The good news: Bobby survived her Undead school trip. Bad news: her best mate, Smitty, is missing.
Bobby knows she's got to find him ... even if it means risking it all and going out into the starving zombie-infested wastelands again. Even if it means taking fellow survivors – including a couple of old frenemies – along for the ride. And even if the zombies are not the only ones who are chasing them this time.
August 15, 2013
The undead are shambling all over Scotland in this bitingly funny sequel to Undead (2012). The last thing Bobby remembers is fleeing the zombie apocalypse in a school bus full of nascent undead. She wakes up in a top-secret medical facility fairly teeming with zoms. With her are snotty Alice and geeky Pete, along with strong and capable Russ, the only survivor from that fateful school bus. Missing is Smitty, the maddening boy she lost her heart to in the first book. Following cryptic clues left in her cellphone by her scientist mother--the one who formulated the zombie-creating concoction in the first place and the person who may have the key to its cure--Bobby, Alice, Pete and Russ break out and flee, hoping to find Smitty and Bobby's mom and, possibly, safety. Punctuated by many zombie battles that have almost a Keystone Kops feel to them for all their undeniable menace, their escape is fueled by desperation and snark. The kids carp at one another constantly (the mutual hostility between Bobby and Alice is particularly fizzy), and Bobby's narration maintains the razor's-edge balance between humor and horror. "Oh, fudmukker," Bobby remarks, as they try to flee Edinburgh by rail. "Zoms on a Train." A gleefully revolting romp, it ends on a cliffhanger; here's hoping it'll be resolved soon. (Horror. 14 & up)
COPYRIGHT(2013) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
December 1, 2013
Gr 6 Up-This book picks up six weeks after the final events of Undead (Scholastic, 2012). Roberta, the 15-year-old reluctant but capable heroine, wakes up in a military hospital in Edinburgh, her head shaved and criss-crossed with scars. The hospital is teeming with zombies. In minutes, she is reunited with two of her classmates from the first novel: mean-girl Alice and geeky Pete. Together, they want to rescue their missing pal, Smitty. Told from Bobby's point of view, the story taps into the teen mind-set with acuity. In between fighting matches with hoards of the undead, she and her crew worry about crushes, personal appearances, and relationships. For instance, can Bobby trust the clues left by her mother, who may or may not be dead, and who may or may not be in cahoots with the pharmaceutical company that leaked the zombie virus? Grisly fight scenes, narrow escapes, and encrypted messages play off one another at a don't-blink-or-you'll-miss-it pace. In addition to fighting the zombies, the teens stay one step ahead of the government agents who are trying to capture Bobby so they can study her virus-resistant DNA. The intensely gory interactions between the kids and the zombies (including undead cows and one undead goat) are foiled by Bobby's touching and funny soliloquies. This book has it all-action, adventure, suspense, engaging characters, and a smidgen of romance. One whizbang of a read.-Jennifer Prince, Buncombe County Public Libraries, NC
Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
August 1, 2013
Grades 9-12 Teenage snark combines with zombie gore in this sequel to 2012's Undead. After enduring a school trip turned zombiepocalypse, Bobby wakes up in a hospital bed, where she has been unconscious and under observation for six weeks. She has no memory of how she got there, but it becomes clear that she needs to get out before the zombies or the pharmaceutical goons get herwhichever comes for her first. Readers not already familiar with the previous book are thrown headfirst into the actionmuch like Bobby and her friendsand have to figure out the details as they go along. Why is pharmaceutical giant Xanthro creating zombie mutations? Did Smitty, Bobby's possible love interest, survive? Why was she told her mother is dead, even though she obviously left a trail for Bobby to follow out of the hospital? The pace of the book is nonstop, though it flounders a bit in the middle once the kids have escaped the hospital and are trying to connect with Smitty and Bobby's mother. But the attitude never lets up, making this a thoroughly fun and engaging splatfest.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)
January 1, 2014
Bobby (Undead) and her fellow teen survivors escape a hospital where they've been quarantined just as it's overrun by zombies. They must evade both the undead and the evil corporation Xanthro--which produced the zombie-making virus--during their search for Bobby's missing love interest, Smitty. This is all familiar territory for genre fans, but snarky, resourceful Bobby is an engaging protagonist.
(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)