Undead

Though it is a commonly knowledge fact that Johnathan Maberry's "Rot and Ruin" series are the best YA zombie books out there, "Undead" by Kirsty McKay begs to differ.
     Life could not get worse for Bobby.  Not only was she forced to attend a class skiing trip with a class that hates her, a twist of fate leaves her sequestered in the school bus with the class bad boy, Smitty.  So, cue the teenage hormones and romance or the blood, guts, gore, maggots, carrot men, explosions, and . . . zombies? Joined by the pasty-faced albino nerd (Pete) and the head cheerleader (Alice aka Malice), the teenagers face down horrors such as surveillance cameras, vegetable juice, shrink-wrapped sandwiches, and the undead armed with ski equipment and their own ingenuity.  The only thing that would have been worse was if they'd gotten off the bus in the first place . .
.

I say that this is better than "Rot and Ruin" any day. No, I never did a review of "Rot and Ruin" though, yes, it is generally considered the best zombie book out there--every other zombie book gets compared to it. And, yes, Tom Imura might possibly be the most sympathetic zombie-hunter out there, but halfway through "Dust and Decay," the second book, I fell asleep. So, obviously, Tom Imura, his bratty little brother, that--girl-who-wants-revenge-but-was-basically-brought-along-for-kicks, the-kid-who-didn't-want-to-be-there-and-kept-getting-into-trouble, and the girl who was mysterious-and-oh-so-hot couldn't hold my interest for all that long.  (Oh, and I might have given away the whole plot line for the first two books.  Sorry.)
     Smitty, on the other hand, is very interesting. Possibly that could be because he is insane, unlike the Imuras who are reasonable and posses the power of forethought 50% of the time.  I highly doubt that Tom Imura would chop a zombie's head off with a snowboard.
      Anyway, and now I'll stop with the "Rot and Ruin" references, this book is my sort of book.  Plenty of guts and gore without the prominent and exaggerated battle scene towards the end, because the battle is all through out the book.  Also, there is plenty of inanity.  The whole plot is insane.  The characters are insane. The whole thing's fantastic.
      I did know what was causing people to rise again before the characters did, but that didn't ruin the plot too much.  I also figured out who was behind the whole thing, because it was a bit typical, but it didn't ruin any of the fun.  The last paragraph, though, has a twist that annoys me so much . . . My teeth clench up just thinking about it. Why do people do such things to me!?!
      My favorite character is Bobby.  At first, you get the sense that she's a reasonable heroine, the type you usually get. Yes, she is a reasonable heroine, I do agree with that, but her reasonable isn't what most people would consider reasonable. The things that seem practical to her wouldn't necessarily seem practical to me, or most normal people, in the same situation. She isn't like a lot of modern-day heroines, though, becoming despondent when something isn't working out her way (Miss Everdeen?  No, we weren't just talking about you, were we?). There is almost no one else I would rather be stuck in a truck stop with during the zombie apocalypse.
      Her supporting cast is also amazing.  Smitty, as I've already mentioned. A bad-boy to rival Ronan Lynch, (though Ronan would come out on top because Ronan's amazing).  Pete is an amazing nerd.  I classify myself among their number, and I feel that though he does not represent the majority he is definitely amazing, and that is the only word I have. What dude could not notice that they have a piece of metal shelving sticking out of his head?  His madness knows no bounds of genius.  And, of course, Alice, nicknamed Malice by Smitty.  A cheerleader with an attitude.  She's not your stereotypical ditz, but she does think she is better than the other characters.  Since they out number her 3:1, though, that does get interesting quickly.
      "Undead" came out in the United States this spring, I think.  I picked it up over the summer and read it twice within the space of a month and half, which says something to the quality because usually I have to wait six months before I can re-read something.  "Unfed," the sequal, just came out on this side of the pond, and I wanted to order it from England earlier, but my mother was taking too long so I'll probably just go over to Barnes and Noble this weekend and get it because seriously, I cannot live with not knowing what happens next any longer.  I'll pull all of my hair out of my head if I'm am forced into waiting.
       So, anyways, it's a comedy and a disaster and a train wreck that you can't stop watching.  Turn around.  Run away. Save yourself.  And beware carrots bearing gifts.

"Beautiful Creatures" Novels

The "Beautiful Creatures" quartet by Kami Garcia and Margret Stohlr can be beautifully intricate . . . or beautifully confusing.
    Beautiful Creatures:  Ethan Wate has wanted to escape Gatlin since he could remember.  To be free, not to be cooped up with in the predictable parameters of small-town Southern life.  Before he gets a chance to make good on his dreams, a girl in a hearse pulls up in the school parking lot, and his life changes forever.  Soon, Ethan has stopped asking how he can get out of Gatlin, but how he can get in to the secrets that the old town holds.
    Beautiful Darkness:  Lena Duchannes blew Gatlin away, almost quiet literally, on her sixteenth birthday.  She put off the decision of her lifetime--Should she become Dark or Light?--  for another year, but the guilt at causing her uncle's death has ravaged her mind.  Already she's pulling away from Ethan and showing Dark tendencies, such as running away with a strange Caster boy.  Concerned and worried Ethan hits the charts with a new friend and finds that the extent to which Lena's mother will go to make Lena Dark is beyond imagination--even in a world where anything is possible.
    Beautiful Chaos: With Lena finally Claimed, life in Gatlin should finally be going back to sweet, sweet normalcy.  But plagues of grasshoppers, drought, and scorching heat are ravaging the land, even though it's the middle of December.  The high-society ladies of Gatlin have decided that it must be the End of Days, but the Casters know better.  Lean broke the Order when she was claimed, and now Mortal and Caster worlds alike must suffer.  Ethan is the only one who has all of the pieces of the puzzle in his hand, and when he puts them together he arrives at a sickening conclusion:  For the world to survive, one of them must die.
    Beautiful Redemption:  The sacrifice has been made, but down in Gatlin no one is willing to let matters be with one of their own buried in the ground.  They must bend Heaven and Earth, putting themselves at risk for death themselves at the hands of their old enemy.  The peril on the other side of the veil is great as well as Ethan risks it all to return to the place he once fought to escape.

My two favorite books in this series are "Beautiful Creatures" and "Beautiful Chaos."  "Beautiful Redemption is pretty decent, while my reaction to "Beautiful Darkness" was 'Wha . . .?  That was random."  But, more on that later.
     Yeah, I know that this is a romance story, okay?  Deal with it.  They also fight evil-demon thingies and evil relatives.  And such.  So, yeah.  And Lena is strange and writes long skirts and funky necklaces and writes depressing poetry, so that makes everything okay.  Anyway . . .
    It's very interesting that these books are written from the perspective of a male. They're obviously aimed towards girls (though, I know a guy who likes them), but they're written by two women. I say kudos to them for being able to pull it off.  No offense to you, males, if you're reading this, but it is very hard to write from your perspectives, I not being one of you. And, most books aimed at girls have girl main characters.  Easier to relate to and all that.  Ethan, though, is very easy to relate too.  Which propels the book to its status.  If you couldn't relate to Ethan, at least, then the second book is too difficult to even attempt to pursue. 
      That leads me to my special rant, written out specifically for you on "Beautiful Darkness."  Wow.  Okay, when you write/read fantasy, you generally come to accept that each fantasy world you enter comes with a certain set of rules.  In "Eragon" by Christopher Paloni, it is accepted that using magic saps some of your energy.  In one book, Eragon gets exhausted from causing rocks to hail down on someone. If, in the next book, he was able to lift an entire mountain using magic without any extra reserves of magic, then everyone would be outraged because he just violated the rules of the world Christopher Paloni created for him.  Does that make any sense?  In the book, the characters operate by the rules which are set down, much like we must operate by the rules of physics and all that.  Because flying isn't possible.  You would look twice at someone who started flying right in the middle of the street, right?  Because that violates the 'rules' of this world.  So, why in the name of all that is did Kathy Garcia and Margret Stohl make Sarafine pull the ---- out of ----!?  That made no sense!  They never said that they couldn't do it, yeah, but they never explained why she could!  Very random.  I was very outraged.  And what was the deal with that place that ---- ----- took Lena?  It was hardly mentioned in the rest of the books.  It was just this random place that they needed to make their story work.  But a story only works if it works within the parameters that's already set out for it.
        Anyway.  Sorry, I've been planning that rant for some time.
        One of the best things about these books are the characters.  We've already established that Ethan is pretty darn awesome. So is Lena.  There are a bunch others, though, that all deserve and honorable mention;  Link, Liv, Ridley, John, Amma, Macon, the Sisters.  They are all fantastically quirky.  Hardly any cookie-cutter in them at all, which is fantastic and keep the whole thing very interesting to read.  I think that you start reading these books for the cool titles they have (Oh, come on, admit it."Beautiful Creatures" is one cool title.) and keep reading for the characters.  They're the sort that stay with you long after the last cover of the last book has been shut.
       One thing that I don't get, though; a bunch of people have names that begin with 'L' and are four or less letters long.  That makes it pretty hard when you speed read.  All during "Beautiful Darkness" I kept tripping up.  "Wait, isn't Lena supposed to be--Oh, wait, that word was Liv."  Yeah.  That might just be an issue for me, but, you know . . .
       Even though some of the books don't follow all of the 'rules' and though they are very mushy and romantic, for each of their bad qualities they have details and twists that redeem them.  And, believe me, the result is very beautiful.

Even though these are popular books, I can't find an official site on it.  But, as half the world knows, there is a movie out (heh heh heh), so here's the link to the IMDb trailer of that.  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1559547/   I would advise you to watch the featurette (is that what it's called?) of Ridley meeting Ethan and Link because it is very amusing.  Also, I want it for the record that no one in the movie looks like they do in the book, and in the book they look better.  And that the dude who plays Ethan is not extraordinarily good looking.  Just saying.

The Mortal Instruments Trilogy

"The Mortal Instruments Trilogy" by Cassandra Clare is comprised of five books but only the first three are worth mentioning:

        City of Bones:  Clary Fray was in the night club Pandemonium when she watched three teenagers dispose of another being.  Now Clary's mother has been taken prisoner by a strange beast and she's found out that her mother has been having her memories erased by a warlock who lives in TriBeCa.  What?  Secrets and dreams are coming apart at the seams, and Clary's having trouble standing on her own two feet when a mysterious group called the Shadowhunters (prickly, pretty Isabelle; prickly and shy Alec; and prickly, egotistical and f-i-n-e Jace) come to help her fight the demons that are creeping up on all sides.

      City of Ashes:  Bodies of Downworlder children, drained with blood, have been found in dark, abandoned alleyways.  Idris and the Clave, the land and government of the Shadowhunters, has decided that its time to get involved, but it would be better if our heroes were left to their own devices because what they'll have to do to save the day won't be sanctioned by any book of regulations.  Clary's trapped in her own personal nightmare when she finds that she has more of a family than she ever could hope for -- if only her new-found familial ties didn't include him.  

      City of Glass:   Keep your friends close, your enemies closer, and your family closest of all, because if their hands are in yours they can't stab you in the back.  Breaking several laws, Clary breaks into Idris, the land of the Shadowhunters, enraging the highest magical law on this world or any other.  While hiding out from them in their own country, Clary finds several secrets that she never thought even existed.  But time's running out if she's to stop her own flesh and blood from destroying all she's come to love.  

Let me tell you, these books are wicked.  Yeah, sure, there might be a bit too much romance in some places, but the demon fighting it pretty awesome.  And the psychology behind it all!  It's really quite astounding.  The other two books in this 'Trilogy' (should it be called a 'quintet'?  because, clearly, there are five books) are worth nothing because a) they are simply ridiculous (Just how many times can a person come back from the dead?  Cassandra Clare's got a bit of James Patterson in her.) and b) we get it.  Clary has a boyfriend.  Thank you.  You can stop illustrating your point for us now.

       I really liked the diversity of the characters in this.  Simon, Clary's best friend, is the source of a good chunk of the problems for the group, but, generally, he's a good natured guy and I admire him for that.  He is also a voice of stability and reason among all of the craziness and magic, which is always good in a book like this that can get caught up in the thrill of its own mystique.  Jace is an egotistical maniac, and I think that it's been established that I have a soft spot for that sort.  Isabelle is the ultimate femine fatal, complete with a miniskirt and a sword.  Alec is a lost and a little needy, almost, until he realizes who he is and how he (and him telling the world who he is is one of the most fantastic moments in the whole trilogy). Magnus Bane is a riot, but his majesty is sort of kept under wraps for fear of throwing the whole story overboard.  Clary is the perfect contemporary fiction heroine, with her cell phone and subway map.  Not exactly the cast of 'Spud,' but pretty darn close.

      The villain of the series, Valentine, is intensely complicated, but that doesn't make him seem any more human.  One thing that I don't like about villains in general (like I have only one thing to complain about) is that they're larger than life, and that keeps them from being human.  We can connect with the main characters, the protagonists, but we never feel what the bad guy is feeling.  This is a technique used to make us hate the villain, which is necessary for the story to work, but it still can be sort of . . . impersonal.  How can I hate Valentine if I don't even know the person he is?  You have to just accept that the bad guy is a bad guy and move on in this story.  

      A strong point of this story, other than the wonderful cast of protagonists, is the setting.  Modern New York City with an underbelly full of demons.  To fight the demons, there is a system of police called 'Shadowhunters' run mainly by teenagers because they're the only ones who haven't died yet.  In between the two groups are the 'Downworlders';  werewolves, vampires, Faeries, and other miscellaneous half-demon scum.  It is fantastic.  

      The books, even though they talk about killing demons and your own family members preach about accepting people.  The Shadowhunters hate the Downworlders because the Shadowhunters are part angel and the Downworlders are part demon.  But to win, they must join together.  It's a nice sentiment.

     Final messages:  The books are messed up.  Messed up messed up.  Like, 'oh, is this my brother I'm kissing?!' messed up.  So . . . The books also have a quite bit of religion in them.  Magnus quotes the Bible, at one point, and the whole thing of angels vs. demons is religious, though the demons come from different dimensions, not from deep down under.  Also, Alec is gay.  I, personally, find that pretty awesome because it shows his inner strength and conveys a new way of someone being who they know they are.  

      "The City of Bones" is a movie that comes out on August 23, 2013.  The complete series is, in the order as listed, "The City of Bones," "The City of Ashes," "The City of Glass," "The City of Fallen Angels," and "The City of Lost Souls."  So. The last two books do have their own charms, by the way of you getting to see a side of the characters you didn't get to see in the other three books, but they are so not the best.  Especially not "The City of Fallen Angels."  Just sayin'.  

      Is it fine to tell a white lie for the safety and well being of a person that you love?  But when the lies collapse, the person you lied for might not be as well off as intended.  

This link is better than most book links:  www.mortalintruments.com  The illustrations of the characters are lame, though.  None of the people look like that, I swear.  

This is the link to the movie trailer, which I watch at least once a day: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1538403/   My favorite part is when Clary says "There's too many of them!"  and Jace says "Have a little faith," because Jace is so full of himself, it's rather amusing.  This is the cast list to the movie, which is cool; http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1538403/fullcredits    Magnus is awesome.