Alice in Zombieland - Gena Showalter - 5 stars

I have had this book for awhile and I am glad I finally got to read it on a recommendation. This is a first time read for me as well with this author. And now that I have read this book, I look forward to reading more from her. She has a great talent for writing.

Don't let the title of this book fool you into think this is a retelling of Alice in Wonderland because it really is not. There are only a couple of things in the book that even remotely relate to the popular classic fairy tale and that is the name of our main character which is Alice and then the use of a rabbit in an extraordinary way. This book is however about Zombies and about Alice defending against them.

So the story goes like this. We have Alice, her little sister, Emma, Mom and Dad and the grandparents. Alice's father was convinced there were monsters that would hurt them. He taught Alice to fight so if the need would ever arise then she could protect herself and her family. But Alice just thought her dad was the crazy drunk that everyone thought he was. The an accident happens and claims the lives of all of them but her. There was guilt, remorse, and sadness. After the accident that claimed the lives of her family, things start becoming evident to her.

I loved this story so much. I did not expect at all what I got with this, I did expect a retelling of the fairy tale and I was pleasantly surprised by what I got in it's place. I really enjoyed the unique twist to the zombies. So different from the normal, but not so much that it was ridiculous. The imagery is fantastic. The world building is also fantastic. Everything so vivid and inviting. The plot twists were also great. I never saw them coming. I was thoroughly engaged right from the first page.

The characters were probably my favorite part of the book. I absolutely loved Alice. One of the things I liked most about her was that she did not let anyone get the best of her. She did not let anyone tell her what to do. She reacted on impulse and always seemed to do what needed to be done, and I loved that so much about her. Her love interest, Cole was also a great character. There were a couple of iffy moments but overall I liked him.

I recommend this book to anyone that enjoys Zombies and would like a new twist on them. I now look forward to the next installment, Through the Zombie Glass .