I've never read any of Courtney's other books but when I heard this book was about zombies I just had to read it. I FINALLY got granted a review copy on net-galley and I sped through it. If you don't know this already I have a crazy thing about zombies. I love zombie books, and even though Courtney regularly writes hard-hitting realistic teen fiction I had to give it a shot. In the end I was presently surprised.
This is Not a Test was refreshing and new, and I think on some deeper level it's not about zombies, it's about the evils of the world and how even though we might not see them all the time they are there. Maybe I'm reading way to much into it, maybe it was all about zombies but the main character just wanted to escape from it all, or maybe the zombies were just the perfect way to go out. This book is about love and loss, about life and death, and about the things that give us hope, that show us how to life and what it means in the darkest of times. Yes, my favorite part was the zombies, but in reality there were a very small part of the book. It was facinating the whay Courtney spun the story around a girl who didn't want to live in a world where dying was as easy as falling asleep. There were great scenes in this book and some great quotes that really hit me hard, and no, not because I want to kill myself, but because sometimes it does come across my mind as to what exactly life is about. The characters were so real and living (until they weren't) and I think the best part is that people do die in this book. No, I don't enjoy people dying, but in a book like this, were life is not something that everyone has and the dead are no longer dead there are people that have to die. Getting away with all the chracters in tact would be wrong, and Courtney has done nothing but right in this novel. If you like zombies and I assume if you like Courtney Summers you will like this novel. When it comes out I suggest you pick it up for keeps, or at least to borrow and read.
Released June 19, 2012
5/5 dust spirits
