There’s something creepy about zombies. Sure, perhaps it’s the carnal rage or unquenchable thirst for your brain. That certainly makes me prefer to never encounter one. I like my brain where it’s at, thank you very much. But at the very core, I think it’s deeper than that. There’s something unsettling about things that should be dead, but did not stay that way. I think that’s also why I love ghost stories so much.
The Midnight Society member Amy did a YA zombie book round-up that you can spy here, but I want to add to that list with a few of my recent reads.
Let’s begin, shall we. Hold on to your pants AND your brains.
YA Zombie Book Round-up
Hollowland by Amanda Hocking
“This is the way the world ends – not with a bang or a whimper, but with zombies breaking down the back door.”
Nineteen-year-old Remy King is on a mission to get across the wasteland left of America, and nothing will stand in her way – not violent marauders, a spoiled rock star, or an army of flesh-eating zombies.
Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
‘R’ is a zombie. He has no name, no memories and no pulse, but he has dreams. He is a little different from his fellow Dead.
Amongst the ruins of an abandoned city, R meets a girl. Her name is Julie and she is the opposite of everything he knows – warm and bright and very much alive, she is a blast of colour in a dreary grey landscape. For reasons he can’t understand, R chooses to save Julie instead of eating her, and a tense yet strangely tender relationship begins.
This has never happened before. It breaks the rules and defies logic, but R is no longer content with life in the grave. He wants to breathe again, he wants to live, and Julie wants to help him. But their grim, rotting world won’t be changed without a fight…
Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard
There’s something strange and deadly loose in Philadelphia. . . .
Eleanor Fitt has a lot to worry about.
Her brother has gone missing, her family has fallen on hard times, and her mother is determined to marry her off to any rich young man who walks by. But this is nothing compared to what she’s just read in the newspaper:
The Dead are rising in Philadelphia.
And then, in a frightening attack, a zombie delivers a letter to Eleanor . . . from her brother.
Whoever is controlling the Dead army has taken her brother as well. If Eleanor is going to find him, she’ll have to venture into the lab of the notorious Spirit-Hunters, who protect the city from supernatural forces. But as Eleanor spends more time with the Spirit-Hunters, including the maddeningly stubborn yet handsome Daniel, the situation becomes dire. And now, not only is her reputation on the line, but her very life may hang in the balance.
Something Strange and Deadly on Goodreads
Something Strange and Deadly on Amazon
Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson
Disclaimer: This is SO not the traditional zombie book, rather than technically the main characters are zombies.
Mila Flores and her best friend Riley have always been inseparable. There’s not much excitement in their small town of Cross Creek, so Mila and Riley make their own fun, devoting most of their time to Riley’s favorite activity: amateur witchcraft.
So when Riley and two Fairmont Academy mean girls die under suspicious circumstances, Mila refuses to believe everyone’s explanation that her BFF was involved in a suicide pact. Instead, armed with a tube of lip gloss and an ancient grimoire, Mila does the unthinkable to uncover the truth: she brings the girls back to life.
Unfortunately, Riley, June, and Dayton have no recollection of their murders, but they do have unfinished business to attend to. Now, with only seven days until the spell wears off and the girls return to their graves, Mila must wrangle the distracted group of undead teens and work fast to discover their murderer…before the killer strikes again.
Lipstick & Zombies by Faith McKay
WANTED. Five girls. Must be able to sing, dance, and kill zombies.
Five unknown students are desperate to change their lives.
They know they have what it takes to become one of the Deadly Divas.
Now they just have to prove it to what’s left of the world.
Lipstick & Zombies on Goodreads
What is your favorite young adult zombie book? Have you read a good one recently? Let me know in the comments below.
Amelinda Berube
Two more historical takes on zombies out this year, both of which I loooooooved:
DEVILS UNTO DUST by Emma Berquist (galloping action and a super atmospheric desert setting)
DREAD NATION by Justina Ireland (delightful characters and social commentary with teeth)
MidnightSocietyJolene
Amelinda BerubeOhhhh thank you Amelinda for the recommendations! I can’t wait to read those. I have heard a lot of great things about both! <3 What are you currently reading?