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Frail
First, I have to say how thrilled I am that AB4T has been nominated for an Edublog Award in the Best Librarian/Library Blog category. I certainly share the honor with the many fellow librarians who contribute book reviews and guest posts to this blog. It is a wonderfully collaborative effort, which is what makes this blog special — not to mention fun! If you want to vote for the Edublogs (and you can vote for as many categories as you want, once a day), click here.
And take a look at the other fabulous SLJ blogs shortlisted for the awards!
Now, on to our review of the day. Frail is Book 2 in Joan Frances Turner’s The Resurgam Trilogy. The first, Dust (Ace, 2010), made a splash last year, including a starred review from Booklist.
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Dust is a zombie story told from the undead perspective. Frail returns to the human, if you can call it that…
The first chapter of Frail is available on the author’s website.
TURNER, Joan Frances. Frail. 355p. Ace. 2011. Tr $24.95. ISBN 978-0-441-020706-. LC number unavailable.
Adult/High School–Amy thinks she’s the last human alive after a plague decimates the population. She lived at her high school with three other survivors until she did the unthinkable–now she’s the only one left. Zombies have been around long enough to become part of the school curriculum, but the plague generated a new species that Amy dubs exes, as in ex-humans. Exes still show some human emotions but have gained the super-strength of zombies, cannot be permanently injured or killed, and have a taste for raw flesh. Amy fears she’s going crazy, with hallucinations of a dog that follows her and no reason to live except for the hope that somehow her zombie-killing mother has survived. Eventually she finds herself held against her will in a compound of zombies, exes, and humans living together. When she escapes to the grounds of a nearby scientific lab, what she discovers about herself is more horrible than what she could ever have imagined. This follow-up to Dust is the second in a trilogy, and the plot depends on familiar devices of the genre with little levity. Frail delivers on the zombie promise of horror and despair through plenty of violence and quite a lot of exposition. Teens who enjoyed the film or genre-defining novel I Am Legend will feel comfortable in this world. While this title may not inspire new fans, established zombie lovers will find satisfaction.–Priscille Dando, Robert E. Lee High School, Fairfax County, VA
Filed under: Thriller
About Angela Carstensen
Angela Carstensen is Head Librarian and an Upper School Librarian at Convent of the Sacred Heart in New York City. Angela served on the Alex Awards committee for four years, chairing the 2008 committee, and chaired the first YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adult committee in 2009. Recently, she edited Outstanding Books for the College Bound: Titles and Programs for a New Generation (ALA Editions, 2011). Contact her via Twitter @AngeReads.
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