Undead review

Undead
Kirsty McKay
September 1st 2011
Chicken House

Being new at school bites. But at least it doesn't kill you. Mostly. 

Bobby thinks she might well be on the School Trip from Hell. Too bad she's a noob, too bad her classmates don't rate her weirdo accent and too bad that Scotland is having the worst blizzard since the Ice Age. Looks like she's going to be on this school bus for a quite a while; could things get much worse? 

Yep. They could. 

Inexplicably, her classmates start dying...and then they come back to life again...and what's more, they're very, very hungry. 

With nowhere to run and no contact with the outside world, Bobby is thrown together with a raggle-taggle group of survivors at a roadside café. There's indie kid drop-out Smitty, the class beauty queen Alice, dweeby Pete and two near useless adults: a half-conscious bus driver and a volatile petrol station attendant. 

The frenemies struggle to stay alive - through explosions, deadly battles and a breakneck chase through the snowbound wilderness. Somehow they have to make it to safety - and get some answers - no matter what the cost. 

Can they survive the Undead? And each other?

Undead was an utter romp of a book. It was everything I want from a zombie book, fun, creepy and full of quirky characters. While the plot could be a bit predictable in places, it made up for it everywhere else. Plus, it reminded me a little of Shaun of the Dead only not as bad and in Scotland and for teens. But I mean that it was sort of a parody of zombie books, but not without it being creepy and gory and zombieficated.


Bobby was an awesome character. I loved her out of placeness and her weird accent, and I liked how she handled the whole zombie situation and how she reacted to it. She reacted like how I would, at least, a little bit. How she tried to put off thinking about it and tried to turn it into a bit of a joke, almost. Plus she was pretty sarcastic in places and I am all for sarcasm.


Smitty was so adorable too! I love me an indie boy and Smitty sure delivered. He was funny and reckless and a bit of a smart arse in places, but he was loyal to the group and he and Bobby were practically the only ones who bothered to do anything around the zombies! Plus, he cared for everyone there and did all that he could to ensure they didn't get hurt.


The actual idea behind the zombie situation was really interesting. I really enjoyed uncovering how and why all these zombies had come about, and Bobby's and her friends story of survival there was riveting. Plus it was funnier than I was expecting it to be, which is always a bonus .