Thursday 25 March 2010

Review: Generation Dead - Daniel Waters

The dead boy reached for her, his pale eyes glowing in the darkness.

All over the country, teenagers who die aren't staying dead.

Against her better judgement, Phoebe finds herself drawn to Tommy Williams.  He's gorgeous, funny, on the football team.  And dead.

But not everybody is as accepting as Phoebe.  There are those who would like to rid the community of this sinister phenomenon, and they'll stop at nothing to achieve it...


Generation Dead Series:
Generation Dead
The Kiss of Life
Passing Strange (July 2010)

For more information visit the Daniel Waters' Blog



Review:
All over America teenagers who have died are coming back from the dead but not as your traditional zombies.  They have very slow speach and aren't very fast at moving but other than that they are basically able to carry on as normal - even attending school.  No one knows how or why some teenagers are coming back but it is happening more often and the living-dead community is growing larger.  Some people are very understanding but the majority aren't happy - some even think that it's a sign of the end of the world. 

I have really mixed feelings about this book, I thought the premise was brilliant and I really thought I was going to love the story but unfortunately I was disappointed.  To start with the positives I thought the way Daniel Waters dealt with the relationship between the living and the not quite dead was very well done.  I'm sure if teenagers ever do start coming back as zombies then the reaction from society in general (and teenagers in particular) would probably be very similar to how it was described in the book.  The book tackles important issues regarding discrimination and prejudice and it did make me think a lot about racism.  I love a book that can make me think so I really enjoyed this aspect of the story - especially as we are able to get inside the heads of both the people who are prejudiced and those who are being discriminated against.

On the other hand I found it really difficult to relate to Phoebe who was the main character.  Even half way through the book I was feeling that I hardly knew anything about her & I still have no idea why she was interested in Tommy.  I think if she'd known Tommy from before he died then it would have been a lot easier to believe her attraction to him.  I actually found the fact that she had a crush on a dead guy that she'd never even spoken to & knew absolutely nothing about really creepy.  I was also really unimpressed by Tommy - as a friend or a minor character he would have been fine but he just didn't strike me as main love interest material and I spent most of the book thinking "please don't go there Phoebe". 

My favorite character by far was Adam who is Phoebe's best friend.  I thought he was great - at first he doesn't seem like the nicest guy, he's got anger issues who gets in fights and hangs out with a rough crowd but it soon becomes clear that he is changing.  He isn't happy with his old crowd and although he isn't keen on the living dead characters to start with he doesn't like the way his old friends bully them.  Throughout the book you really get to see him grow up and come into his own and I loved him for that.

It took quite a long time for the story to suck me in but once it did I was curious to find out what was going to happen.  I'm don't want to give any spoilers so I'll just say I was gutted by the ending!  I'm going to have to read the second book just to find out what happens next.

Source: Library

Other Reviews:
Curling Up By The Fire
Obsessed!
I Swim For Oceans
Parajunkee's View
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.



I'm very excited to have been picked as Top Reviewer for Generation Dead by Blog With Bite - thanks so much girls!

10 comments:

  1. I have thought about reading this a few times but I've decided now that this isn't for me. Firstly, I'm not into zombies and secondly because you say it is hard to get into, I don't think I have the patience or the time. Thanks for a helpful review.

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  2. Great review, Sarah! I have this book in my TBR pile, and I really like the sound of it! However, it's not appealing to me enough to pick it up straight away, and I have no idea when I'll get to it! I do look forward to reading it at some point though. Thanks for the review!

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  3. @ Becky - I really did have to force myself to carry on reading - I was ready to give up but I've got a copy of book 2 for review so I felt like I had to read this one first. It did improve towards the end but I don't think I'd have gone out to buy the next book if I didn't already have a copy.

    @ Jo - I'll be interested to see what you think of this one when you do read it. You'll have to email me so we can have a spoiler chat LOL. I was really really unhappy about the ending!

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  4. Interesting review. I actually quite liked this first one, but found the second book really dull (had to force myself to keep reading like you've mentioned you did with this one). I also find this series a little icky if I think about it too much. I did like the way this one doubles as a commentary on prejudice in general though.

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  5. Hi Lauren, I'm not too sure how I'll get on with the next one, especially after your comment LOL. I know exactly what you mean about it being a bit icky - I kept thinking eeeww when Phoebe was lusting after Tommy! I would have understood it better if he'd been her boyfriend before he died but eeeww LOL.

    I did like the way the prejudice was dealt with though - that was the main thing that kept me reading :o)

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  6. How cool that a book about zombie teenagers deals with discrimination and prejudice too! :)

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  7. Hi Alyce, it was an interesting concept & I have the second book in my TBR pile so I'm curious to find out what happens next

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  8. I guess if you don't approach it as a romance then its a good book. The romantic part seems to be what creeps out everyone that reads this (including me). But, really I don't think it was a romance, and Pheobe seems more interested in Tommy than attracted first. It is probably the goth thing, fascination with death and all that. Got to be different. After two weeks I'm still trying to digest this book.

    I actually have the third book to read, which is Karen's story, but it has taken me awhile to get into it. Thanks for the review and linking it up with blogwithbite.com. I really appreciate it.

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  9. He BTW - this review got BWB Top Reviewer. Congrats. We'll post it on blogwithbite.com

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  10. @ ParaJunkee - I think you're right and if you ignore the romance side of the story then the book becomes much more enjoyable. It was mainly the ick factor that put me off LOL.

    Thanks so much for picking me as top reviewer for this one - I'm doing a happy dance right now LOL :o)

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