I tend to think I’m a smart person, but for some reason, it took this book for me to realise that zombies fall into the horror genre. I don’t know, I kinda always thought they were fun rather than scary. In books anyway, because I can’t do movies, the whole blood and gore thing doesn’t work for me if I see it. It’s one instance where not being able to picture what I read makes it better. Anyway, it’s not so much that I thought they weren’t horror, it’s that I never thought about whether they were.
So I started listening to this audiobook and was enjoying it a lot as some sort of maybe twisted comedy and then it got seriously horrific. The good news is, I kept enjoying it. Wendy is this vaguely pathetic woman who cheated on her girlfriend because she was scared she would leave her and is now regretting her choices. But it’s pride and she’s at this party, and Leah, her ex, is all over Sam and Aurelia, the two women hosting the party. Wendy hopes to find solace in the arms of Logan, aka Dahlia DePravity, and it kind of helps a little, but then everything goes to hell when some partygoers turn into zombies.
As you might expect, there’s a lot of action and fighting, but also a (un)healthy dose of internal conflict, gut-wrenching betrayals, twists, heartbreak… And the kind of desperate sense of humour that tricks me into having fun despite dozens of people dying.
Underneath it all is a not so subtle societal commentary about corporations buying their way into Pride and the lengths they’re willing to go to in order to have their cake and eat it too. I mean, there’s a reason I keep saying that capitalism is a killer. On that topic—corporations and pinkwashing, not actual capitalistic murder—I recommend this enlightening and disturbing piece on Popular Information.
The narration is good when it comes to pacing and feelings, even though the voices aren’t very distinctive. It feels more like a great reading than performing, which was a bit surprising since Mara Wilson is an actress. It works, however.
All in all, an enjoyable debut novel.
Experience The Z Word:
Bookshop.org (paperback)
Libro.fm (audiobook)
Kobo (audiobook – ebook)
Amazon (audiobook – ebook – paperback)
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Jude in the Stars 