Recommendations for a ZOMBIE YAPOCALYPSE!

My FAV apocalypse is a zombie apocalypse. I’m COMPLETELY addicted to The Walking Dead and now Fear The Walking Dead. I have read a plethora of zombie books – including Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith. I devour zombie movies like a zombie devours brains (see what I did there?) – Shaun of the Dead (HILARIOUS), 28 Days (SCARY), 28 Weeks Later (EVEN SCARIER), World War Z (NOT AS SCARY), I am Legend (NOT AS GOOD AS THE BOOK), etc.

It therefore stands to reason that I would want to celebrate my fav apocalypse (ZOMBIE) alongside my fav demographic (YA).

Sadly – it seems I have not read as many YA zombie novels as you would think. My tally stands at five. FIVE! And three of them are from the same series. They come HIGHLY recommended though. HERE THEY ARE (in no particular order):

The Forest of Hands and Teeth – Carrie Ryan (The Forest of Hands and Teeth 1)

In Mary’s world there are simple truths. 
The Sisterhood always knows best. 
The Guardians will protect and serve. 
The Unconsecrated will never relent.
And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. 
But, slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her. She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power. And, when the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness.
 Now, she must choose between her village and her future, between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded in so much death?

Note: They are making this into a movie! I am SO EXCITED!

The Dead-Tossed Waves – Carrie Ryan (The Forest of Hands and Teeth 2)

Gabry lives a quiet life, secure in her town next to the sea and behind the Barrier. She’s content to let her friends dream of the Dark City up the coast while she watches from the top of her lighthouse. Home is all she’s ever known, and all she needs for happiness.

But life after the Return is never safe, and there are threats even the Barrier can’t hold back.

Gabry’s mother thought she left her secrets behind in the Forest of Hands and Teeth, but like the dead in their world, secrets don’t stay buried. And now, Gabry’s world is crumbling.

One night beyond the Barrier…

One boy Gabry’s known forever and one veiled in mystery…

One reckless moment, and half of Gabry’s generation is dead, the other half imprisoned.

Gabry knows only one thing: if she is to have any hope of a future, she must face the forest of her mother’s past.

Dark and Hollow Places – Carrie Ryan (The Forest of Hands and Teeth 3)

There are many things that Annah would like to forget: the look on her sister’s face when she and Elias left her behind in the Forest of Hands and Teeth, her first glimpse of the horde as they found their way to the Dark City, the sear of the barbed wire that would scar her for life. But most of all, Annah would like to forget the morning Elias left her for the Recruiters.

Annah’s world stopped that day and she’s been waiting for him to come home ever since. Without him, her life doesn’t feel much different from that of the dead that roam the wasted city around her. Then she meets Catcher and everything feels alive again.

Except, Catcher has his own secrets—dark, terrifying truths that link him to a past Annah’s longed to forget, and to a future too deadly to consider. And now it’s up to Annah—can she continue to live in a world drenched in the blood of the living? Or is death the only escape from the Return’s destruction?

Ashes – Ilsa J Bick

An electromagnetic pulse flashes across the sky, destroying every electronic device, wiping out every computerized system, and killing billions.
Alex hiked into the woods to say good-bye to her dead parents and her personal demons. Now desperate to find out what happened after the pulse crushes her to the ground, Alex meets up with Tom—a young soldier—and Ellie, a girl whose grandfather was killed by the EMP. 
For this improvised family and the others who are spared, it’s now a question of who can be trusted and who is no longer human.

Note: This is the first book in a trilogy and the other two are still on my TBR list.

Warm Bodies – Isaac Marion

R is a young man with an existential crisis–he is a zombie. He shuffles through an America destroyed by war, social collapse, and the mindless hunger of his undead comrades, but he craves something more than blood and brains. He can speak just a few grunted syllables, but his inner life is deep, full of wonder and longing. He has no memories, noidentity, and no pulse, but he has dreams.

After experiencing a teenage boy’s memories while consuming his brain, R makes an unexpected choice that begins a tense, awkward, and strangely sweet relationship with the victim’s human girlfriend. Julie is a blast of color in the otherwise dreary and gray landscape that surrounds R. His decision to protect her will transform not only R, but his fellow Dead, and perhaps their whole lifeless world.

Scary, funny, and surprisingly poignant, Warm Bodies is about being alive, being dead, and the blurry line in between.

Note: The book is not as romantic as the movie.

If you have any you would like to recommend – leave a comment below! I’ll add them to my TBR list!

The YApocalypse – a celebration of young adult post-apocalyptic novels or series – will run throughout September. Posts include featured authors and book recommendations – as well as random musings about THE END. If you are a YApocalypse author who wants to get involved click here. If you want to keep up with posts click here.