Zombie Nation

I'm not really into horror or paranormal/supernatural, so when the whole zombie craze started I figured it best left to others.  Then John Maberry's Rot & Ruin won the 2010 Cybils YA Science Fiction & Fantasy award, and people had been yammering on and on about The Forest of Hands and Teeth since before its release, and I read-aloud to my 8th graders from Ryan Mecum's Zombie Haiku and we all loved it (even if some people had to hold down the vomit in their throats),  and I loved the movies Zombieland and Shaun of the Dead.  So what was I waiting for?

I started my zombie adventure by reading Zombie Haiku in full.  The book is a series of haiku poems written by a man trying to escape a zombie apocalypse. It was a quick and relatively painlessful read.  I had to stop numerous times.  Some of it was so gross that I just focused on shallow breathing and tried not to look at the photos and illustrations.  I had already read Werewolf Haiku, so I should've known what to expect, but I foolishly thought it couldn't be as disgusting.  I was wrong.

This one has been a smash hit with both my male and female reluctant readers and also my horror fans.

I continued the journey with John Maberry's Rot and Ruin (the first in a planned trilogy). This was more my style and I quickly became engrossed in the story.  In zombie-apocalypse California, multi-racial (Caucasian and Japanese) protagonist Benny Imura has reached the age where he must decide on a career.  Since his parents death (and subsequent zombification) when Benny was young, he has been raised by his emotionally distant half-brother Tom, a zombie bounty hunter.  Benny had planned on a career within the safety of the fences, but Tom invites him to train with him out in the Rot & Ruin, and he quickly discovers that "killing zoms" more about brains than braun and that zombies are were people too!

I was definitely surprised by how much I enjoyed Rot & Ruin, but my passion for character-driven zombie novels really reached its apex with Carrie Ryan's The Forest of Hands and Teeth.  Wow!  I can't believe it took me this long to finally get around to reading these books.  Why didn't I just listen when everyone was raving about the first one years ago?

It's a familiar scene: zombie apocaplyse, most of the world taken over by the living dead (known here as the Unconsecrated), only remaining survivors live a pared down existence protected from the zombies (who live in the Forest of Hands and Teeth) by a fence.  The sisterhood rule the town with an iron fist and distribute information about the Unconsecrated, life before and life outside the fence on a "need to know" basis.  Then there's a breach.  The town is overrun by Unconsecreated and it's up to Mary and the handful of others who have escaped to search for safety beyond the fence.

So. Good.  I plowed through all three of the books (thank goodness the third and final volume was *just* released) in a matter of days.  But if you're still not sure it's something you're interested in, watch this trailer.



Now get to the nearest library, bookstore and/or ereader and start reading.

ETA: As if reading my mind, there is now a zombie-proof house!

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