Author: Courtney Summers
Rating: 4 / 5 stars
Verdict: Buy
Zombies. Oh, how I have missed you so. It’s hard for me to find the perfect zombie novels, especially in young adult, to snuggle into and devour. It’s a genre I’ve abandoned lately, but I’ve been working on the next installment of my zombie novella series and had a hankering for brain eating lovelies.
This is Not a Test has been on my To Read list for a while and I’m glad I finally got around to it. It’s not your typical zombie novel, though it does start out with the typical bang off the bat of chaos reigning (and it was definitely a bang at the start). The main character, Sloane, has been plotting her suicide for a while, ever since her older sister left their abusive family home without her. Sloane has just been trying to find the perfect opportunity to slip from this world to the next. Enter the zombie apocalypse. Perfect timing, right?
I can say with some certainty that I’ve never read a zombie novel where the main character was suicidal (although, kind-of-not-really) before. It added a unique level to the novel and an interesting character study in Sloane. While Rhys was right when her called her so friggin tragic, she isn’t overly annoying in her tragicness. After all, she doesn’t want the others around her to suffer or die because of her decision to stop living, which adds another layer and plays to Summers’ plot over and over.
While it got a little cliche in the middle with all the interpersonal relationships that developed very suddenly and awkwardly, overall I enjoyed this novel. It was a great novel to curl up with under the covers on my sick day this week and read under a booklight when I could manage to keep my eyes open. I’m almost interested in reading the follow up novella, but I think this novel is best left as a stand alone, so I’m going to pretend that it is.
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