Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion ★★★★★ R is a young man with an existential crisis—he is a zombie. He shuffles through an America destroyed by war, social collapse, and the mindless hunger of his undead comrades, but he craves something more than blood and brains. He can speak just a few grunted syllables, but his inner life is deep, full of wonder and longing. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse, but he has dreams.After experiencing a teenage boy’s memories while consuming his brain, R makes an unexpected choice that begins a tense, awkward, and strangely sweet relationship with the victim’s human girlfriend. Julie is a blast of color in the otherwise dreary and gray landscape that surrounds R. His decision to protect her will transform not only R, but his fellow Dead, and perhaps their whole lifeless world. I loved this book. It was practically glued to my hands; I barely paused to eat while I was reading it. There are a thousand reasons I love Warm Bodies, but one of the biggest is that it’s so different. I’ve read a few zombie stories in my day, and this one took the cake. R isn’t a thoughtless killing machine. There’s no sense of hopelessness and defeatism in him or Julie - they acknowledge that their world’s gone to shit, but they hope it will get better. I was skeptical at first; sure that R’s “recovery” would be some miraculous, cliched cure from love. But R starts to become human and live again because he wants to. And it’s infectious. The amount of character development in this book is staggering. The amount of thought Marion put into his world-building and the plague itself is wonderful. I do wish that the battle against the Boneys had gone slightly different, at least at the end, when they all just walked away. But overall,Warm Bodies completely transported me into R and Julie’s world, had me sitting on the edge of my seat, and made me fall totally in love with it. I never thought I would care so much about a zombie.
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Once Upon a Time...As a longtime lover of stories and a believer in the power and magic of books, I've spent my life seeking out the best reads. This blog is dedicated to reviewing the books I read - good, bad, or magnificent - to help other readers find their next favorite books. Currently ReadingKing Zeno
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