|+| Warnings: Death and mild violence |+|
“Good for you dude; you’re now officially my favorite zombie.” ~Karen
Happy Book Birthday to Pam Jernigan’s award winning debut novel, Whispers in the Dark! Zombies and the apocalypse take on a new life (pun not intended) in this clean adult dystopian novel. I had a lot of fun reading it and you can read my review below. You can check the book out on Goodreads and get your copy on Amazon.
Goodreads |+| Amazon
Author: Pam Jernigan
Genre: Adult Dystopian; Christian Fiction; Romance
Synopsis: She’s a preschool teacher. He’s kind of a zombie. It would never work…
Karen teaches post-apocalypse preschool, safe inside city walls. She never intended to get caught outside.
Leo is technically alive, but perpetually zoned out: Mindless. He can see emotions as colors now, though, so at least there’s that. Like the other Mindless, he feeds on the emotional energy of humans. Then he meets Karen – her unique energy jolts him to partial awareness, and he’s hooked. He protects her but when she’s rescued, he lands in a cage.
Leo doesn’t expect her to even talk to him, much less help him. But that emotion she has when she looks at him? He doesn’t know what to call it, but it’s not fear.
Karen can go back to her life – if she abandons Leo. She can’t stay with him, she can’t take him home… but without her, he’s dead.
He saved her. Can she save him?
My Opinion: Usually Christian fiction is a hard sell for me but the premise of this book was far too interesting for me to pass up. I wasn’t disappointed! Karen is a lovable heroine, and for the most part all characters are well fleshed out. The world building is well done and the wry humor was spot on. I had a couple of issues with the pacing, but overall this book was a fresh and a delightful read. For these reasons I gave the book four stars.
What I liked most about this book was the new take on zombies. The Mindless, while acting lifeless are actually feeding off people’s energy instead of their flesh. They kill not to eat humans, but so that they can experience the intense fear people feel before death. Once dead, the dead are left alone. For people who aren’t a huge fan of gore, this is great. The Mindless are well explained throughout the book. The more we discover about the Mindless the more we discover about the world Karen and her friends live in.
Speaking of Karen…even in the darkest of times people still love and find humor in things. Karen was the epitome of this. Her humor was fantastic and lead to some of my favorite interactions with Leo (as well as other characters). She needs to be saved true, but she does the saving just as frequently. To see her organic growth was delightful. Leo was surprisingly well fleshed out and honestly I can’t decide if I loved him or Karen more. Each character was well defined even if we didn’t see them frequently. There were a few characters I felt could use some more attention but I’m willing to forgive that thanks to Karen and Leo’s relationship. There’s a lovely Beauty and the Beast vibe within that relationship too. This was a really neat and fun touch.
With all that being said, I did have a slight problem with the pacing. For the most part it was spot on, but at times things felt a little too repetitive. Karen has to come to terms with a lot of things, and frequently we see her struggling with these issues over and over again. Eventually it leads to some fantastic character development, but I felt the repetition slowed the book down somewhat.
I also felt that the Christian themes were overstated in parts. For new Christians this is a wonderful book, exploring the ups and downs of faith. For long term Christians or non-believers parts can feel more like a conversion attempt than a way to build faith and can sometimes distract from the plot.
Even so, I really did enjoy this book. It was a quick read simply because it was so fun to read. The world building, interesting characters, and great concept make this fun and fresh.
TL;DR: Even if you aren’t a huge fan of Christian fiction or dystopian books, you really should give this book a shot. With a focus on all kinds of love, a heroine who can save herself and others, as well as a really interesting concept, this book is a fun read.
P.S….
If you want to hang out with the author and join me and other fans (as well as some special guests and maybe win some goodies), be sure to check out the book release party on Facebook! It takes place on May 6th (this Saturday) at 8pm EST/5pm PST.
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