Scan barcode
A review by izumisano
Better Off Undead by James Preller
3.0
In the distant future, the climate is a mess, technology is intrusive, and middle school is the same. Over the summer, Adrian gets into a bike accident that somehow leaves him undead. Much to the amazement of all scientific professionals, everyone decides it's best if Adrian tries to get on with his life or afterlife that is. Middle school has never been easy, but now Adrian has to balance being a zombie on top of it. Outside of dealing with the local bully, Adrian and his new friends get pulled into a deeper plot as powerful people will stop at nothing to get their hands on the secret to eternal life.
That ending was... unexpected. This is definitely going to be a series. I can see it being where Adrian has to countlessly out do the Borks or some other entity desiring eternal life, while he and his friends solve some worldly matter. Through most of the book, it seemed like normal middle school drama. The bully, the love interest, family drama, the works. I thought it was going to be a funny spin on middle school and accepting yourself, even if you are a reanimated, decaying corpse. All of a sudden, Preller introduces the Bork brothers who want to experiment on Adrian. It makes sense, since Adrian is the only one of his kind, but it starts a new plot that doesn't have time to be fleshed out, let alone resolved in this novel. It'll be interesting to see where this story goes.
That ending was... unexpected. This is definitely going to be a series. I can see it being where Adrian has to countlessly out do the Borks or some other entity desiring eternal life, while he and his friends solve some worldly matter. Through most of the book, it seemed like normal middle school drama. The bully, the love interest, family drama, the works. I thought it was going to be a funny spin on middle school and accepting yourself, even if you are a reanimated, decaying corpse. All of a sudden, Preller introduces the Bork brothers who want to experiment on Adrian. It makes sense, since Adrian is the only one of his kind, but it starts a new plot that doesn't have time to be fleshed out, let alone resolved in this novel. It'll be interesting to see where this story goes.