Tag: paranormal

YA

Review: Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Series: White Rabbit Chronicles #1

alice in zombieland -gena showalterShe 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. But that’s all it takes. 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.

3.5 Drink Me Potions

Don’t take a look at my rating and think to yourself, “Oh, it’s not that great. How can it be when she gave it a 3 or so stars?” It’s become increasingly hard to rate books with a 5 star system and I feel I wouldn’t be giving an honest review if I gave Alice in Zombieland a few more stars.

That being said, I did REALLY enjoy the book. Here are the facts about me going into it.

1. I’m not a particular fan of zombies. I never was. So my shelves are barely lined with zombie apocalypse kind of book. And I rarely watch shows/movies that focus on them.

2. I’m a HUGE fan of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. (Does my blog name, Down the Rabbit Hole give that away?) I think he’s an imaginative genius for the absolutely crazy things he comes up with in that head of his. Even his poems are ridiculous, with made-up words that have occasionally become real words in our modern society. Isn’t that the coolest contribution an author can have?

Gena Showalter writes about the most swoon-worthy kind of guys. And to think, in this book, there’s a whole group of bad-ass, tatted up guys who seem to be in an awful lot of fights. Why else would they be covered in bruises, like every morning? But of course, the greatest one was Cole Holland. My, oh my, he sounds like he shouldn’t be my type of guy. He’s got the bad boy angle going for him very well, as he’s the leader of this group of rough-looking boys. But somehow, he just IS!

Our protagonist, Alice (or Ali, as she prefers to be called), feels the same way. She was a nice voice to follow. I liked her, felt I could feel her emotions very well and understand her reactions to what she was going through. With her family ripped away from her after a tragic accident (caused by zombies!), she has a lot to deal with.

Then in comes Cole Holland. Or I should rather say, in comes a VISION with Cole Holland, right as they met for the first time. Isn’t that the perfect setting for a crazy turbulent romance to build on? To top that off, he’s not just a bad boy, but he has a line, a LINE of ex-girlfriends behind him. Warning signs should be flashing around him saying “BEWARE OF HEARTBREAK AND POSSIBLY BEING USED.” Of course, I still love him (Sorry, Ali.) With a premise like that, lots of potential romantic drama is for sure going to be ensued.

The secondary characters, and boy were there a lot of them, were all so vivid and different. Kat Parker, Ali’s best friend from day 1 after the accident, is the strangest yet amazing best friend character I have ever read. It makes me want to find a Kat Parker for myself. She’s egotistical and constantly breaks up with her on-and-off boyfriend, Frosty, who happens to be Cole’s good buddy. But at the centre of it, she’s loyal and strong-willed, with a secret she’s harbouring of her own.

So why couldn’t it be the absolute 5 stars I wanted it to be?

I guess the answer is just plain and simple. There wasn’t a lot of references to Alice in Wonderland. I know, that’s silly of me, right? But going into the book, I had REALLY hoped there would be more connections or references. There were some, don’t get me wrong. Just…it wasn’t what I had anticipated. It was still amazing! And I know the following books in this series would be better now that I have gotten rid of that expectation.

To end this off, I just wanted to say that the zombies took me by surprise. Yeah, Showalter could’ve left them as the stereotypical zombies that crave brains and walk among us to infect more human civilians. Starting to sound like The Walking Dead? I wouldn’t know. I never watched it. But, it wasn’t anything like that. They’re zombie GHOSTS. They are spirits and they are not so easy to kill at all. The thought behind building these Zombies 2.0 were well-done, and for a not-so-keen zombie reader, I think that’s what made me love the book more.

Overall Recommendations:
Gena Showalter added a strangely unique twist to an ever-present plot on zombies. With references to Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, this story of Ali and a bunch of (hot!) zombie slayers will leave anyone wanting more for the adventure and the giant fight between good vs. evil. The numerous secondary characters are all well-written and vividly imagined, seemingly popping out of the page to draw you into their world of zombie fighting action. The pacing is decent and Ali proves to be a very interesting protagonist to follow. I swear, you’ll never think of zombies in the same way ever again. I sure don’t, and I’m no fan of zombies.

YA

Review: Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Series: Vampire Academy #1

vampire academy -richelle meadONLY A TRUE BEST FRIEND CAN PROTECT YOU FROM YOUR IMMORTAL ENEMIES…

Lissa Dragomir is a Moroi princess: a mortal vampire with a rare gift for harnessing the earth’s magic. She must be protected at all times from Strigoi; the fiercest vampires – the ones who never die. The powerful blend of human and vampire blood that flows through Rose Hathaway, Lissa’s best friend, makes her a dhampir. Rose is dedicated to a dangerous life of protecting Lissa from the Strigoi, who are hell-bent on making Lissa one of them.

After two years of freedom, Rose and Lissa are caught and dragged back to St. Vladimir’s Academy, a school for vampire royalty and their guardians-to-be, hidden in the deep forests of Montana. But inside the iron gates, life is even more fraught with danger… and the Strigoi are always close by.

Rose and Lissa must navigate their dangerous world, confront the temptations of forbidden love, and never once let their guard down, lest the evil undead make Lissa one of them forever…

3.5 Drink Me Potions

Okay, I will admit that I broke my golden rule for this book….I watched the movie version before reading the book. I know. That’s awful, isn’t it? But the plot of the movie (which I had hoped stayed true to the book) intrigued me deeply. After the whole bang that Twilight created, vampire novels just seemed to pop up everywhere. And I mean EVERYWHERE.

So this is why it took me so long to finally read this series. It’s not like I haven’t seen it around before. I just was never interested in starting. How many more ways can these vampire books be different from each other? It’s hard not to compare them to “rip-offs” of Twilight-esque themes.

I was wrong. This book proved it to me. There are still so many creative things to add onto the vampire mythology that’s already out there. Richelle Mead did not disappoint.

Our protagonist, Rose, is a fireball. Man, I love her. She has a voice that’s so strong and clear, it’s almost like I can see her standing there in front of me. She has no restrictions when it comes to those she cares about. She’s not one of those weak and shy heroines at all. Her strength (and recklessness) is balanced throughout the novel with the frailty of her best friend, Lissa. I liked her too, as she had her own character that was special. She wasn’t as unique or original as Rose was, reminiscent of Disney princesses at first with their love of animals and always-kind attitude, but there were different sides of her that showed as the story progressed.

As for romance, the chemistry between Rose and her mentor were there. Obviously I’m glad it’s not just a hormonal-fueled relationship going on, as the two of them really connect on an emotional level as well. Let’s just say I can’t wait to see how things go with those two.

Overall, this story had turns I did not expect, especially nearer to the ending. I must say that watching the movie spoiled it for me, but I was surprised when I found out there, so I’m pretty sure I would’ve been doubly surprised with the book since I would have spent more time with the characters by reading about them instead. It still lowered my rating a bit (I did know what was going to happen after all), otherwise it may have landed 4 stars. It’s still a great start to a brand new series. I will look forward to reading the rest.

Overall Recommendation:
Vampire fans (and vampire haters)! Don’t overlook this book like I had for so long. Just because there are so many out there, I do understand vampires can get tiring, but this one is an exception. Richelle Mead created a brand new world of vampire lore, set in a school of teenage vampires that do the craziest things sometimes. How much more fun can it get? Danger, romance, backstabbing(!), it has it all. A great start to a series, I suggest you give this one at least a try before deciding if the series is worth it or not to read.