So Now You're a Zombie: A Handbook for the Newly Undead by John Austin

3.5 out of 5 Stars!

GoodReads Description:

Being undead can be disorienting. Your arms and other appendages tend to rot and fall off. It’s difficult to communicate with a vocabulary limited to moans and gurgles. And that smell! (Yes, it’s you.) But most of all, you must constantly find and ingest human brains. Braaaains!! What’s a zombie to do?This handbook also explores the upside of being a zombie. Gone are the burdens of employment, taxes, social networks, even basic hygiene, allowing you to focus on simple necessities in “life”: the juicy gray matter found in the skulls of the living.

My Review:

Even though it took me a little over an hour to complete the it, I really enjoyed this book. It was pretty hilarious. Of all of the zombie survival guides out there or even most novels with zombies in them, no one ever bothers to show the zombie perspective of an attack/infection. The newly dead are people too, even if they are shambling corpses. There are TONS of books trying to help humans survive zombies, yet there are no books to help guide the poor unfortunates who were infected how to live in their new undead lives. Well all that has changed with this book. The only problem, is that I am not sure if zombies can read…or even if they have the mental capabilities to remember what a book is…and if they can read and know what a book is, can they actually remember what is in the hand book and put it to use? Lol 

The zombie lore was interesting in this book. Like a lot of zombie plauges, this one was caused by a virus. In this case, the virus not only causes reanimation, but also causes the desire to seek out and devour human flesh…that is pretty much standard for many of the other books/movies in the zombie cannon. (Noted exception…in the 28 Days franchise, the virus doesn’t actually kill the people…only make them animalistic and full of rage) One thing that was different than most traditional zombies is that their insides still worked in order to feed the virus…I don’t know about you , but when I picture my zombies, I picture intestines falling out, maybe a limb or two missing. Lol The last page of the book was freaking hilarious. I laughed out loud. Overall it was a very enjoyable book. 

Any fan of zombies, infections, etc would love to get their hands on this book. The drawings and cartoons in the book are hilarious and just as descriptive and relevant as the text. There was lots of blood and gore without it being too graphic, so I think younger teens could enjoy it as well as older people like me :P It is kind of just good for a laugh however, so I would imagine that it would be best to borrow from friends or to get it from the library like I did. Even though I enjoyed it, I probably won’t ever read it again.

Thanks for Reading!

Andra