Undead

by Kirsty McKay

Undead, Book One

Book Description

Out of sight, out of their minds: It’s a school-trip splatter fest and completely not cool when the other kids in her class go all braindead on new girl Bobby.

The day of the ski trip, when the bus comes to a stop at a roadside restaurant, everyone gets off and heads in for lunch. Everyone, that is, except Bobby, the new girl, who stays behind with rebel-without-a-clue Smitty.

Then hours pass. Snow piles up. Sun goes down. Bobby and Smitty start to flirt. Start to stress. Till finally they see the other kids stumbling back.

But they’ve changed. And not in a good way. Straight up, they’re zombies. So the wheels on the bus better go round and round freakin’ fast, because that’s the only thing keeping Bobby and Smitty from becoming their classmates’ next meal. It’s kill or be killed in these hunger games, heads are gonna roll, and homework is most definitely gonna be late.

MY THOUGHTS: 3 OF 5 FLEURS DE LIS

Undead by Kirsty McKay

Bobby is a British girl who moved to America, and is now back in Britain for high school. She doesn’t think she really fits in, so she’s less than thrilled when she must go with her class on a ski trip. But when the bus stops at a roadside diner, everyone who went inside suddenly becomes zombified. Bobby, prissy Alice, nerdy Pete, and loner Smitty are the only kids left unaffected. The four must try to outrun and outwit the zombies…all while dealing with ridiculous situations that pop up along the way.

Of course I am all about zombie everything, so I was stoked to read this book. Too bad it left me with a mostly meh feeling.

The characters are all pretty big stereotypes, classically thrown together in their time of distress. Since this is more or less supposed to me an action/horror novel, characterization is expected to be on the lesser side, but I felt like we learned NOTHING about any of the four kids during the course of this book.

Bobby is likable enough, though I don’t get her whole idea that she’s an outsider. If anything, I’d think her peers would be interested in her and wanting to ask her a ton of questions about America. As the book went on, Bobby got a bit more daring and kick-ass, which was great.

The main thing I missed in this book was zombie killing! There are a couple of scenes where zombies are killed, and that’s it. The rest of the time is spent running and hiding. I understand that they’re just kids, but at one point in the book they all had weapons…and never used them, even when surrounded.

One saving point of Undead is that it was pretty funny. All the characters are sarcastic and they trade some hilarious remarks. The story is told in first person through Bobby’s point of view, and the way the thinks is funny and relatable.

The end was weird for me, and I basically thought it was a cop-out. Also, I was pretty sure this was supposed to be a stand-alone book…but I guess not.

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