Ben White (1)

Imogen Shroud is a 17 year old dragged down by life, her days existing of hiding away in her room, reading and generally staring into space. I didn’t know how to feel about Imogen to begin with – she was an intriguing character, but not exactly likeable. However, as the book progressed, I grew to like her more and more – her tenacity, her black sense of humour and loyalty to her family endeared Imogen to me, and by the end she was one of my favourite book characters of this year.

The writing is fluid and descriptive, the action is fast-paced, and even the goriness of the fight scenes is written concisely, giving a polished yet breathless feel to the book, but probably the best writing is that of the characters – they are all individual and unique, and as a reader I couldn’t help but feel for all of them.

There were a couple of places where I felt a little bogged down in the book, when certain parts seemed almost carbon copies of the preceding scenes, but the story turned again and drew me back in completely.

The story of the infection is told by a biologist, but he is a rambler and I found it a little hard to concentrate on exactly what he was trying to say – without wanting to give away any spoilers, there are some unique theories on how the zombies came to be and how to avoid being infected. This may cause a little shudder through some zombie purists, but personally I liked the fact that it wasn’t the ‘normal’ zombie situation.

All in all I really liked The Undying Apathy of Imogen Shroud. It’s well written, the characters are great and the action is non-stop, but this book also has a heart (in the most unlikely of places!)… (lisätietoja)