I've always been on the fence about horror novels, and zombies in particular. While I kind of liked this one a little bit, it reminded me why I generally steer clear of zombies. They're just gross. These ones were no exception. Except that maybe they were a little grosser than usual because of the bugs.When Adrien first showed up at school, I'll admit that I had a major crush on him. I knew there was something up, but come on. Who DOESN'T like a guy who marches to the beat of his own drummer and does it spectacularly? Plus there's the fact that he wore a perfectly tailored suitcoat with jeans. That's just hot. (men, are you listening? Perfectly tailored suitcoat with jeans = HOT.) And he wore sunglasses all the time. That bit seemed a little Don Johnson in Miami Vice to me but it worked for the mystique of the character.
After about half a class period with him though, I didn't like him at all. Not even one little bit, and his hotness totally evaporated. He just became creepy. The author didn't keep us in suspense for very long about him, so I had almost the whole book to hate on him. I liked that. :P
See, I just don't buy a zombie with a conscience. So maybe we're looking at a revamping of the breed, but it didn't work for me. Kind of like the Twilight vampires don't work for me. Give me Count Dracula any day. Maybe it's just that I'm so used to the mindless eating machines of old to give a little on this; I don't know. But I wanted "BRRRRRAAAAAAAAAIIIIINNNNNNSSSSS" and all I got was "I love her. I want her for eternity. I don't want to eat her."
I just don't buy the zombie love story aspect.
There's some redemption at the end though. I'm not going to spoil it entirely, but it did go nicely with the "I love her" bit. Not saying I bought it, but I *get* it.
Marie is definitely mostly your stereotypical zombie type. The mostly comes into play because she's not entirely controlled by her desire to eat. (BRRRRRAAAAAAAAAIIIIINNNNNNSSSSS)
I did like Meredith a lot. She's scrappy. Poor thing is just trying to hold her family together and seeming to be a colossal fail at it. But she persists. I think the strength of her character is the reason that Adrien had no power over her. (oh, and these zombies can have supernatural mind control too.)
I like that she got what was coming to her in the end. I'll let you read and see what that is.
Overall, the book was fine. Lots of elements that I just didn't care for, but some that I did. I can definitely see a niche for it, and I think that fans of teen horror will like it a lot.
For me, it's a meh.