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mehsi's review
5.0
This is a re-read. As Goodreads doesn't allow re-reads, I have picked this one, but my edition is actually the paperback.
It has been 3 years since I last read this book, some stuff was still there and I remember them, but most of the book has disappeared deep in my mind. For which I am thankful, since now I could enjoy this book again!
And enjoy the book I did! It was a true rollercoaster, with characters I liked, and characters I didn't like. Sloane, our main girl, I just loved her, though I also wanted to shake her, tell her to stop being so negative, to stop her from going back to the past every time. Sloane's voice was a grave and solemn one. And I can imagine, her life before the zombies wasn't the best. Her mom died, her father beat his kids. Now she is finally free of her dad, but she isn't truly free, the world isn't safe any more, the world died. Hope died, despair came to life. But I also wish she could look at the bright side, and yes, that is difficult in a world without hope, with fear everywhere. But she has people around her, she has a relatively safe haven, she has someone who cares about her. And yes, again, I know the world is pretty fucked up, but it could all be worse.
But, out of all the people, Sloane was the one who had her head on the right place. She tried to help people, she tried to stop the fighting, she tried so hard, and I admired her for what she did. Unlike Trace or Harrison, she at least tried to keep things together.
Rhys, ah, my second favourite character. He is just such a sweet guy, and he tries his best so much. He is also damaged from what happened during the first days of the zombie apocalypse. But, even with that, he does try to lead the group, does try to do whatever he can to keep everyone together and relatively happy.
Cary, another character I really liked. I felt sorry for him for what happened to him. For what he had to endure. He made a choice, he did something, and he is paying for it every day, sadly, several people won't see it that way, and I just wanted to smack those people, tell them to just leave it. He made a choice, yes, it wasn't the best one, but in a world with zombies, a world without hope, one has to do something. I can imagine why he made that choice.
Trace, gosh, he was the worst character of the book. He just was so aggressive, so possessive, so mean and so full of hatred. And yes, I can imagine why, but come on, he keeps his hatred so hot, he never once tried to maybe look at it from another angle. He never forgives Cary for he did. Not even after everything.
Grace, I am not sure what to think of her. At times I liked her, at times I just disliked her. I didn't approve of what she does in this book, how she treats Cary.
Harrison, the only character I don't really have an opinion on. He was there, and that was it. He never really did anything special, he was mostly invisible, and at times I just forgot he was even there.
The story was awesome, it is creepy, it is desperate, it is full of fear and it is totally fantastic. We see our group spend their days in the school, you see them fight, you see them bicker over tiny things, you see things go bad, go good, never is one day the same. There are several events happening that were quite scary and also really sad.
There is just one thing I would have liked to see, how Sloane met the group, how they got together, how they survived 7 days before they got to the school. We learn bits and pieces about what happened, but I would love a short novella about those days. Since those were the days the whole thing just started, when people were still outside and trying to survive. Quite soon in the book most people are seemingly dead and even the dead are less aggressive to get to survivors. I would love to get to know Trace and Grace's parents more.
The ending? It was fantastic and it also broke my heart, for what happens there, for what Sloane finds, for what Rhys and Sloane and the others endure.
All in all though I would highly recommend this book to everyone! This is a book you will keep reading, that will grab you by the nose and never let you go.
Review first posted at http://twirlingbookprincess.com/
This is not a test. Listen closely. This is not a test.
It has been 3 years since I last read this book, some stuff was still there and I remember them, but most of the book has disappeared deep in my mind. For which I am thankful, since now I could enjoy this book again!
And enjoy the book I did! It was a true rollercoaster, with characters I liked, and characters I didn't like. Sloane, our main girl, I just loved her, though I also wanted to shake her, tell her to stop being so negative, to stop her from going back to the past every time. Sloane's voice was a grave and solemn one. And I can imagine, her life before the zombies wasn't the best. Her mom died, her father beat his kids. Now she is finally free of her dad, but she isn't truly free, the world isn't safe any more, the world died. Hope died, despair came to life. But I also wish she could look at the bright side, and yes, that is difficult in a world without hope, with fear everywhere. But she has people around her, she has a relatively safe haven, she has someone who cares about her. And yes, again, I know the world is pretty fucked up, but it could all be worse.
But, out of all the people, Sloane was the one who had her head on the right place. She tried to help people, she tried to stop the fighting, she tried so hard, and I admired her for what she did. Unlike Trace or Harrison, she at least tried to keep things together.
Rhys, ah, my second favourite character. He is just such a sweet guy, and he tries his best so much. He is also damaged from what happened during the first days of the zombie apocalypse. But, even with that, he does try to lead the group, does try to do whatever he can to keep everyone together and relatively happy.
Cary, another character I really liked. I felt sorry for him for what happened to him. For what he had to endure. He made a choice, he did something, and he is paying for it every day, sadly, several people won't see it that way, and I just wanted to smack those people, tell them to just leave it. He made a choice, yes, it wasn't the best one, but in a world with zombies, a world without hope, one has to do something. I can imagine why he made that choice.
Trace, gosh, he was the worst character of the book. He just was so aggressive, so possessive, so mean and so full of hatred. And yes, I can imagine why, but come on, he keeps his hatred so hot, he never once tried to maybe look at it from another angle. He never forgives Cary for he did. Not even after everything.
Grace, I am not sure what to think of her. At times I liked her, at times I just disliked her. I didn't approve of what she does in this book, how she treats Cary.
Harrison, the only character I don't really have an opinion on. He was there, and that was it. He never really did anything special, he was mostly invisible, and at times I just forgot he was even there.
The story was awesome, it is creepy, it is desperate, it is full of fear and it is totally fantastic. We see our group spend their days in the school, you see them fight, you see them bicker over tiny things, you see things go bad, go good, never is one day the same. There are several events happening that were quite scary and also really sad.
There is just one thing I would have liked to see, how Sloane met the group, how they got together, how they survived 7 days before they got to the school. We learn bits and pieces about what happened, but I would love a short novella about those days. Since those were the days the whole thing just started, when people were still outside and trying to survive. Quite soon in the book most people are seemingly dead and even the dead are less aggressive to get to survivors. I would love to get to know Trace and Grace's parents more.
The ending? It was fantastic and it also broke my heart, for what happens there, for what Sloane finds, for what Rhys and Sloane and the others endure.
All in all though I would highly recommend this book to everyone! This is a book you will keep reading, that will grab you by the nose and never let you go.
Review first posted at http://twirlingbookprincess.com/
corvingreene's review
2.0
Several huge grammatical errors that made me wonder whether this book was properly edited. If you're getting paid for your writing, I think you should either know the rules of grammar, or have a good editor who does. So that tripped me up in my reading, but the story was interesting. I love a good zombie tale, though this isn't really about zombies; it's about a suicidal teenager in an abusive home. Still, it was a fun read, distracting. The plot was interesting, I just wish the quality of the writing had lived up to it.
callidice's review
4.0
This Is Not A Test is certainly not your typical zombie novel. Yes, you get all of the drama that you normally would get when reading about a group of people who are thrust together, trying to survive a zombie apocalypse, but this book is so much more than that. Rather than just about surviving an apocalypse, the main character in This Is Not A Test, Sloan Price, is just trying to cope with being alive.
Sloan grew up in a broken home. After her mother passed away, Sloan and her older sister, Lily, were left in the care of their physically and mentally abusive father. The story starts with Sloan wanting to commit suicide after Lily runs away, leaving her alone with their dad. Her initial plan falls through when she realizes that her sister must have taken the sleeping pills with her, and soon enough, zombies make their appearance in the story, leaving Sloan to put her suicidal plans on hiatus.
Sure, Sloan constantly thinks about letting the zombies eat her, but since she ends up with a group of other kids who end up barricading themselves in the high school, she has a hard time deciding how to do it, as she doesn't want to create problems for anyone else by dying. She chooses instead to hold off until the moment is right.
I'm normally used to reading zombie novels about surviving zombies, so to read one in which the main character is just trying to survive the pain of being left behind by her sister is highly unique to me. In this novel, the zombies were secondary. The writing was excellent, though I admit that I did find myself highly annoyed by many of the characters (mainly Sloan.) They had such vastly different personalities that it seems they were purposely written that way to represent the various high school stereotypes - the stoner, the class president, the nerd, the jock, the bad boy, and the loner. It was like a zombified version of The Breakfast Club.
There were a few moments when the pacing of the novel slowed a bit, but the plot always managed to hold my interest. I also really liked how Sloan's internal struggles were written out. This was my first Courtney Summers novel, and although it's her only zombie novel, it piqued my interest enough that I may end up checking out her other books in the future. 4/5 Stars!
Sloan grew up in a broken home. After her mother passed away, Sloan and her older sister, Lily, were left in the care of their physically and mentally abusive father. The story starts with Sloan wanting to commit suicide after Lily runs away, leaving her alone with their dad. Her initial plan falls through when she realizes that her sister must have taken the sleeping pills with her, and soon enough, zombies make their appearance in the story, leaving Sloan to put her suicidal plans on hiatus.
Sure, Sloan constantly thinks about letting the zombies eat her, but since she ends up with a group of other kids who end up barricading themselves in the high school, she has a hard time deciding how to do it, as she doesn't want to create problems for anyone else by dying. She chooses instead to hold off until the moment is right.
I'm normally used to reading zombie novels about surviving zombies, so to read one in which the main character is just trying to survive the pain of being left behind by her sister is highly unique to me. In this novel, the zombies were secondary. The writing was excellent, though I admit that I did find myself highly annoyed by many of the characters (mainly Sloan.) They had such vastly different personalities that it seems they were purposely written that way to represent the various high school stereotypes - the stoner, the class president, the nerd, the jock, the bad boy, and the loner. It was like a zombified version of The Breakfast Club.
There were a few moments when the pacing of the novel slowed a bit, but the plot always managed to hold my interest. I also really liked how Sloan's internal struggles were written out. This was my first Courtney Summers novel, and although it's her only zombie novel, it piqued my interest enough that I may end up checking out her other books in the future. 4/5 Stars!
lestaslettering's review
4.0
What the heck? Did my version miss some pages? If this is not a test, why the fuck am I left with this goddamn cliffhanger.. no this just can't be how it ends..I don't have the energy to go through the second book right now. Why, Ms. Summers do you have to leave it this way? :(
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