Book Review: Z by Michael Thomas Ford
Z by Michael Thomas Ford. © 2010 HarperTeen. ISBN 9780060737580. Hardback. Young Adult/Urban Fantasy. 288 pages. $16.99 US. Source: ARC from publisher
• On sale 07 September 2010
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Synopsis
Josh is by far the best zombie Torcher around. At least, he is in his virtual-reality zombie-hunting game. Zombies haven’t existed in the real world in more than fifteen years, and the battle to defeat the devastating zombie epidemic is now the stuff of history lessons. Or so it seems.
When Josh accepts a coveted invitation to join an underground gaming league in the dark, forgotten tunnels of the city, he soon realizes that hunting zombies is not all fun and games. Real blood is spilling, members of the team are disappearing, and the zombies in the game are acting strange. And then there’s the matter of a mysterious drug called Z…
Review
It’s 2032. Antarctica is turning into a rain forest. The oceans are brown, capped with yellow foam. Books, magazines and all things made of paper belong to museums. And 15 years have passed since the great Zombie purge…
In 2017, a mutated strain of the flu caused a portion humanity to be reverted back to the reptilian brain—the part of the brain which is focused on instinctual behaviors such as aggression, dominance, and territoriality—as a primary source. From there, they became zombies and wreaked havoc upon society, finally stopped by a militant group known as the Torchers.
Fast-forward fifteen years and kids are playing a virtual-reality game where they play as Torchers or meatbags as zombies are referred to. Our hero, Josh, is one of the best Torchers in the gaming world. Often playing late into the night with his best friend, Firecracker, you might even say that Josh is addicted. Charlie, the game’s best meatbag player, sends Josh a secret message one night and invites him to the underground LARP (live action role playing) games that are played in derelict portions of their seaside city–but not before swearing him to secrecy.
Josh is taken by surprise when, after meeting the other team members, discovers they are using real flamethrowers and things are more than intense when he sees that they are hunting what appears to be real meatbags. Strange things begin to happen when teammates begin getting picked off one by one and Charlie introduces Josh to a drug called Z, which makes you experience what it’s like to be a zombie. Josh stops caring about school, begins lying to his parents, ditches his best friend and more.
I’ll stop there so I won’t spoil it for you guys but this book was so addicting! It’s not your regular zombie book for sure, though there is enough blood and gore to go around, but I could not put it down. I found it taunted me from its place on the corner of my desk as I tried to get web design work done, causing me to pick it back up when I had to wait on a download or something. My only real compliant was that it moved extremely fast and because of that a lot of the peripheral characters are hardly more than a name, but I was still on the edge of my seat especially during the last few chapters.
Bottom line, if you love zombies, read this!
Rating
4.5 cybooks out of 5!
