Review: Alice in Zombieland

Title: Alice in Zombieland
Author: Gena Showalter
Series: White Rabbit Chronicles, #1
Source: Purchased
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publication Date: September 25, 2012

She won’t rest until she’s sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever. 

Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that’s all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.

Her father was right. The monsters are real….

To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn’t careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies….

I wish I could go back and do a thousand things differently.
I'd tell my sister no.
I'd never beg my mother to talk to my dad.
I'd zip my lips and swallow those hateful words.
Or, barring all of that, I'd hug my sister, my mom and my dad one last time.
I'd tell them I love them.
I wish... Yeah, I wish.

I absolutely love Alice in Wonderland retellings. I'm also becoming a huge fan of zombie books and by combining those two things you'd think I would be absolutely in love right? Well only kind of. I did love the second half of the book, I just found the beginning pretty boring.

There is only so much you can take when the main character doesn't really do anything. Yes, I know, her family just died, but still the book could have had a lot of the moping, doing nothing part cut out. Once she starts school it gets a little better and then when she finally joins up with Cole's group things get interesting.

The idea of teenagers going out and hunting zombies is pretty cool. The thing that really makes this story is what the zombies actually are. They aren't your typical zombies that go around eating human flesh, they're more of a spirit form. I really have never seen zombies done in this way and that really makes this book stand out.

I really wasn't a huge fan of Alice in the beginning. I got pretty bored while she moped and did nothing. As the story went on however, she turned out to be a pretty tough character who knew how to kick zombie butt. Then there's Cole, the love interest. He's tall, dark and brooding. Oh and he's major trouble. What isn't to love? He's actually pretty sweet and kind once you break through that bad boy shell of his too. One of my favorite character's was Kat. She was funny and outgoing. Spunky and outspoken. She was just an all around enjoyable character, I found myself looking forward to the parts where she made an appearance.

This is definitely a unique twist on the zombie story which I really liked. I am definitely going to be picking up the sequel when it comes out and I can't wait until the next trip into Zombieland.

Final Rating:

.5