WARNING!!! If you have not read the first book in the series, Zom-B then please do not read this review. There are some HUMONGOUS twists that you do not want spoiling. Trust me...
Published by: Simon and Schuster.
Format: Hardback.
Released: 3rd January 2013.
Rating: 5/5.
Official synopsis: "Waking up in a military complex, months after zombies attacked school, B has no memory of the last few months. Life in the UK has turned tough since the outbreak, and B is woven into life- and battle- in the new military regime quickly. But as B learns more about the zombies held in the complex and the scientists keeping them captive, unease settles in. Why exactly was B saved? And is there anyone left in the world to trust?"
Where on earth do I start? Holy cow, Zom-B Underground is amazing. Zom-B was brilliant, but Underground is in a league of its own. With the real groundwork for the series already laid down for all to see (zombie's, B...) we get right into the thick of it in Underground.
B is dead and has to come to terms with that. She's a zombie now. But she can think clearly, and with a little help from some eye drops and a file she can see and speak too. Kept locked away in a cell, all on her own, her mind is racing as she tries to piece together what is exactly that's going on. She soon learn that she is what humans in control now call a revitalised. She's a zombie who is still able to think as if she were living. Those who are less fortunate and are just brain-starved maniacs are known as reviveds. She has to adjust to life as a zom head and with what that entails. But being B, she isn't going to play ball that easy and begins to question her actions.
Soon, she learns that she and the other revitaliseds are nothing more than lab rats, and she isn't happy at all.
Zom-B was more story than gory, with only the opening and closing sections of the book dishing up the brainy goods, but with Underground it is riddled! It's gory, bloody, brainy. It's fantastic - with some of the most gruesome scenes I think I've read in a Shan book it made it an instant favourite and had me speeding through the book at lightning speed. I read it on my Kindle and barely even paused to look at the amazing drawings that appear periodically through the book - those had to be looked at in detail later. The thing about Underground and I find indeed with most of Shan's work, is that it draws you in and you just cannot stop until you've finished. Gasps. Cries of horror. Laughter even. All regular occurrences and reactions that if you didn't have them whilst reading something by Mr. Shan you'd be a little disappointed! They work so well, he gets into your head so well. I love it.
We're also introduced to Mr. Dowling. The gentleman, or should I say clown, who adorns the cover for the third book in the series, Zom-B City, which is due for release in March. He's creepy, described in such a disgusting, gut wrenching way, and yet he's not exactly as he seems... WHAT?! WHAT?!! All I can say is I'm a little scared of what we'll find in City!
And those climatic scenes?!?! COME ON! You can't stop the book there... Keep going! ARGH!!!! Incredible.
It's so hard to review the book because apart from what I've said, anything would truly ruin the experience of reading this book for yourself. We're now two books into the promised twelve book saga, and you can feel that it's something special, that when it's all done and dusted in a few years time, it's going to be something you look back on and feel proud to have on your bookshelf. These books are thought provoking as well as just downright amazing. They make you question about bigotry Racism. Hatred. You may think that they would appear to be nothing more than zombie fuelled fodder, but you would be far, far, FAR from the truth!
I implore you to check these books out. If you haven't already, you must. And if you have, I'm sure you love them too, right?!
Roll on Zom-B City!
Buy from Amazon UK
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