Monday 22 October 2012

Mini-review: Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter

  Alice in Zombieland
  Author: Gena Showalter
  Publisher: Mira Ink
  Publication date: October 5th 2012
  My rating: 3 stars 

 

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 think I may be in the minority of reviewers who didn’t enjoy Alice in Zombieland. With a stunning cover and alluring premise what’s not to love? I think when I read the word zombie; I should have taken that as a sign as I haven’t had much luck with zombie books except for one. But I went in with the hopes that it would provide something different and different it certainly did.

The beginning of the book I had no problems with, I found myself thrown into the mix from the get go, with several questions flying around the place. Do these so called monsters Alice’s dad sees really exist? And if so why are they hanging around here of all places? And the continued pace certainly kept me on my toes. I think what let me down was that I was unable to form a strong connection with any of the characters. Yes there was such a varied bunch; surely one would have stood out? Sadly no, each time I thought I was getting to grips with someone’s character, they would do something which would grate on me for the rest of the book. That’s not to say I didn’t  have fun with this book, there were parts which totally had me hooked and I’m positive that the characters I found to be lacklustre in places will be more rounded and developed by the second book.

Despite not enjoying Alice in Zombieland as much as I’d hoped, I’m sure a lot of others will find this a spell-blinding read.  

And to convince you to give this book a try check out these glowing reviews;

Giselle @ Xpresso Reads.   

19 comments:

Maji Bookshelf said...

oh I'm so sorry you didn't enjoy it! I know how it is when you just can't connect with the characters and that sort of dampens the whole reading experience.

great review!

Juhina @ Maji Bookshelf

Maja (The Nocturnal Library) said...

Truth be told, I didn't much care for it either. Sure, there were some things I enjoyed, but overall in felt forced, more like a project Showalter decided to do than like a product of true inspiration. It made me a bit sad.
Sorry you didn't like it, hon, I was hoping you would
Great review, though!

Stepping Out of the Page said...

Thanks for the honest review - it's a shame it wasn't as fantastic as you'd expected but it's good to hear why! I'll have to pick this one up soon to see what I think of it. I hope your next read is more enjoyable!

Stephanie

Heidi@Rainy Day Ramblings said...

Well I was dying to read it and now I can't find time, but after reading your review, I don't feel so bad! I appreciate your honesty! I am green with envy right now that you are reading Laini Taylor!

Aa'Ishah said...

Sorry you didn't enjoy this! Sometimes it is really hard to connect with even one of the characters, which kind of makes reading the book pointless because you don't really care what's going on. Lovely review, J, thanks for being so honest! :)

Jenny said...

It's okay to be in the opinion minority Jasprit! I was there seemingly all by my lonesome with regard to Throne of Glass, and though I sometimes thought maybe I was just missing the brilliance that everyone else was seeing, I figured out that it just wasn't the book for me. Just like this wasn't quite the book you had hoped it would be. I'm glad you at least had fun reading it, even if it didn't blow you away:) And thanks so much for the link to my review!

Keertana said...

Jasprit, I've actually read more negative reviews of this one than positive. It seems as if is more romance rather than zombie oriented and characters you couldn't connect with? It sounds like Night Beach all over again! I'm sorry this one disappointed you, dear, so I hope you have better luck with your next read! :D (Days of Blood and Starlight? ALREADY? I hope you LOVE it!)

Unknown said...

Sorry you didn't enjoy this one!

Shooting Stars Mag said...

I feel like the reviews I've read of this have been pretty mediocre actually. I'm curious, for sure, since I do love zombies. I'm also a character girl though so I hate that you couldn't connect with at least ONE. Thanks for the review!

-Lauren

Anonymous said...

I love mini- reviews: concise and to the point, and yours is fantastic, Jasprit! Even I'm such a cover whore and am definitely able to stare at this gorgeous one all day, the issues you had with it will probably irk me too. Lackluster characters and a sketchy plot with too many questions? No, thank you. :)

Jen (Books and Other Happy Ever Afters) said...

I hate it when I'm unable to connect to ANY of the characters! :( It's all right, at least there were scenes that kept you interested. Thanks for being honest about it! Lovely review :)

Unknown said...

Honestly I think I've read more "meh" reviews thank good for Alice. I do like the cover, but nothing about it really draws me in. Great review!

Beverley said...

It's such a shame you didn't enjoy this is as much as other bloggers. My copy is pretty near the top of my TBR pile and I've never read a zombie book so I'm hoping I have more luck with it. At least it was fun in some parts but 'flat' characters always annoy me too.

Thanks for the honest review, Jas <3

Jess said...

I've mainly read "meh" reviews for this book which makes me sad because I thought it sounded so funky! At least you didn't hate it though and enjoyed it to some extent :)

reviews said...

i was expecting this to be a really nice book.

Livvy said...

I have to agree with Keertana on the fact that I'd heard a lot of negative reviews on this one, so don't feel like you're in the minority.

Thank you for the short, informative review and I still haven't concluded on whether I'm going to read this one.

Wendy Darling said...

Hah, I really enjoyed this one, even knowing it was pretty shallow and filled with air. :) Will you be reading book two? I know I will!

Wendy @ The Midnight Garden

Delaney said...

I definitely agree! It wasn't for me and I didn't even think it would be like that. The concept could've been so awesome! But she took and reformed and it dissappointed me.

Book Passion for Life said...

Aww hun - I loved this one but not every book is for everyone. Maybe next time. x xox

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