Review: A Mad Zombie Party by Gena Showalter

A Mad Zombie Party

Gena Showalter

(White Rabbit Chronicles #4)

Publication Date: September 29, 2015

Hardcover, 448 pages, Harlequin Teen

Genres: YA, Paranormal

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The battle rages on.

Ali Bell and Cole Holland's crew of zombie slayers thought they'd won the war against Anima Industries, the evil company responsible for capturing and experimenting on zombies in an effort to discover the secret to immortality. In the last epic clash, the slayers lost many of their crew and closest friends. But Frosty, the ice man himself, has not recovered from one casualty in particular—the love of his life, Kat Parker.

On the path to self-annihilation, Frosty receives a message from beyond—Kat's spirit returns, insisting he partner with rogue slayer Camilla Marks. Frosty will do anything for Kat. Except that. Camilla is the one who betrayed them all, leading to Kat's death.

But when Anima rises from the grave to become a force the slayers may not have the strength to overcome, Frosty, Camilla and all the slayers will have to work together to survive. And one broken slayer will learn that sometimes, the line between hate and attraction is blurred…and the road to redemption isn't through revenge, but in letting go of the past and grabbing hold of the future.

My Review

I was really excited about this book, but not excited at the same time. I LOVE The White Rabbit Chronicles, so I just wasn’t sure how a fourth spin-off-ish book would work, especially one that features a new P.O.V. from a new-ish female character. But, I did manage to enjoy the story, despite my initial hesitation.

Because the book is told in two P.O.V.s, one from Frosty and the other from Milla, things got a little hard to follow. And not hard to follow in an I-don’t-know-who’s-talking kind of way, but in an I’m-not-getting-as-much-character-development-as-I-want way. I felt like Frosty, a bad boy I loved dearly in the first three books, was reduced to a romance novel cliché. And Milla was just too quick to fall in love. I guess that’s the hard part of putting a love relationship into one book (like an adult romance novel), the author just doesn’t get to develop the characters as much as you’d like. Especially if they’re sacrificing some of the character development for romance and action. I do like the love-hate relationship Frosty and Milla have, though.

Now, the action of the book was very entertaining. It didn’t blow me away like the first three books, but I was pleasantly surprised with some of the twists and turns. However, I didn’t like Milla’s story arc within the action scenes, just because it reminded me so much of Ali’s. Everything else, though, was really good. I never felt bored or bogged down by details.

This is a short review, simply because I read this book a few weeks ago and I can’t remember all of my thoughts, but if you are a fan of The White Rabbit Chronicles series and you’re scared to pick this one up because it’s not following Ali or Cole, don’t worry. Gena knows how to keep up the momentum those two had. There is an obvious difference between the books, but it’s nothing to worry about. Also, you need to read it, just to find out what happens in the epilogue!