do love Shan’s creativity and unique ability to create bizarre or different ideas and moments in the story also. Some particular examples of this, for me, are when B and Rage are having a race to climb up the London Eye; the skateboarding zombies and the idea that the dead retain some of who they once were; the strange demon baby, straight out of B’s old nightmares… back when she could sleep and dream of course; the zombies getting into the warehouse… poor Timothy the painter (will say no more on the matter); and finally the parade of zombies carrying the demon baby in its cot out of the warehouse. Like I said: bizarre and different!

And my favourite quotes from the novel are:

• ‘The Good Samaritan had nothing on me.’
• ‘We’ve all had to grow up since we died.’
• ‘If you were sent by God to paint the city as you find it, that nasty bugger was sent by the Devil to paint it black.’
• ‘There have been so many different religions over the years, so many truths. How can one be right and all the others wrong?’

Overall, though the book lacked action, it did throw up some interest by raising a few questions. Hopefully Shan can continue to surprise us with his bizarre take on the zombie apocalypse in the next instalment in the series and also answer some of these pesky questions he has brought to the fore in this one! Plus a little more gore and action please?

An 8.0 out of 10.

Zom-B Angels

So I have taken a brief break from the Skulduggery Pleasant series to read a book that has just come out this month (June 2013). I am of course referring to Darren Shan’s new book in the Zom-B series: Zom-B Angels.

The fourth book in the series sees B finding a new group in the heart of London in County Hall… a group of revitalizeds like herself. Here, she finally starts getting some answers to how the zombie plague may have started, why she revitalized and who and what the twisted creature who calls himself Mr Dowling really is. But the truth isn’t exactly what any of us thought.

This book is the book where Shan slows down and really shows off his style of writing. Where it lacks gore and action, it makes up for in descriptions and reflection in an apocalyptic world. And we finally start to get some answers. Maybe there are a few questions still unanswered by the time you have finished, but you can guarantee that the pieces of the puzzle are starting to fit into place.

However, I really wish that there were more gory scenes and a bit of action, just to spice things up. There is no Mr Dowling in this one, but Shan could still have added some more gory moments here and there. Don’t get me wrong, I get the need to slow down and start explaining things, but still…

Anyway, criticism aside, it’s still a good story and very readable. Some particular moments to watch out for are when B is in the Groove Tube, the Angels prank on B and the twins and Jakob’s story of becoming a revitalized… not only is it gruesome, but it’s very sad and very moving. Then there is the test that B is put through in Waterloo Station, which involves a lot of zombies and cool stunts. And then finally you have Dr Oystein’s story… again it is rather depressing.

My favourite quotes from this book are:

• ‘…and shake hands with the politely-spoken zombie.’
• ‘I’ve visited the great pyramids, Petra, the temples of Angkor Wat. Your bunghole doesn’t rank high on my list of must-sees.’
• ‘Boys always want to think that they’re able to do anything. We usually let them enjoy their fantasies. They’re happier that way and do less whining.’
• ‘That’s how bad things get when you’re that close to death. A Scotch egg becomes something special.’
• ‘And it’s not because I don’t want to be a hypocrite and say a prayer to a God I barely believe in. It’s because I figure what’s the point in saying any prayers for this broken, bloodied city of the ungodly dead?’
• ‘Truth is stranger than fiction…’

Overall, though this book did lack it’s normal bout of violence and gore, it did give us a lot of answers to some pressing questions and really starts to look at this dead world in general.

So that’s why it gets an 8.0 out of 10.

Zom-B City

WARNING: This post will contain spoilers if you haven’t read the previous books in this series, so read at your own peril!

Darren Shan has done it again with his third installment in his 12 part zombie series, Zom-B City.

This book is directly set after the ending of the second book, Zom-B Underground, with B rising out of the underground complex, where she had been held since she regained her senses, only to find the city of London as dead as she is. However, she soon finds that things aren’t what they seem and soon she’s confronted with Mr Dowling and his minions again.

Shan has managed to gross me out just a bit more, which I thought was impossible after his description of Mr Dowling in the second book. So kudos Mr Shan, kudos. Plus there are some more twisted ideas in this book that beat the ones in the previous two novels. Add to that the sentimental tone with a pinch of humour and you have a recipe for a rather awesome read that you can devour (pun intended) in a matter of a couple of days (well I did anyway).

The bad thing to say about this book is in places it’s a little cheesy, but you have to remember that this series, like most of his other series, are aimed at 12 – 14 year olds. Besides, it’s bearable, particularly with the fast paced, tension filled plot! Also I’m not sure I like Shan’s take on zombies. They vomit after eating brains, so the food doesn’t rot in their stomachs and attract insects and they also don’t come out in daylight because it irritates their skin. The whole idea of them rotting makes them zombies in the first place in my opinion, and the whole nocturnal thing sort of, but only a little bit, screams vampires… or vampire zombies! But hey, Shan’s being different, which makes these books stand out from the rest of the genre, so I will let him off!

There were some very memorable moments in this book, including the zombies mistaking mannequins for alive people, B stopping at a traffic light (which still works), even though there isn’t any traffic anymore, the zombies hanging from the lamppost and Timothy painting them, then later his collection of macabre paintings, the mindless zombie Beefeater who insists that B gets a ticket before entering the Tower of London (still loves his work that one), and finally the whole zombie baby scene… it’s one of those twisted scenes I mentioned earlier.

And my favourite quotes from this book are:

• ‘Taken off to some mystical Shangri-La by her racist, wife-beating knight in shining armour?’
• ‘…I can’t carry a tune these days, not now that my mouth is drier than a camel’s arse.’ (I don’t want to know how you know that B)
• ‘You know you’ve been seriously climbing the walls if the thought of heading off on a suicide mission makes you feel happy!’
• ‘I think even Dr Dolittle would have trouble getting animals to trust him these days.’
• ‘What sort of a bad guy would wear yellow pants?’
• ‘…revealed in all its gory glory…’ (love the wording here)

Shan’s twisted writing is amazing, as ever, and also his story telling is superb. Again with the more questions raised than answered however! You’re very frustrating Shan!

An 8.o out of 10.

Zom-B Underground

Darren Shan’s second instalment in the Zom-B series has just been released (sometime in January 2013), a long-awaited novel after the nasty little cliff-hanger Mr Shan thought would be funny to leave us all on. That’s right Shan, I’m on to you!

But let me tell you: it was worth the small wait. And what’s more is the second book in the series, Zom-B Underground, throws up even more questions than it does answers! This is highly frustrating Mr Shan!

If you haven’t read the first book in the series and are planning on doing so very shortly then please DO NOT read ahead. It contains spoilers…you have been warned!

The plot behind Zom-B Underground picks up about six months after the events of the first book. B awakes to find herself a zombie…with a conscious. But what she thinks is a blessing soon turns out to be a curse and she must deal with the past horrors before she can deal with the present. Hold on to your seats…because things are about to getting very bumpy!

Oh and expect extreme twisted goriness…honestly you sometimes wonder what twisted place Darren Shan’s mind is at half the time. But hey, that’s part of the brilliance of this series, right?

And some of the best scenes were the gory ones, but there were also some scenes addressing humanity versus monster that were amongst my favourites. So here are my favourite scenes from the book: B starts singing an altered version of ‘One Man Went to Mow’, changing the lyrics to ‘B Smith went to mow, went to mow a meadow. But a zombie ripped her heart out, so now she’s a walking dead-o.’ As she says you have to laugh at these sorts of things otherwise you would go insane. The scene where B faces off with the zombies as part of a test is pretty good too, as it shows a small spark of humanity in an otherwise inhumane world. The scene that describes Mr Dowling’s, the clown’s, attire, turns out to be very gruesome. Plus there’s a picture to go with it so you can’t help but visualise it (not that I’m criticising Warren Pleece’s work…it’s very brilliant after all). And finally the scene where we get a déjà vu effect when B looks through the door to the living quarters and she sees a scene similar to that of the canteen scene from the previous book, where zombies are being controlled to attack…except this time the clown, Mr Dowling, is in the middle of it and we are left with more questions as to how he is involved in it all. Like I said, more questions than answers to be had from this book.

And my favourite quotes from the book are:

• ‘If some creep gets a buzz from watching a one-boobed zombie in the buff, more luck to him.’
• ‘That’d be like me asking if I could stick my hand up your arse.’
• ‘I can give you two words. The second is off. Can you guess the first?’
• ‘But because I’m more hole than whole in that part of my body…’ (just love the play on words here)

Some rather rude quotes here it would seem, but that’s Shan for you.

An 8.2 out of 10 for the second instalment in this crazy series.

 

Is there anything you want me to review? Then let me know below!

Zom-B

When I saw that Irish author Darren Shan had started a new zombie series I had to get it. From reading his Demonata series I had already got a good taste of his writing style and also a brief glimpse of how he goes about writing the undead. Both aspects therefore promised that his new series would be brilliant.

And I wasn’t disappointed I’m pleased to say.

The first book in this series, entitled Zom-B, was brought out at the end of 2012 and is full of completely new and twisted ideas on the concept of the undead.

It starts off by giving us a look into the zombie attack in Pallaskenry, Ireland, quickly moving on to show us the life of B Smith, which is extremely complicated even before the zombies attack. B’s father is a bullying racist and B also has to contend with the regular appearing nightmare of killer babies (I’m not yet sure about the significance of this aspect of the story, but it gets mentioned in the blurb so it must be important, right?). But then the zombies attack and B smith’s world will be turned completely upside down.

I think Shan treads a very thin line with the whole racist slant, as our main character ends up picking fights with different ethnicities all to try to please her father…but deep down she doesn’t believe it and feels ashamed, but too afraid to confront him. As I said, a very thin line. And yet Shan accomplishes it fabulously.

The only thing I would warn anybody about is that it isn’t until like two-thirds of the way through the book that B encounters any zombies, so if you don’t like tension building this is not going to be your type of book. I, of course, do like this as it gives us a chance to get to know the main character and realise that she’s not all that bad, despite the whole racist thing and trying to please her bullying father. And if you keep an eye out there will be clever little messages that hint at what will happen at the end of the book.

However for a zombie lover like myself it wasn’t until the zombies showed their ugly faces that the good scenes occurred. I like the way Shan first revealed the zombies to our main character in the gym, creating this brilliant feel of shock and disbelieve, before absolute chaos erupts as everyone tries to flee from the undead. The scene where B loses her first friend to the virus in the classroom is also rather good, as it’s completely obvious it’s going to happen, but chaos still occurs, resulting in two more of the group being lost along with the first one. I also really like the scene where the group see the ‘organised’ carnage in the canteen, as it’s the first time B, and I think the readers, begin to suspect that things aren’t what they seem and this isn’t some normal zombie attack; it also makes you want to read the other books in the series to see what is exactly going on! And the final scene I like, which reinforces the whole canteen scenario, is when the group encounter their zombie principal, who isn’t like the rest of the zombies they have encountered up until this point. It’s all very mysterious.

And my favourite quotes from the book are:

• ‘…it soon became apparent that this was a war the living had never been destined to win.’ (Sets a gloomy tone for the whole book, hell the whole series)
• ‘Put my head between my legs and kiss my arse goodbye!’
• ‘Someone spray-painted a giant arse on it months ago and I always slap it for good luck when I pass.’
• ‘That lot don’t know how to find their own arseholes.’
• ‘Everyone’s afraid of being the one to fail, to dash the hope which we all long for, but don’t dare believe in.’

So there you go…a collection of depressing and/or arse-related quotes.

Overall, this book was very different, surprising and a rather good read. And I’m looking forward to the rest of the series Mr Shan.

An 8.2 out of 10.

Got something you want me to review? Then leave your suggestion in the comments below!