Zombie Kids With Brains

In a world overrun by the living dead, one band of survivors built a community with a strange sort of peace with the undead. The dead were contained, but not exterminated.

Now they’ve exiled four people—two undead, two alive—into the wilderness outside the city walls. Lucy, a beautiful zombie overwhelmed by her desire to kill and feed, keeps herself just barely under control around her living companions. Truman, a gentler and more reasonable zombie, looks at the living with something close to disinterest. Rachel and Will have trouble understanding and trusting one another—let alone their undead companions.

Dying to Live: Last Rites by Kim Paffenroth introduces a new dilemma into the zombie survival mindset. Instead of the typical “kill me before I turn” decision, the characters realize it’s possible that they could turn into one of the thinking undead…so, getting infected doesn’t necessarily mean the end of life after all.

Unlike the traditional zombie novels, this is a story about the undead trying to escape the living…the living who are no longer the only “survivors” of the zombie apocalypse. Many authors/directors have tried to humanize zombies, but no one has come close to what Paffenroth has accomplished with Last Rites.

Not only do we see the development of Rachel and Will’s relationship, but we are given intimate details of the relationship between the zombies, Truman and Lucy. We watch as the group is pulled apart when faced with survivors who are rebuilding a society that exploits the thinking undead.

Paffenroth also brings in zombie children. Not the ankle-biting kind; these zombie kids can think too, and they aren’t as innocent as their human counterparts. Everyone suffers in this novel.

As always,
AstraDaemon