0.5 Stars

*walks up to mic*
*tap*tap*tap*
*clears throat*

Are you ready for this??? Are you absolutely certain?! Because I don’t even have a ½ star defined on my rating system...

◈ ▹▹▹ <b>WARNING: RANT AHEAD!</b> ◃◃◃ ◈

What I was anticipating:
-» Zombies!
-» An “Alice in Wonderland” retelling
-» A Harlequin Teen romance

What I was given:
-» Lies!Lies!Lies!

“She won't rest until she's sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever.”

Oooooookay, let’s address the giant elephant first. Whoever is responsible for the description did NOT read this book. There are NO REANIMATED WALKING CORPSES—therefore there are NO ZOMBIES in “Alice in Zombieland”. Books go through an editing process right? I’m thinking some must slip through the cracks...

I’m all for a new spin on a zombie tale, but come on people... call them what they are in this case: demonic spirits. Calling the spirits “zombies” simply because you want to is a misnomer, NOT a new twist. A new twist would be traits or actions of zombies, how to kill or fight them, what they eat, where they’re located (you know, like Zombieland?!), the ability to control them, etc. etc. On the other hand, a new twist is NOT evil spirits that smell like rotting corpses and have a classic zombie appearance (a.k.a. Mfugly spirits).

For all I know, in the spirit realm there the same malevolent spirits that take the form of vampires and the whole range of humanoid myths. Clearly they have to be zombies in the book then, because she said so. Anyone know the Haitian zombies? Right, so we’re back to zombies being reanimated corpses. Whew, my argument stands. The undead are soulless physical humanoids—often demonic, but some shine like diamonds in the sun (hahaha).

Now, don’t even get me started on the massive holes in the descriptions of these demon spirits. Okay just one, because I’m here for a rant-a-tant I’ll let you know my favorite conundrum: The evil spirits can ONLY attack the slayers while the slayers are in the out-of-body spirit realm and vice versa... BUT those same evilette spirits can attack a non-slayer’s spirit without their knowledge while in the physical realm until they croak and become one of them. On that point (I guess I lied too) there was ONE CORPOREAL ZOMBIE after all *GASP* but it still could only be killed in the spirit realm. Let me know when you’ve figured that out...

Moving on to the “Alice in Wonderland” retelling... lmao! What? Did I miss it? Just because there’s an ominous cloud rabbit (yes, you read that correctly), a little madness, and themed chapter titles DOES NOT equal a retelling. Someone tell me if they continued the series and Ali has since fallen down the rabbit hole and met the Queen of Hearts. Honestly, the story is more reminiscent of “Frankenstein” or “Jekyll & Hyde”. If you want a good YA Alice retelling, the “Splintered” series is decent! :D

Annnnnnnd the romance... Where do I even begin? It’s gawdawful on so many levels and not a romance. The main pair just want to fuck. There I said it. Romance and sex are not the same thing. Stop befuddling the two writers! Nothing but hormonal lust was established—except if you count the controlling toxic masculinity.

For those of you who DNF this book because the first “meet cute” for Ali and whatshisname was that they locked eyes, went into a shared dreamscape, and basically had sex right there... You made the right choice because it didn’t get any better. Turns out this happens every day when they first lock eyes. ’Scuse me while I loose my cookies in my handbag. I signed up for a romance. It could have even been instalove and I wouldn’t have minded so much.

This however, was not a romance story. Drama, yes. Before the 50% marker, Ali thought they broke up even though she admitted they were never actually together. By the 80% marker they were hot and heavy again... but hell if they were actually going to have sex. This is ironic considering they almost did it in the middle of the dance floor. Oh and there was a hilarious attempt at a triangle that failed miserably so I almost forgot to mention that sore thumb.

P.S. Kat was awesome even though I’d probably find her annoying irl ;)

Audiobook Performance: Decent, however there was very little voice differentiation between characters. The writing style (which was repugnant) made it almost impossible to listen to without the physical book and keep straight what was said out loud vs. in Ali’s head.

*mic drop*
*walks off*

14 people found this helpful

Captivated

Where does Alice in Zombieland rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Top so far...I'm new to audiobooks, but thus far it's been the most enjoyable book I've listed to.

What does Natalie Gold bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She was FANTASTIC! Her emotion and inflections are wonderful. I have never been able to thoroughly enjoy an audiobook...until Natalie Gold.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Yes. Laughed out loud several times.

6 people found this helpful

Awesome Book for Adults and Teens!

Gena has another great hit! Even though this book is marketed to teens, adults will enjoy it as well. Gena did a great job developing the characters. Alice's best friend Kat is fun and kind, and the boyfriend Cole is hot and a great guy. She really captured high school kids and their characters. The book has a lot of emotion in it - sadness from loss, laughter and love. The book is appropriate for teens (unlike her adult books). I can't wait for the next book in the series!

5 people found this helpful

4.5 Stars! - A nice twist on the Zombie plot

I found Alice in Zombieland a little hard to get into. I love a good series - I really enjoying the character development over a few or more books), so for me the first book is new and not so familiar and this book also had a narrator I hadn't listened to before.
The first 1.5 hours I had to listen to at 2x speed. In saying that, by the end of the book I was hooked and the book ended too quickly. I immediately downloaded the next in the series.
If I could give this book 4.5 stars I would - I've marked it down 1/2 star just because the beginning didn't grab me.
Definitely well worth a credit and I would highly recommend it.

Looking for other Zombie Fiction?
White Trash Zombie by Diana Rowland (narrated by Allison McLemore)

If you like Paranormal fiction (witches/vampires/werewolves etc) you could try...
Anything by Jeaniene Frost - top of the list is the Night Huntress series. (Narrated by Tavia Gilbert)
Charley Davidson series by Darynda Jones (narrated by Lorelei King)
Mercy Thompson Series by Patricia Briggs (also narrated by Lorelei King)
Naked Werewolf series, Jane Jameson series, Half Moon Hollow series by Molly Harper! (and of course narrated by Amanda Ronconi!)
Sookie Stackhouse - Charlaine Harris (narrated by Johanna Parker)
Garnet Lacey series by Tate Hallaway (narration by Amanda Ronconi)
Anything by Richelle Mead but I really enjoyed the Dark Swan series (narrated by Jennifer Van Dyck), Succubus series (narrated by Elisabeth Rodgers) and then Vampire Academy (narrated by Khristine Hvam).

I'm also a big fan of dystopian fiction and love these...
Divergent series by Veronica Roth - awesome!!! (narrated by Emma Galvin)
Eve Series by Anna Carey (narrated by Tavia Gilbert)
Legend Series by Marie Lu (narrated by Stephen Kaplan)
The Host by Stephanie Meyer (narrated by Kate Reading)

10 people found this helpful

Fun! Actually something new!

So many have tried to put a new spin on the zombie genre... So few actually succeed, with most taking the form of a survival story, repeating the same old, same old... As I cannot get enough of zombies, the same old usually must be good enough... This is much better than good enough and is not the same old, same old.

Though it is a YA story, with a fair splash of teen romance, it is also a very unique and well developed zombie adventure. The characters are incredibly well done, and even the romance is well developed and is well paced... Though like a lot of romances, the main couple is immediately drawn together based on some kind of instinct or intrinsic attraction, unlike many such set ups (see Twilight series for the worst offender) there is a real development of this connection, a solid ground for the characters to care about each other and to connect and time is taken for them to actually get to know each other, making the relationship believable and much more compelling. Likewise, the friendships and rivalries are well developed as well, and each character seems unique, with a clear and well developed personality.

In addition to that, the plot moves along very well... though the set up takes a few chapters, once the story gets going there are mysteries to be solved, challenges to be met, action carefully spaced throughout in such a way that it is well woven into the overall plot and not action for action's sake...

On the whole this was an impressively entertaining experience, and I think will appeal to both a YA audience and an older audience as well, since a well done story is a well done story, regardless of the age group it is aimed at.

Also, the narrator does a very good job! There were a few points where I felt the reading was just a tiny bit too slow, but it is a very, very small complaint and in fact worked very well in the more introspective, emotional points in the story...Overall, I recommend!

21 people found this helpful

Interesting twist on zombies

Any additional comments?

Considering all the retellings out there right now on the YA book shelves--and especially Alice in Wonderland retellings lately--I was happy to discover that Alice in Zombieland was original. Showalter primarily used aspects of the original story in funny or creative ways like chapter titles and let her story unfold in its own way. She definitely doesn't pull her punches with the readers but instead fills the story with danger, dark humor, and romance. It reminded me quite a bit of Kresley Cole's Arcana Chronicles and was a very enjoyable read. Looking forward to listening to the sequel!

3 people found this helpful

I love this series!

I have listened to it like a thousand times and it still makes me laugh and then break my heart...until I have to laugh again.

It's great! True Story!

3 people found this helpful

Awesome YA series!!

Really great read!! Alice has a lot to deal with and the book is a bit of a rollercoaster!!! I loved that she was not an overly angsty teen!!! Oh, and Kat the BFF is awesome!!! Easily my favorite part of the book!!!

Great narration by Natalie Gold. Really easy to distinguish voices and the story flowed beautifully! I am definitely going to check out other books read by her!!

2 people found this helpful

What a surprise!

I didn't expect to like this. I thought it would be juvenile and boring. I knew the author was popular, but I didn't expect to like the writing style because I had tried another of her books and didn't like it. But this was WOW! I didn't want to stop listening. It was so interesting and kept me hooked to my Kindle for ungodly amounts of time. My only issue was that the title and cover gave Alice in Wonderland vibes, and I could see the Alice in Wonderland theme in the chapter titles and the white cloud rabbit, but it had nothing to do with Alice in Wonderland. The theme seemed completely irrelevant and was vague at best, so why bother with it? However, regardless of that bit, I loved the book. Debating on whether or not to continue though because I need a break from the intensity and it was long.

1 person found this helpful

Very Juvenile

The plot is not complicated but it is problematic. It entertains but I won't be reading anymore in the series.

1 person found this helpful