Book Review: The Undertakers: Rise of the Corpses by Ty Drago
The Undertakers: Rise of the Corpses by Ty Drago. © 2011 Sourcebooks Jabberwocky. ISBN 978-1402247859. Hardback. Horror / Young Adult. 480 pages. Source: ARC provided by the publishers.
Synopsis: Will Ritter is just an average twelve-year-old. He’s annoyed by his little sister and mom, though not very worried about his math test, since he actually studied. Then he walks outside and has to deal with his grumpy neighbor Old Man Pratt. Except Old Man Pratt is dead. Or looks dead anyway–he’s still walking and talking, just like a zombie. And things only get worse when Will finally gets to school–and the worse has nothing to do with the math test.
Review: I’ll say right now that I’m not a huge reader of YA books. Heck, I wasn’t even when I was one. Of course, that was pre-Goosebumps and basically all I had was Judy Blume and Nancy Drew. So I was kind of surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. Sure, it’s a bunch of kids who have to stop the Corpses (not zombies–they’re not zombies, though they certainly look like them), but there’s a reason for that. And though Will falls into the “special preteen who must save things” role, he’s not annoying. He voices a lot of things that normal people would think, which basically boils down to “How are a bunch of kids going to fix this? We’re just kids!” It’s sly, the way Drago lets us know that even Will realizes how crazy the world has become.
YA books have come quite a way since I was young, and Drago’s novel exhibits that in many ways: plot, language, specific events, even the bad guys. (I expect that they’ll be a little more fleshed out in the next novel.) However, there are some scenes that aren’t for the squeamish.
When I was a kid, the best I could get was Scholastic collections of ghost stories. I’m very glad things have changed.
