Totally NOT A Retelling | Alice in Zombieland


Alice In Zombieland (White Rabbit Chronicles, #1) by Gena Showalter
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release date: September 25th, 2012
Genres: YA, Horror, Fantasy, Romance
Pages:  404
Source: Bought it
Goodreads Purchase
She won't rest until she's sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever.

If anyone had told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that's all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.

Her father was right. The monsters are real.

To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn't careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies
REVIEW

I probably shouldn't have liked this book as much as I did. But, the truth is.. I freakin' did. I read reviews on Goodreads before buying this book, turned the popular ones were the negative ones. Therefore, I lowered my expectations and bought only the first book in the series in case I'm no longer interested in reading the rest of the series.


Turned out, I should've bought all four books. I enjoyed every passing second and couldn't put the book down for even a minute. I practically screamed (well, not really) when I reached the last page.

Also, let me tell you that this is the kind of book that you can either HATE so much or LOVE so freaking much. There's no in between. Fortunately, I'm one of the latter.

Okay, so... First, I'll tell you many reasons why I shouldn't have liked this book.
  • INSTALOVE. It's no secret that I despise instalove more than I despise cockroach (okay, maybe not). But.. you get the point. Fortunately, the more I read, the more I realized that this wasn't love at first sight slash instalove at all. It was more like attraction or maybe curiosity at first sight. And I'm fine with that. I mean, we all feel attracted to the person with good-looking features, right? Yes, we're attracted, but we don't fall for them right then and there, we only feel curious and.. I don't know... smitten by their looks. Had I read this kind of romance from other books, I would've vomited right then and there. But this book totally pulled it off and had me fangirling all over the floor. I mean, seriously, It was SO hard not to squeal or giggle while reading Cole and Ali's witty dialogues. 
“Are you trying to tell me that you've never been kissed?"
I pressed my tongue to the roof of my mouth. He looked so dubious, and his tone had bordered on insulting. "Yeah. So?"
"So, I'm shocked, that's all. You're...you."
In-sul-ting."Me?" I asked stiffly.
"Yeah. Hot," he said.
Wait. Me? HOT?
He laughed down at me."No one's told you that, either, have they?"
I could only shake my head.
"You've clearly been hanging around idiots.”
  • IT'S NOT ALICE IN WONDERLAND RETELLING, EVERYONE. What? You think it is? Because of the cover and the oh-so-deceiving title? Think again before buying. I've known this beforehand, though. I bought this book after reading countless spoiler-free reviews, and most of them said the same thing. So I knew what I was reading at the time had nothing to do with Alice who shrinks or talks to smiling cat. But, I wasn't disappointed AT ALL. Gena Showalter might have borrowed the name Alice and a few references from Alice In Wonderland for subtitles in the book. But, the story, the plot, the characters (oh the characters) were so original! And don't even get me started on how badass the characters were!
  • NOT THE KIND OF ZOMBIES I'M USED TO. We all know that the common zombies often portrayed in televisions and books are the kinds that are some kind of decaying corpses and eat brains, right? I was expecting these kinds of zombies while reading, but I didn't get what I wanted. Instead, I got some evil spirits who eat the souls of humans and can even think smarter and better the longer they've become a zombie. But, I was okay with it. In fact, I enjoyed the new experience and world as much as I love The Walking Dead. It was confusing at first, but the more I read, the more I enjoyed and couldn't stop reading. 
  • DRAMA OH DRAMA. This book might be the perfect example of a chick lit full of dramas with a tinge of zombies on the inside. I tried to hate the drama at first, because heck, there were so many of them! But then, just like the points above, the more I read, the more I enjoyed the drama or even the most insignificant thing, like how Ali's best friend—Kat always bickered with her ex-but-clearly-still-loves-her-boyfriend. 
Enough about the things that should have made me loathe this book. Let's talk about the things that made me head over heels for it instead.
  • THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COLE AND ALI (OR PERHAPS COLE HIMSELF). Cole and Ali's relationship might be something you call instalove. But, trust me, it wasn't. It was more like attraction at first sight, and with that, came love and all the shenanigans. 
  • COLE DANGEROUSLY-SEXY-AND-IRRESISTIBLE HOLLAND. The name says it all.
  • ALI FREAKIN' BELL. What else can I say? She's badass under every standard available. She isn't easily intimidated and clearly has more sass than every person on the planet combined. AND SHE SERIOUSLY CAN KICK SOME (ZOMBIE OR NON-ZOMBIE) BUTTS!!
  • KAT PARKER. She's funny, outgoing, hilarious, and very straight-forward. She's a no-cuss kinda person, which proves that she's got class. She's the reason why I decided to (try to) stop cussing.  Let's just say that she's like a sister I've never had the privilege of having. 
  • THE VISIONS COLE AND ALI HAVE EVERY TIME THEY LAY EYES ON EACH OTHER FOR THE FIRST TIME EACH DAY. Yep. I loved it so much I practically counted down the pages until the next one.
  • THE OH-SO-INTERESTING-AND-THRILLING PLOT. It's not only interesting and thrilling, the plot is also fast-paced and so capable of making you get curiouser and curiouser.
Overall, I think Alice In Zombieland is a zombie novel full of suspense and swoony romance. It's heart-stopping and jaw-dropping. Don't read this book if you're looking for an Alice in Zombieland's retelling with absolutely no romance. But, like I said, you can either love it or hate it.

Now, please excuse me while I go and buy the next three sequels.

My rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ . 5

Reviewed by Inas

2 comments

  1. Wow.
    Again "don't judge book by the cover"

    But looking at your review, It's a interesting book then ^^

    ReplyDelete

Bonjour!
I'd be glad if you leave a comment here!
Say whatever you like! I don't bite!