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Devil’s Wake, the first in a new series by husband and wife writing team Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due, adds welcome diversity to the crowded zombie field.
Tananarive Due is author of the acclaimed African Immortals series, which can also be recommended to young adults. It includes My Soul to Keep, The Living Blood, Blood Colony, and My Soul to Take.
Zombie fans will enjoy the Devil’s Wake Survivors’ Daily, a “daily roundup of zombie-themed news and videos to help you survive the Zombie Apocalypse.” Clever!
Give Devil’s Wake a try here.
BARNES, Steven & Tananarive Due. Devil’s Wake. 288p. Atria. 2012. Tr $15. ISBN 978-1-4516-1700-9. LC 2011033779.
Adult/High School–The zombie apocalypse is upon us, once again overwhelming society before anyone can figure out how to fight it. A teenager left alone after the rest of her family is picked off one by one, a group of teens from a juvenile detention camp, and a young national guardswoman are thrown together as they try to outrun the epidemic. Eventually all media goes down except for radio broadcasts by a self-proclaimed preacher who claims to have created a safe haven. As the teens try to reach it, their journey is peppered with zombie attacks and ambushes by pirates–feral people who are just as dangerous as the zombies. Barnes and Due bring a fresh approach to their take on the zombie apocalypse with a few interesting twists. First, the cause is known; people who’ve taken a new diet mushroom and gotten a specific type of flu shot are suddenly turning. Also, the zombies are not all the same. They vary in speed, level of hunger, and, most terrifying, in their ability to seem uninfected. Although this book is clearly laying the groundwork for a series, there is enough content, and the characters are well enough formed, to make this a satisfying story. There are also intriguing hints of what may happen in the upcoming volume. This book will speak to teens: the protagonists are young adults and the catastrophe is seen from their point of view. Diverse characters, often missing in this genre, add to the book’s appeal.–Carla Riemer, Claremont Middle School, CA
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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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