Review – Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion (5/5 stars)

This was an excellent book.  I had read some reviews on it that said it was really good, and they were all right!  I was very impressed.

R is a zombie and has been for a while.  He lives in a rundown airport with other zombies.  Every once in a while they go hunting or a couple of them gets married or something; but for the most part it’s a lot of lost time and shuffling around.  Unlike other zombies R can still talk pretty well.  During a hunting raid he kills and eats a young man’s brain and starts living out that young man’s memories.  Because of this he is drawn to a live girl named Julie, who was the young man’s girlfriend.  He brings Julie back to the airport to live with him.  Then things start to happen and he starts to change.
There are parts of this book that are very, very funny.  Especially in the beginning, hearing the whole zombie thing from the viewpoint of a zombie is humorous and thought-provoking all at the same time.

While the book starts out with zombies being your pretty typical mindless brain-eaters, it quickly turns into something more complex.  You can see that the zombies have a sort of society and continue to try and mimic the lives they had when they were living.

R’s romance with Julie is a bit creepy and strange at first; but it quickly develops into something heartwarming and literally lifechanging.  There are a lot of really great characters in this book.  By the end you will be reconsidering who the monsters are in this book; the living, the zombies, or the leaders that drive them into conflict.

What starts out as a funny, endearing zombie tale ends up as a story that delves into some really deep questions about societal norms and how some things are true because we have decided they are true, not because they really are.  This book isn’t as dirty or gritty as a lot of zombie tales out there, it is more thought-provoking.

The book ends well, I am not sure if there will be a sequel…if there was a sequel I would definitely read it!

Overall this was just an excellent zombie novel.  Definitely a zombie novel with heart.  It was funny and heartwarming.  It was a story that pondered some big questions yet remained engaging, easy to read, and accessible.  I would definitely recommend this novel for anyone young adult or older.  There is something here for everyone…zombies, romance, action, and politics.  One of my favorite zombie reads this year.  A couple other great zombie reads are The Newsflesh series by Mira Grant and The Angels are the Reapers by Alden Bell.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– 100+ Reading Challenge
– E-book Reading Challenge
– Zombies! Reading Challenge