Well, They Said Eat “Anything!”

I don’t talk about my daughter very often, (mostly because she’s three and obsessed with Hello Kitty) but a few days ago she said something interesting (and coincidentally enough; evidence that I’m not mature enough to raise the nations future leaders. *shrugs*) We were sitting in front of the television (just the two of us) a bowl of popcorn in hand prepared for some quality mother/daughter time when the topic of “entertainment choices” came up.

“T, what do you want to watch honey?” I asked in my very formal, I’m a totally proper parent way.

Her reply? “I don’t care.” (Naturally, she is of course a kid.)

So, finding myself at a total loss (mostly because I didn’t want to land on Nick Jr. and be coaxed into watch another episode of Dora The Explorer – or I’d be forced to gouge out my own eyeballs) I pulled up the guide, quickly found the movie channels, and began surfing.

This is when things got interesting.

Just as I was about to flip to HBO family (otherwise known as straight to cable cheesy kid movies R Us) she saw something that piqued her interest.

“Oh mommy!!!! Let’s watch that!!!” (insert mile wide smile)

“What?”

“That mommy, (points to the number “28” (from 28 Days Later) on the guide.)

“Oh, baby…that’s zombies. Don’t you want to watch princesses?”

*annoyed look* “I want zombies mommy. Zombies are cool, they eat your face.”

“Yes, yes they do. Are you sure you want to watch that?”

“Yes mommy!!! Princess are poopie! I want zombies!”

So I turned it on and we sat in total rapture for 2 hours.

The moral of the story? I’m a horrible parent. Also, this is a zombie book and I couldn’t think of any other way to open my review than to throw my parenting skills under the bus.

“A miracle drug, Nevermore, spreads like wildfire throughout the world allowing people to eat what they want, no matter how unhealthy it is and yet still lose weight. It is everything the human population has ever dreamed of and Mara is no different. Only a simple twist of fate stops her from taking the drug.

As the weeks roll by, it becomes apparent that Nevermore is not the miracle it claimed. A true to life nightmare, the drug steals the very essence that makes up humanity and unleashes a new and deadly species on the world, a species bent on filling its belly. Locked down within their small farm home, Mara and her husband Sebastian struggle against increasingly bad odds, fighting off marauders and monsters alike.

But Sebastian carries a dark secret, one that more than threatens to tear them apart, it threatens to destroy them both and the love they have for each other.

The secret forces Mara to make the ultimate choice. Will she live for love, or will she live to survive?”

The one thing that I find absolutely imperative (<;-- you know I'm serious when I use SAT words) to point out is that the zombies in "Sundered" aren't really zombies at all. In reality (or reality according to fiction) they are animal pack infected hybrids. (It's ok, I was a little confused at first too so I'll just go right ahead and throw a WTF out there for ya.) The differences in the two (brain hungry attitudinally challenged walkers vs. slightly disconcerting wolf pack) is what truly sets this "zombie-ish Apocalypse" (Mayer's words, not mine) novel apart from all of the other yummy skin candy (blech! sorry... just made myself gag with that one) journeys into the land of the damned. While most zombies amble around aimlessly looking for their next human slurpee, Mayer's zombies (because of the chemically induced beginnings) developed "pack mentality" (think alphas and scouts.) And in doing so (which I'm going on record as saying was totally freaking awesome) allowed her to continue to develop her "infected" characters personalities and then integrate them into her already compelling take on the human psyche (aka "the world is coming to an end...what do we do now?) Add to that a heavy helping of neighborly attitude and a dash of romance (yes, I said romance) and what you get is a 120 pages of pure unadulterated entertainment. A bonus? This is pretty much a "zombies for beginners" take on the end of the word, so if you enjoy the drama of impending doom without the inevitable queasiness of your A-typical zombie smackdown, this one is sure to please on both accounts. What does this mean overall? Interesting plot, intriguing zombies, and a relatively compelling promise of so much more (as in "there are several more books in this series.) I don't know about you, but that combination makes me a very happy (completely deranged) girl. Happy Reading my fellow Kindle-ites and remember: Bears like beans. Apparently. So if you are ever in danger of becoming Smokey's mid-day snack, make sure you are packing the essentials. Click image for complete details [Rating:3.5/5] ;

Book Trailer

;