Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter

Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter

Title: Alice in Zombieland

Series: The White Rabbit Chronicles

Author: Gena Showalster

Page Count: 404

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

     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 that the zombies. 

My Thoughts

     Where do I begin?! I loved this book! I actually ordered this book from Amazon because I judged it by it's cover and decided I just HAD to have it. And I was right. I needed this book in my life. A story about crazy, creepy zombies that is loosely based on the idea of Alice in Wonderland? Gena Showalter is a genius. It would have been cool if there were even more connections to Alice in Wonderland, but I was really happy with the ones that were there.

     So the cover is awesome. Our main character Alice is also awesome. I loved the peaceful beginning of the story, and how effectively the relationships between Alice and her family members were developed. In a very short amount of time I not only completely understood her relationship with her sister, her mother, and her father, but I understood the relationships and found them all completely believable. Then the build of action began. I knew from reading the back cover that something awful was going to happen to Alice's family. But as I was reading I still found myself hoping that maybe, just maybe, they would survive. I was heartbroken along with Alice when the accident happened. Her reactions were exactly what I think my reactions would be in that kind of situation. I decided Alice was my fictional sister, or soulmate, or something. For the rest of the book, everything she said or did just made sense.

     The other characters: Kat, Alice's best friend, was a little ridiculous, but in such a good way. I loved the things she said, and I could totally picture a girl acting this way as she tried to rule her high school. Cole was the epitome of a bad boy (until he turned all sentimental around Alice, which somehow was still believable), as was his whole crew of hoodlum buddies.

     Enough gushing about the characters. I also loved the plot. It built up steadily, getting increasingly intense,to the point where I read the final third of the book without stopping even though it was waaaaaay past my self-prescribed bedtime. As creepy as the zombies were, I wanted to be in this world with Alice and her friends to learn how to fight them. A LOT of things happened in this book, especially close to the end, and a lot of it is obviously leading into the next book (which I just received and CANNOT wait to read!), but enough questions were answered that I wasn't left frustrated. The descriptions of what was going on were perfect; as I was reading I was picturing myself right alongside Alice. There wasn't anything extra or annoying or unnecessary written into this book. Everything was there for a reason and everything belonged.

     I love Gena Showalter. This book was a new take on zombies, and it was one that I really, really liked. And she was so crafty with her design of the story that I actually couldn't predict things before they happened. In fact, I was dead wrong several times, which I love because that means the book is even more exciting! Let's just say I was wrong about several of the characters and what role they would play as they were introduced. The only thing I was not completely pleased with (mini-spoiler-alert) was how easily Alice's grandmother accepted certain things. With the way her world was being rocked, I thought she would have stronger reactions. Other than that, perfection. I loved it. I hope this turns into more than a trilogy...an ongoing series would be wonderful...please?