This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers

 

This is Not a Test

author : courtney summers

pages : [paperback] 323

memorable quote : I woke up and the last piece of my heart disappeared. I opened my eyes and I felt it go.

favorite characters : sloane & rhys

summary :

It’s the end of the world. Six students have taken cover in Cortege High but shelter is little comfort when the dead outside won’t stop pounding on the doors. One bite is all it takes to kill a person and bring them back as a monstrous version of their former self. To Sloane Price, that doesn’t sound so bad. Six months ago, her world collapsed and since then, she’s failed to find a reason to keep going. Now seems like the perfect time to give up. As Sloane eagerly waits for the barricades to fall, she’s forced to witness the apocalypse through the eyes of five people who actually want to live. But as the days crawl by, the motivations for survival change in startling ways and soon the group’s fate is determined less and less by what’s happening outside and more and more by the unpredictable and violent bids for life—and death—inside. When everything is gone, what do you hold on to?

review :

I’ve been really looking forward to getting into more zombie books (especially with the Warm Bodies movie coming out in February!) and heard nothing but good things about This is Not a Test. Actually, it popped up on so many lists of the best books of 2012 that I started reading it at the end of the year. I love how this one is more character oriented while it also has some fantastic action scenes involving the zombies and the kids holed up at the school. I like it when a book can have a basic, enclosed setting that could end up being boring and end up being fantastic!

This is Not a Test follows Sloane, who isn’t in her right mind. Actually, the day that the zombies come, she’s planned on killing herself. Against her will she ends up living longer than she planned. It was so incredibly interesting reading about things from her point of view. She never considered anything too risky because she already didn’t care about her life and whether or not she would be in danger. Sometimes in her interactions with the other characters it’s obvious she isn’t entirely there mentally.

Yet the writing style is gorgeous, gripping, and completely wonderful, adding even more to characters who are real, unpredictable, and just awesome. There are those you hate, those you want to live, and those you can’t decide about. But nobody’s perfect, and some of them have flaws that make you consider the lows humanity can stoop to when faced with a catastrophe like this.

I highly recommend This is Not a Test. If you’ve been hearing about it and have considered picking it up, I definitely say you should. I borrowed this from the library, but it’s a book that I would happily buy.

5/5 stars