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Generation Dead #1
Generation Dead
Phoebe Kendall is just your typical Goth girl with a crush. He's strong and silent... and dead.
All over the country, a strange phenomenon is occurring. Some teenagers who die aren't staying dead. But when they come back to life, they are no longer the same. Feared and misunderstood, they are doing their best to blend into a society that doesn’t want them.
The administration at Oakvale High attempts to be more welcoming of the “differently biotic." But the students don’t want to take classes or eat in the cafeteria next to someone who isn’t breathing. And there are no laws that exist to protect the “living impaired” from the people who want them to disappear—for good.
When Phoebe falls for Tommy Williams, the leader of the dead kids, no one can believe it; not her best friend, Margi, and especially not her neighbor, Adam, the star of the football team. Adam has feelings for Phoebe that run much deeper than just friendship; he would do anything for her. But what if protecting Tommy is the one thing that would make her happy?
All over the country, a strange phenomenon is occurring. Some teenagers who die aren't staying dead. But when they come back to life, they are no longer the same. Feared and misunderstood, they are doing their best to blend into a society that doesn’t want them.
The administration at Oakvale High attempts to be more welcoming of the “differently biotic." But the students don’t want to take classes or eat in the cafeteria next to someone who isn’t breathing. And there are no laws that exist to protect the “living impaired” from the people who want them to disappear—for good.
When Phoebe falls for Tommy Williams, the leader of the dead kids, no one can believe it; not her best friend, Margi, and especially not her neighbor, Adam, the star of the football team. Adam has feelings for Phoebe that run much deeper than just friendship; he would do anything for her. But what if protecting Tommy is the one thing that would make her happy?
392 pages, Hardcover
First published May 6, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,196 reviews
August 24, 2009
Oh, my. How can I put this lightly?
Generation Dead is Twilight, but with zombies instead of vampires. And it's just as terrible.
To wit:
Meet Phoebe. She's a goth girl! (How 1999!) Phoebe listens to so many cool bands, like This Mortal Coil and Bronx Casket Company. We know this because author Daniel Waters assures us every fifteen pages that he is an expert on his goth rock. Phoebe also writes poetry! It's really, really terrible poetry, too!
Meet Adam. Phoebe lives next door to him. He's a football player! But they're BFF anyway! He's so forward thinking! And he has a crush on her! Does she like him?! Sometimes when Adam and Phoebe need a heart-to-heart, they toss around the Frisbee. Now that's character development!
Meet Margi. She's Phoebe's BFF, too! And also a goth girl! But she's, like, not as open-minded as Phoebe. She also talks a lot. Sometimes this annoys Phoebe!! OMG!
Meet Tommy. He's dead. That's right. Dead. You see, some teenagers are returning from the dead. Only teenagers and only in America. Do we know why? No! It's just, like, happening! This freaks most people out, but not Phoebe! She's perfectly fine with it (because she's goth!!!) and she ropes Margi and Adam into joining an outreach program to help understand the 'differently biotic'. Also, Phoebe is totes crushing on Tommy!
But trouble's a-brewing...
... and I wish I could divulge in every sordid detail, but I've already wasted hours of my life reading and/or thinking about this book. What I will say is this: Waters writes with about as much flair as a zombie. Despite having a clever and potentially amusing idea, he mangles the narrative by shifting character point-of-view, often in a single paragraph. On top of that, he strings together multiple red herrings without ever explaining a single one and (much like Stephenie Meyer), his narrative trundles along for 350 pages before it occurs to him to have a denouement. His worst offense, though, is bludgeoning the reader with didactic, ham-fisted observations about prejudice, which, given the context, could have been searing. Instead it is delivered in absurd statements like, "Senator Mallory from Idaho introduced [The Undead Citizens Act:] by comparing differently biotic people to illegal immigrants." (Waters follows this observation up with... nothing. It's dropped as quickly as it's introduced.)
Some idiot from Kirkus Reviews had the audacity to liken Daniel Waters to John Green. I would like to bathe that reviewer in the rivers of projectile vomiting I spewed after reading the treacly, sappy ending to this godawful book (and thinking about all the 390 pages of garbage that came before it).
Generation Dead is Twilight, but with zombies instead of vampires. And it's just as terrible.
To wit:
Meet Phoebe. She's a goth girl! (How 1999!) Phoebe listens to so many cool bands, like This Mortal Coil and Bronx Casket Company. We know this because author Daniel Waters assures us every fifteen pages that he is an expert on his goth rock. Phoebe also writes poetry! It's really, really terrible poetry, too!
Meet Adam. Phoebe lives next door to him. He's a football player! But they're BFF anyway! He's so forward thinking! And he has a crush on her! Does she like him?! Sometimes when Adam and Phoebe need a heart-to-heart, they toss around the Frisbee. Now that's character development!
Meet Margi. She's Phoebe's BFF, too! And also a goth girl! But she's, like, not as open-minded as Phoebe. She also talks a lot. Sometimes this annoys Phoebe!! OMG!
Meet Tommy. He's dead. That's right. Dead. You see, some teenagers are returning from the dead. Only teenagers and only in America. Do we know why? No! It's just, like, happening! This freaks most people out, but not Phoebe! She's perfectly fine with it (because she's goth!!!) and she ropes Margi and Adam into joining an outreach program to help understand the 'differently biotic'. Also, Phoebe is totes crushing on Tommy!
But trouble's a-brewing...
... and I wish I could divulge in every sordid detail, but I've already wasted hours of my life reading and/or thinking about this book. What I will say is this: Waters writes with about as much flair as a zombie. Despite having a clever and potentially amusing idea, he mangles the narrative by shifting character point-of-view, often in a single paragraph. On top of that, he strings together multiple red herrings without ever explaining a single one and (much like Stephenie Meyer), his narrative trundles along for 350 pages before it occurs to him to have a denouement. His worst offense, though, is bludgeoning the reader with didactic, ham-fisted observations about prejudice, which, given the context, could have been searing. Instead it is delivered in absurd statements like, "Senator Mallory from Idaho introduced [The Undead Citizens Act:] by comparing differently biotic people to illegal immigrants." (Waters follows this observation up with... nothing. It's dropped as quickly as it's introduced.)
Some idiot from Kirkus Reviews had the audacity to liken Daniel Waters to John Green. I would like to bathe that reviewer in the rivers of projectile vomiting I spewed after reading the treacly, sappy ending to this godawful book (and thinking about all the 390 pages of garbage that came before it).
March 2, 2018
In its Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that separate schools for black and white students were unconstitutional. The schools for whites were often superior to their counterparts for black students and consequently the separate schools offered very different educational opportunities. This ruling was key to the civil rights movement and efforts to end segregation.
On September 3, 1957, nine black students were barred from entry into Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas. By September 23, after another court decision ruled that Arkansas’ governor could not keep them out, the Little Rock Nine were able to begin their school year in the white high school. President Eisenhower also sent the 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock to help protect the black students from harassment that ranged from insults to acid being thrown into one student’s face.
Eight of the Little Rock Nine finished the school year at the Central High. In May of 1958 Ernest Green graduated from the school, the only minority in his graduating class of 602 students.
Fifty years later, Daniel Waters’ debut novel Generation Dead offers a new take on integration and the fight for civil rights. In Oakvale, Connecticut parents and students alike are worried about the new students transferring to Oakvale High to benefit from the school’s program of integration. Some of the new students are minorities, some of them are not. The reason all of the new students prove worrisome to some locals is more fundamental: The new students are dead.
All over the country, dead teenagers are waking up and rejoining the living—more or less. Called “living impaired” or “differently biotic” by a politically correct society, many of the undead kids prefer the term “zombie.” No one knows why some teenagers come back and some don’t. The only certainty is that everything changed the moment these zombies began trying to reconnect with the world of the living.
Unfortunately, some (living) people would prefer to have the zombies stay dead. Permanently. Everyone child knows that names can never hurt them, but for undead teens that don’t heal sticks and stones suddenly seem much more dangerous, especially when the government has no laws to protect differently biotic citizens. After all, citizenship is supposed to expire when the citizen does, isn’t it?
In Generation Dead integration doesn’t start with a court decision detailing undead rights. Instead it starts with Tommy Williams trying out for the football team. Dead for about a year, no one expects Tommy to survive tryouts, let alone make the team. Except that he does.
Suddenly, the zombies don’t seem quite so different. Phoebe Kendall, a traditionally biotic (albeit pale) student, realizes that better than anyone as she begins to observe Tommy and the other living impaired students at her school including Tommy and Karen (the girl featured on the novel’s cover and possibly this reviewer’s favorite character). The more Phoebe sees of zombies like Tommy and Karen, the more they seem like any normal teenager, well mostly.
No one questions Phoebe’s motivations for befriending Tommy until it begins to look like the two of them are more than friends. Margi, Phoebe’s best friend and fellow Goth, can’t understand what Phoebe could see in a dead boy. Every time her neighbor Adam sees Phoebe with Tommy, he can’t help but wonder why she doesn’t feel the same way about him when he’s actually alive.
Eventually Margi and Adam come around, forming their own tentative bonds with the zombies in their midst. Meanwhile, other students at Oakvale remain hostile. Determined to make sure that the dead students invading their school stay dead for good this time, they set a vicious plan into motion that will irrevocably change everything for Phoebe and her friends—dead and alive.
Written in the third person, Waters alternates viewpoints throughout the novel. Each of the main characters mentioned here, specifically Phoebe and Adam, have sections of the novel related from their perspective. The novel even features narration from one of the students strongly opposed to the zombie presence in Oakvale. This technique, aside from demonstrating Waters’ masterful writing skills, offers a fully informed perspective on the events of the novel with its variety of viewpoints.
Upon first glance, this book looks like a quirky but not necessarily serious book. A cover with a dead cheerleader wearing biker books can have that effect on readers. And yet, even though the story is about zombies, it isn’t just another fun book. Filled with smart writing and an utterly original story, Generation Dead also adds to the ongoing conversation about tolerance and equality suggesting that people often have more in common than not. Even with zombies.
You can find this review and more on my blog Miss Print
On September 3, 1957, nine black students were barred from entry into Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas. By September 23, after another court decision ruled that Arkansas’ governor could not keep them out, the Little Rock Nine were able to begin their school year in the white high school. President Eisenhower also sent the 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock to help protect the black students from harassment that ranged from insults to acid being thrown into one student’s face.
Eight of the Little Rock Nine finished the school year at the Central High. In May of 1958 Ernest Green graduated from the school, the only minority in his graduating class of 602 students.
Fifty years later, Daniel Waters’ debut novel Generation Dead offers a new take on integration and the fight for civil rights. In Oakvale, Connecticut parents and students alike are worried about the new students transferring to Oakvale High to benefit from the school’s program of integration. Some of the new students are minorities, some of them are not. The reason all of the new students prove worrisome to some locals is more fundamental: The new students are dead.
All over the country, dead teenagers are waking up and rejoining the living—more or less. Called “living impaired” or “differently biotic” by a politically correct society, many of the undead kids prefer the term “zombie.” No one knows why some teenagers come back and some don’t. The only certainty is that everything changed the moment these zombies began trying to reconnect with the world of the living.
Unfortunately, some (living) people would prefer to have the zombies stay dead. Permanently. Everyone child knows that names can never hurt them, but for undead teens that don’t heal sticks and stones suddenly seem much more dangerous, especially when the government has no laws to protect differently biotic citizens. After all, citizenship is supposed to expire when the citizen does, isn’t it?
In Generation Dead integration doesn’t start with a court decision detailing undead rights. Instead it starts with Tommy Williams trying out for the football team. Dead for about a year, no one expects Tommy to survive tryouts, let alone make the team. Except that he does.
Suddenly, the zombies don’t seem quite so different. Phoebe Kendall, a traditionally biotic (albeit pale) student, realizes that better than anyone as she begins to observe Tommy and the other living impaired students at her school including Tommy and Karen (the girl featured on the novel’s cover and possibly this reviewer’s favorite character). The more Phoebe sees of zombies like Tommy and Karen, the more they seem like any normal teenager, well mostly.
No one questions Phoebe’s motivations for befriending Tommy until it begins to look like the two of them are more than friends. Margi, Phoebe’s best friend and fellow Goth, can’t understand what Phoebe could see in a dead boy. Every time her neighbor Adam sees Phoebe with Tommy, he can’t help but wonder why she doesn’t feel the same way about him when he’s actually alive.
Eventually Margi and Adam come around, forming their own tentative bonds with the zombies in their midst. Meanwhile, other students at Oakvale remain hostile. Determined to make sure that the dead students invading their school stay dead for good this time, they set a vicious plan into motion that will irrevocably change everything for Phoebe and her friends—dead and alive.
Written in the third person, Waters alternates viewpoints throughout the novel. Each of the main characters mentioned here, specifically Phoebe and Adam, have sections of the novel related from their perspective. The novel even features narration from one of the students strongly opposed to the zombie presence in Oakvale. This technique, aside from demonstrating Waters’ masterful writing skills, offers a fully informed perspective on the events of the novel with its variety of viewpoints.
Upon first glance, this book looks like a quirky but not necessarily serious book. A cover with a dead cheerleader wearing biker books can have that effect on readers. And yet, even though the story is about zombies, it isn’t just another fun book. Filled with smart writing and an utterly original story, Generation Dead also adds to the ongoing conversation about tolerance and equality suggesting that people often have more in common than not. Even with zombies.
You can find this review and more on my blog Miss Print
March 15, 2010
Phoebe Kendall is your typical goth girl - she wears dark clothes, applies pale makeup, and paints her nails black. What sets her apart from the crowd is that she is in love with a dead boy, named Tommy Williams. All around the nation dead teenagers have been rising from their graves and practically rebooting their souls. They are also called zombies, living impaired, differently biotic, etc. Although most of them have to wait a few minutes before forming a sentence, a special few can function almost as well as normal humans. Tommy Williams likes to play football and is also a great writer - and somehow Phoebe is attracted to him.
Generation Dead's cover is horrible. It really doesn't pertain to the book at all, and I was almost embarrassed to walk around with it. Anyway, I thought the book itself was good. I liked the concept and execution of the plot. I find most of the characters easy to relate to. I also liked how Waters made a seemingly terrifying story (dead teenagers coming back to life and being hunted) almost humorous in a way.
However, there were things I didn't like too. The ending was abrupt and clearly leads to a sequel. I found a grammatical error or two. And sometimes the characters were a bit too predictable. But other than those few qualms, Generation Dead was a refreshing and enjoyable read.
Generation Dead's cover is horrible. It really doesn't pertain to the book at all, and I was almost embarrassed to walk around with it. Anyway, I thought the book itself was good. I liked the concept and execution of the plot. I find most of the characters easy to relate to. I also liked how Waters made a seemingly terrifying story (dead teenagers coming back to life and being hunted) almost humorous in a way.
However, there were things I didn't like too. The ending was abrupt and clearly leads to a sequel. I found a grammatical error or two. And sometimes the characters were a bit too predictable. But other than those few qualms, Generation Dead was a refreshing and enjoyable read.
August 24, 2009
This book was so good! It is both a fantasy and a romance book. You can't just put it in one genre, which is what I like.
This book was great!
I loved Tommy, but Adam was so sweet!
Throughout this book, I wanted to kill Pete! He was so mean to all the DB kids! And when he killed Evan I started cying.
Then he killed Adam.
After I read the part where he died, I set the book down. Then I started crying hysterically. I just kept saying "No! He can't die! He can't. He was so nice. He can't die!"
I wanted to scream, but my mom would have freaked out!
I think the author will write a sequel because the ending is left open. There is so much more that could be added to the end of the story that writing a second book would be easy.
We still need to find out what wil happen between Phoebe and Tommy. And what will happen between her and Adam. Plus, I need to find out if Pete got away with killing Adam. I mean, you can't just let him get away with killing him.
This book was great!
I loved Tommy, but Adam was so sweet!
Throughout this book, I wanted to kill Pete! He was so mean to all the DB kids! And when he killed Evan I started cying.
Then he killed Adam.
After I read the part where he died, I set the book down. Then I started crying hysterically. I just kept saying "No! He can't die! He can't. He was so nice. He can't die!"
I wanted to scream, but my mom would have freaked out!
I think the author will write a sequel because the ending is left open. There is so much more that could be added to the end of the story that writing a second book would be easy.
We still need to find out what wil happen between Phoebe and Tommy. And what will happen between her and Adam. Plus, I need to find out if Pete got away with killing Adam. I mean, you can't just let him get away with killing him.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 24, 2009
You’ve heard of Generation "X" and Generation "Y." Get ready for Generation Dead. Generation Dead being known for its, well, undead. Science can’t explain it, and no one really knows why it happens, but American teenagers are coming back to life. Known to the living as differently biotic or the living impaired. These zombie teenagers try to "live" their undead lives, but as with any group of people that vary from the norm, there are always prejudices.
Phoebe, a Goth. girl, finds herself unexpectedly drawn to one of these so-called living impaired students, Tommy Williams. Her best friend Margi, thinks she is crazy, but Margi’s feeling for the undead are more complicated than a general dislike. Then there is Phoebe’s neighbor and childhood friend, Adam. Adam has finally realized his feeling for Phoebe, but he still can’t find the courage to tell her. Of course it doesn’t make the situation any easier when he discovers Phoebe is crushing on the dead kid.
Phoebe talks Margi and Adam into joining a work study at the Hunter Foundation, which is centered around the undead phenomenon. Unfortunately not everyone tries to be as open minded. There aren’t any laws protecting the living impaired and they are being singled out and sometimes killed again. When a student makes a personal vendetta to take out the living impaired and anyone associated with them, the situation can only end in tragedy.
Generation Dead went above and beyond what I was expecting. Sure it is about the dead, but there are so many underlying messages in this book. Prejudice is something that is very apparent, and is something that we deal within reality on a daily basis. There is a part in the book in chapter 16, where they have a guest speaker so to sort in their undead studies program, basically they are discussing how they can acclimate the undead into society. I have to say that the dialogue of the speaker, totally blew me away. I think I read it maybe three of four times and I just kept thinking, if only, if only acceptance and change were and could be that easy, the world would be a better place. But anyway, as for the rest of the story, characters were beyond three dimensional, I felt like I knew these kids, and they continued to develop throughout the entire story, I mean literally up until the last page, I loved it! The plot was totally original and kept me turning the pages until the late hours of the night. I love Waters writing style, it’s engrossing yet simple, can that even be possible! The story was full of wit and humor, and I was totally captured! Obviously I really liked/love this book. It comes out on May 6th and I strongly suggest you pick up a copy. There is just something about it, it’s different and fresh!
Phoebe, a Goth. girl, finds herself unexpectedly drawn to one of these so-called living impaired students, Tommy Williams. Her best friend Margi, thinks she is crazy, but Margi’s feeling for the undead are more complicated than a general dislike. Then there is Phoebe’s neighbor and childhood friend, Adam. Adam has finally realized his feeling for Phoebe, but he still can’t find the courage to tell her. Of course it doesn’t make the situation any easier when he discovers Phoebe is crushing on the dead kid.
Phoebe talks Margi and Adam into joining a work study at the Hunter Foundation, which is centered around the undead phenomenon. Unfortunately not everyone tries to be as open minded. There aren’t any laws protecting the living impaired and they are being singled out and sometimes killed again. When a student makes a personal vendetta to take out the living impaired and anyone associated with them, the situation can only end in tragedy.
Generation Dead went above and beyond what I was expecting. Sure it is about the dead, but there are so many underlying messages in this book. Prejudice is something that is very apparent, and is something that we deal within reality on a daily basis. There is a part in the book in chapter 16, where they have a guest speaker so to sort in their undead studies program, basically they are discussing how they can acclimate the undead into society. I have to say that the dialogue of the speaker, totally blew me away. I think I read it maybe three of four times and I just kept thinking, if only, if only acceptance and change were and could be that easy, the world would be a better place. But anyway, as for the rest of the story, characters were beyond three dimensional, I felt like I knew these kids, and they continued to develop throughout the entire story, I mean literally up until the last page, I loved it! The plot was totally original and kept me turning the pages until the late hours of the night. I love Waters writing style, it’s engrossing yet simple, can that even be possible! The story was full of wit and humor, and I was totally captured! Obviously I really liked/love this book. It comes out on May 6th and I strongly suggest you pick up a copy. There is just something about it, it’s different and fresh!
March 12, 2014
(Source: I own a copy of this book.)
Some teenagers in America are dying, and then becoming reanimated. The description the government is using is ‘living impaired’ but the other kids just call them Zombies.
Phoebe is a Goth, and seems to be developing an attraction to one of the zombies called Tommy.
Can a norm and a zombie be together though? And what will everyone else say if they do start a relationship?
This was an okay story, but it was a bit dull at times.
Phoebe was a bit of an odd character. I understand that love isn’t easy, and that people don’t necessarily have a choice over who they love, but extending that to a zombie is just a little too much like necrophilia for me.
The storyline in this was okay, but it was a bit too slow. Not a lot happened for a 400 pages book, and it seemed to take a long while to get through. I got the idea of trying to help the ‘living impaired’ to become accepted members of society, but I could also see how difficult that was going to be, and I wasn��t surprised that some members of society were hailing the living dead as the first sign of an impending apocalypse.
There were a few events in this book that I’m guessing where supposed to be exciting, but I can’t say I was really excited, and at times I really couldn’t believe how long it took these kids to work out what was going on, as I seemed to know way ahead of them!
There was some romance in this, but I just couldn’t get past the fact that Tommy was a zombie. I had this problem with ‘Warm Bodies’, although I have to say that this book wasn’t as bad as that one. Tommy was less zombie-like than expected I suppose, and I could see how Phoebe might be attracted to him, but still; necrophilia. What liking Tommy boils down to is fancying a corpse, which is just wrong I’m afraid. Vampires are one thing, but zombies are something else entirely.
The end to this was basically a big cliff-hanger. I suppose I should be grateful that I already have the next book ready to read, but those next 400 pages are looking quite long right about now.
Overall; an okay, if overly long story,
6.5 out of 10.
Some teenagers in America are dying, and then becoming reanimated. The description the government is using is ‘living impaired’ but the other kids just call them Zombies.
Phoebe is a Goth, and seems to be developing an attraction to one of the zombies called Tommy.
Can a norm and a zombie be together though? And what will everyone else say if they do start a relationship?
This was an okay story, but it was a bit dull at times.
Phoebe was a bit of an odd character. I understand that love isn’t easy, and that people don’t necessarily have a choice over who they love, but extending that to a zombie is just a little too much like necrophilia for me.
The storyline in this was okay, but it was a bit too slow. Not a lot happened for a 400 pages book, and it seemed to take a long while to get through. I got the idea of trying to help the ‘living impaired’ to become accepted members of society, but I could also see how difficult that was going to be, and I wasn��t surprised that some members of society were hailing the living dead as the first sign of an impending apocalypse.
There were a few events in this book that I’m guessing where supposed to be exciting, but I can’t say I was really excited, and at times I really couldn’t believe how long it took these kids to work out what was going on, as I seemed to know way ahead of them!
There was some romance in this, but I just couldn’t get past the fact that Tommy was a zombie. I had this problem with ‘Warm Bodies’, although I have to say that this book wasn’t as bad as that one. Tommy was less zombie-like than expected I suppose, and I could see how Phoebe might be attracted to him, but still; necrophilia. What liking Tommy boils down to is fancying a corpse, which is just wrong I’m afraid. Vampires are one thing, but zombies are something else entirely.
The end to this was basically a big cliff-hanger. I suppose I should be grateful that I already have the next book ready to read, but those next 400 pages are looking quite long right about now.
Overall; an okay, if overly long story,
6.5 out of 10.
November 30, 2009
Possible one of the worst books I have ever forced myself to finish. It starts out as a typical teen sci-fi book about american teens who have started to rise from the grave. It merges into the authors barely disguised soap box rant about society and racism (for which the story falters and becomes a very distant second priority). When the focus finally returns to the story ( in the last dozen pages) the author hurredly whaps a bow on the ending saying that the reason some zombies are more capable than others is ..... love. He then shoots, kills, and ressurects a main character on the last page before the book abruptly ends. I am a well known lover of the paranormal and the cheesy, but this book surpasses even my high tolerance for cheese. I rank this a boo and a hiss.
August 24, 2009
2.5 - I really wanted to like this book. YA, zombies, cool cover - how could I not love it? I expected a funny story judging by all of the reviews and I think that is where the let down happened. This book is quite serious. It's really about intolerance and how people hate. There is startling zombie violence throughout the book. There are funny parts but overall this is not a lighthearted read. This is not a bad book but it wasn't what I was expecting. After the abrupt ending, I'm left feeling sad and kind of letdown.
September 1, 2015
I expected a light zombie book.
Instead I got a pretty deep look into prejudice and "social acceptable terms" and all kinds of political soapbox discussions about accepting kids who've died and how to change society to accept them.
Near the end, it finally became more about the character and I enjoyed that more.
I especially don't like the POV changes. They are mid-chpater and mid-paragraph sometimes. It's jarring and complete distracts from the story. A simple break squiggly, change in chapter, etc, would make the transition so much easier.
Instead I got a pretty deep look into prejudice and "social acceptable terms" and all kinds of political soapbox discussions about accepting kids who've died and how to change society to accept them.
Near the end, it finally became more about the character and I enjoyed that more.
I especially don't like the POV changes. They are mid-chpater and mid-paragraph sometimes. It's jarring and complete distracts from the story. A simple break squiggly, change in chapter, etc, would make the transition so much easier.
July 19, 2024
2024
2020
I liked it, even though it could be a bit *dead* at times. Some scenes just seemed to drag on forever. Otherwise, I really liked how realistic the story was. Of course, that is exactly how you would expect your typical person to react to a "living impaired" person. They aren't just going to open their arms and welcome them into the fold. Even the teenagers own parents would turn them away the majority of the time.
I did find it weird that the author decided to confine the living dead to only America, though. I could understand the age limitation (because this is a young adult book, so it makes sense to have the "living impaired" be young adults), but, to me, it doesn't make sense that it would be region specific.
I also found it strange that the living impaired didn't need to eat or drink. Like, anything. At all. I get that having them chomp down on brains and stuff probably wouldn't have endeared them back into society and all that, but it doesn't make sense that they literally eat nothing to "survive." Even plants have to have some sort of nutritional values in order to survive, so why wouldn't they? And then, Karen, started eating apples and drinking coffee, but it was never explained as to where everything went or how that worked or even the purpose to included that into the story.
2020
I liked it, even though it could be a bit *dead* at times. Some scenes just seemed to drag on forever. Otherwise, I really liked how realistic the story was. Of course, that is exactly how you would expect your typical person to react to a "living impaired" person. They aren't just going to open their arms and welcome them into the fold. Even the teenagers own parents would turn them away the majority of the time.
I did find it weird that the author decided to confine the living dead to only America, though. I could understand the age limitation (because this is a young adult book, so it makes sense to have the "living impaired" be young adults), but, to me, it doesn't make sense that it would be region specific.
I also found it strange that the living impaired didn't need to eat or drink. Like, anything. At all. I get that having them chomp down on brains and stuff probably wouldn't have endeared them back into society and all that, but it doesn't make sense that they literally eat nothing to "survive." Even plants have to have some sort of nutritional values in order to survive, so why wouldn't they? And then, Karen, started eating apples and drinking coffee, but it was never explained as to where everything went or how that worked or even the purpose to included that into the story.
November 1, 2011
More of a 1.5 score. I'm being generous.
Well, I'm glad that's over. Let's see. What was the worst part? The completely uneventful plot? The lifeless characters that, ironically, were not the zombies? The lackluster romance? The completely ridiculous bad guy that in several occasions told our brilliant protagonists that he planned to kill everyone yet they still scratched their heads wondering who was hurting their friends or simply ignored the threats in favor of parties? One thing is clear, I am not reading the next one. Can't believe I spent my birthday reading this.
Well, I'm glad that's over. Let's see. What was the worst part? The completely uneventful plot? The lifeless characters that, ironically, were not the zombies? The lackluster romance? The completely ridiculous bad guy that in several occasions told our brilliant protagonists that he planned to kill everyone yet they still scratched their heads wondering who was hurting their friends or simply ignored the threats in favor of parties? One thing is clear, I am not reading the next one. Can't believe I spent my birthday reading this.
December 5, 2011
Welps! I finally did it! I read Generation Dead ! And while most of you have reviewed this book I relly won't go into too much detail.
Basically:
If you are a teenager and you die you can come back to life. Small Town school is now over-populated with zombies and it's a regular Civil Rights Movement for equal equlity. Parents and kids aren't too thrilled about the new students but there is a group of kids that is willing to chain arms and go all "Occupy Wall Street" with them.
It's pretty much a new form of racism that puts the living against the dead.
Ok ok... So, yeah... if you haven't read the book then that won't make much sense but I'm not really wanting to get into it because trust me... EVERYONE has reviewed this book.
I've been told by some of my friends that I need to read this. That they uber love and they think that I will too. Sadly, this book wasn't really for me. I found it a bit too middle school for me. Like, for instance, there is a gang called the PAIN CREW that is just a bunch of football bullies that want to inflict PAIN on their rivals. Uhh... and they call themselves THE PAIN CREW. THat just seemed a bit Middle Schoolish to me.
Another thing was two girls that called themselves WEIRD SISTERS. Again... Middle School. I can't really remember having GANGS and CREWS like that back in high school. But I can totally remember that kind of stuff in Middle School.
So, in my opinion this book should have been toned down to a middle grade level. I just wonder what sixteen year old would love this book. Maybe a fourteen year old, but I talked to my son about it and he wanted to know if the zombies ate brains or flesh or turned other people into zombies by biting them and when I told him "NO" he then deemed the book Lame.
But I have to admit. The one theory they have about the kids coming back as zombies due to immunizations is very clever. Kudos to the author for thinking that one up.
Now, the characters.
I really didn't know what to expect when reading this book. I felt that it was either going to be like DARK MOON DIARY or maybe some form of MONSTER HIGH. I think I probably would have liked it better if it had been.
Now... what about them characters?
Pete reminded me of ROGER KLOTZ from DOUG.
The Pain Crew can be played by Roger's gang.
Adam reminded me of ARCHIE ANDREWS.
And all the girls were basically like MONSTER HIGH DOLLS but with huge vocabularies.
Now, back to the DARK MOON DIARY.... I really think that I would have enjoyed this book more if it had been a comic book. Even a chibi kind of cute ToykoPop comic book. I know I would have loved it then. In booky wook form it just kinda bored me.
CUTE!!
The ENDING
I feel that the ending should have stopped around page 380 when Pete pulled the trigger. I don't think we should have known who was shot. That would have probably pushed my rating up a bit. Just for that one little bit.
What about another?
I don't know if I'll be able to read the next one. Darkfallen has told me that it is better but it's just another teenage book based at a school and I have such a problem with them unless they are comic books. I'm not sure I'll be able to handle it.
Would I recommend this book?
Well, I think a 12 or 13 year old would love this book. And I totally would let them read it. Sure, there is a tad bit of cussing but it's nothing that they aren't going to hear off tv. Plus, the book sets a good message about equal rights.
What about me?
Well, like I said, it was based around a school and I thought it was going to be more fun. I just didn't have fun with it. I tried it, gave it a spin, and now am going to pass it to my little neighbor girl down the street.
It kind of had the feel of ABC FAMILY CHANNEL series. I'm not really into those but I'm sure if it was to become one it would be huge :)
So not for me but maybe for you ;)
June 14, 2015
Generation Dead by Daniel Waters
First in the Generation Dead series
4 stars
Whimsical Writing Scale: 3.5
Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 4
Swoon Worthy Scale: Adam- 4.25 Tommy-4.25
Villain Scale: 4
Character Scale: 4.5
Plotastic Scale: 4.5
Cover Thoughts: I like the cover. It’s not a girl in a dress, yes she’s in a cheer uniform, but I feel like it fits the story in a way. The cover is well done.
First in the Generation Dead series
4 stars
Phoebe Kendall is your typical high school Goth girl. She wears the clothes, the makeup, listens to “Goth” music, and loves black. She and her BFF, Margi, have a common bond when it comes to all things black and combat boots. Her best guy friend is Adam (who is finally realizing that he is in love with her and of course Phoebe is completely oblivious to this). Now she has mixed feelings toward a guy… but he’s not just any guy. He’s a zombie! Teenagers all around the U.S. have been sprouting out of graves and morgues, coming back to life. The catch is these zombies aren’t after your brains they just want to be treated like they are still alive. It’s refreshing to find a zombie book. Every now and then I need a break from vampires and werewolves for zombies or faeries or even witches. A friend of mine from school recommended this book to me and she was raving for a whole four minutes about how good it was and we have similar tastes so I decided that it was worth the shot. I then find out that my neighbor owned this book and she let me borrow it. Me being the book lover I am when I borrow books from people I try to read them as quickly as possible because I hate being separated from my books and I’m sure people feel the same. Giving Generation Dead a chance was a great idea. This book is supposed to be paranormal, but I felt that it touched on an important issue we face at least once in our life, discrimination. A big part of this book was the discrimination against zombies. They were constantly called names, pushed around, harassed, rejected from groups and clubs. This book properly executed a touchy subject in a light way. The book focused mainly on Phoebe and Adam. Phoebe and Adam are childhood friends and Adam is starting to realize he has feelings for Phoebe that go beyond friendship. They both had alternating POVs, which I’ll touch on my thoughts later. There was another POV, from Pete, one of the meanest guys in school. I’ll talk about thoughts on POVS in character sections. The writing isn’t the best writing, but it’s easy to read and light.
Whimsical Writing Scale: 3.5
The main female character is Phoebe. Phoebe is supposed to be the star of this novel, but she seems to get just as much spotlight as even minor characters do. Phoebe was hard to connect to at times, but I still liked her character and thought she had an interesting voice. Phoebe wants peace between the zombies and people, but she realizes that it’s easier said than done. I don’t think Phoebe knows what she wants when it comes to boys. I felt that she loved Adam and Tommy only has friends. I know they are supposed to be her love interests, but it’s hard for me to believe she could end up with either of these boys.
Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 4
The main male characters are Adam and Tommy. Adam gets his own POV and I didn’t like him at first, but as the story progressed and he became more accepting of zombies and broke away from what everyone else thought and became his own person I started to like him a lot more. He’s a great guy but it takes a while to realize that. Tommy is the zombie boy. I liked Tommy just as much as I like Adam. I think he’s a great character and I want to find out more about him because I feel like there’s still more to him. The discrimination he faced in this novel was heartbreaking. I like both of these boys and if I had to choose who Phoebe ended up with in the end I’d say neither because I like them and don’t think they need to face more heartbreak or unfairness.
Swoon Worthy Scale: Adam- 4.25 Tommy-4.25
The Villain- Pete is the villain of this story and he gets his own POV. I love when villains get their own POV and I love even more when you don’t know what their plans are for evil. A villain POV in YA is rare, at least to me it is become I haven’t come across it often. Pete is a truly complex character. I hate him so much, but at the same time I want him to be happy. The one girl Pete loved more than anything died around the time that the zombies started to rise and he hoped she would rise too. Of course you can guess that didn’t happen and then that’s pretty much where his hate for zombies stemmed. Pete was already a bully and I think he’ll always be one, but he is very discriminative towards zombies. Pete is a character that makes you think about what can cause such hate towards a race, religion, or disorder. He is the perfect villain for this story.
Villain Scale: 4
Margi is Phoebe’s best friend and she annoyed me a lot, but I eventually started to like her more than I originally had. Karen and Colette were two zombies that were mentioned a lot in this novel. Karen was cool and I look forward to getting to know her in upcoming books and Colette is Phoebe and Margi’s best friend. I think she should’ve played a bigger role than she did. I felt she didn’t get to shine like she should’ve.
Character Scale: 4.5
This was a great novel and I feel like the only thing that really made it lack the five start rating was the lack of character depth. I think there could’ve been more. I did enjoy the characters, but I also feel they were lacking. The problems talked about in this novel are well done and should be taken into consideration. Overall I enjoyed Generation Dead and that ending left me wanting to know what happens next.
Plotastic Scale: 4.5
Cover Thoughts: I like the cover. It’s not a girl in a dress, yes she’s in a cheer uniform, but I feel like it fits the story in a way. The cover is well done.
July 23, 2019
3.1 stars
Decently written. It had somewhat of a campy and early 2000's feel (since this book did come out in 2008) that i appreciated. I'm also interested to see if we will get any chapters from the third person perspective of Tommy or the other zombie teens. So while i can't say i enjoyed this book it still was a decent read
Decently written. It had somewhat of a campy and early 2000's feel (since this book did come out in 2008) that i appreciated. I'm also interested to see if we will get any chapters from the third person perspective of Tommy or the other zombie teens. So while i can't say i enjoyed this book it still was a decent read
June 12, 2024
Would anyone else rate this book 4⭐️? Probably not.
Am I rating this 4⭐️ out of pure nostalgia? Yes.
This book was one of my favorite books from high school which shows how old I am. I found book 2 at the thrift store and had to reread to refresh my memory.
This book really hits some good topics about discrimination while using a fictional world to do it. Now that I am reading it as an adult I can see the topics through out the book.
Am I rating this 4⭐️ out of pure nostalgia? Yes.
This book was one of my favorite books from high school which shows how old I am. I found book 2 at the thrift store and had to reread to refresh my memory.
This book really hits some good topics about discrimination while using a fictional world to do it. Now that I am reading it as an adult I can see the topics through out the book.
June 22, 2011
This isn't a bad read. It's certainly not spectacular either though. I've read reviews where they have compared this novel with 'Twilight' but with zombies instead of vampires; it's not, it's better written than that, and nowhere near as annoying or cringe-worthy.
The concept of the novel was good - I'm a big zombie fan and this is the first time I've read anything where the undead do not go shuffling around eating brains, but instead, try to incorporate themselves into living society as much as they can. If I'm honest, I much prefer the brain eating kind of zombie - they're much more fun.
Generally speaking, this book is about the concept of hatred and acceptance, and Waters does give some nice philosophy and metaphors regarding both. It explores the prejudices between the living and the living dead, and draws interesting comparisons/parallels between racial discrimination. At first, this was handled quite well but then got so repetitive that I just became bored with it.
What annoyed me most whilst reading this novel however, were the characters. They were all so stereotypical (e.g. the goth girl who has a 'thing' for the zombie boy, because of course all goths secretly harbour necrophiliac intentions and write emotional poetry).
The writing wasn't overly impressive either but not so bad that it made me cringe. Also, near the end of the novel the editing, or lack thereof, becomes rather lax. The ending of the book was so predictable but sets it up quite nicely for the sequel. I did feel whilst reading this book that Waters was too busy trying to set the series up rather than focus on the individual novel, leaving the plot quite thin on the ground and a lot of things unexplained, such as WHY it is only American teenagers are returning from the dead (I'm assuming will be explained in the sequels but was still a disappointment that Waters did not go into much depth here).
All in all, an ok read, but I'm certainly in no rush to read the sequels just yet.
The concept of the novel was good - I'm a big zombie fan and this is the first time I've read anything where the undead do not go shuffling around eating brains, but instead, try to incorporate themselves into living society as much as they can. If I'm honest, I much prefer the brain eating kind of zombie - they're much more fun.
Generally speaking, this book is about the concept of hatred and acceptance, and Waters does give some nice philosophy and metaphors regarding both. It explores the prejudices between the living and the living dead, and draws interesting comparisons/parallels between racial discrimination. At first, this was handled quite well but then got so repetitive that I just became bored with it.
What annoyed me most whilst reading this novel however, were the characters. They were all so stereotypical (e.g. the goth girl who has a 'thing' for the zombie boy, because of course all goths secretly harbour necrophiliac intentions and write emotional poetry).
The writing wasn't overly impressive either but not so bad that it made me cringe. Also, near the end of the novel the editing, or lack thereof, becomes rather lax. The ending of the book was so predictable but sets it up quite nicely for the sequel. I did feel whilst reading this book that Waters was too busy trying to set the series up rather than focus on the individual novel, leaving the plot quite thin on the ground and a lot of things unexplained, such as WHY it is only American teenagers are returning from the dead (I'm assuming will be explained in the sequels but was still a disappointment that Waters did not go into much depth here).
All in all, an ok read, but I'm certainly in no rush to read the sequels just yet.
August 24, 2009
OK I FINALLY finished this. It took forever because this book is way longer than it needs to be. Where was your editor, Daniel Waters?
Anyways, good concept, mediocre execution. The prose is often awkward, talking about feelings instead of just feeeeeling them. Also not sure why there are three POVs; I think Phoebe's alone would have sufficed.
Also a lot of loose ends! The white van? The foundation? Is the love thing true? Why DID kids start coming back? Why just US teens? Way more doors opened than closed, and it wouldn't have annoyed me as much if the book hadn't been so ridiculously overwritten, because, look, if you want to ride that big of a word count, you'd better get A LOT accomplished. (And if you don't want to, don't bring up so much!)
I sort of hope a stricter editor does come along, and Waters writes a sequel. I would read it! I have questions! Please answer them!
I wavered between one and two stars, but I'm going with two because I admire the concept, and I think the metaphors and such re: the zombies are at least very well-intentioned.
Anyways, good concept, mediocre execution. The prose is often awkward, talking about feelings instead of just feeeeeling them. Also not sure why there are three POVs; I think Phoebe's alone would have sufficed.
Also a lot of loose ends! The white van? The foundation? Is the love thing true? Why DID kids start coming back? Why just US teens? Way more doors opened than closed, and it wouldn't have annoyed me as much if the book hadn't been so ridiculously overwritten, because, look, if you want to ride that big of a word count, you'd better get A LOT accomplished. (And if you don't want to, don't bring up so much!)
I sort of hope a stricter editor does come along, and Waters writes a sequel. I would read it! I have questions! Please answer them!
I wavered between one and two stars, but I'm going with two because I admire the concept, and I think the metaphors and such re: the zombies are at least very well-intentioned.
August 24, 2009
Okay, I admit: I hated it for the first fifty-or-so pages. But it got better as it went along, and somewhere in the middle I found myself getting hooked. It wasn't as shallow as I expected it to be; in fact, parts of it were pretty sad and even powerful. I felt like it wasn't quite as good as it had the potential to be, though. It would've been REALLY good if the plot and characters had just been developed a LITTLE bit more. For most of the book, I kept asking, "Wait, WHY are these kids coming back from the dead?!" and it took me quite a while to realize that nobody actually knew why. For some reason, I was convinced that the kids were part of some weird science experiment or something. But anyway, the book never explains why this is happening. Plus the end was depressing and seemed a little abrupt. Anybody know if there's supposed to be a sequel?
Anyway, it was good. I liked it. I recommend it. :)
Anyway, it was good. I liked it. I recommend it. :)
July 7, 2011
I bought this because I thought the idea of teenagers dying and coming back dead quite original but I was very dissappointed. There were some moments that I thought that it might be going somewhere but a lot of it was predictable-girl falls for the new guy but has a boy bestfriend who gets jelous. Nevertheless, I stuck with the story and it was ok so I decided to get the next book, knowing that sometimes the second book is much better than the first. It was, but not enough for me to carry on and read the third book. If anybody is thinking of reading it I would say to you to borrow the book from your local library and give it a go because it could've just been not my taste but you might like it. The storyline did improve but it wasn't my cup of tea.
July 29, 2024
dnf 49%
A heavy handed metaphor for racism with a non-satisfying plot and characters that lack personality or spark of life. Puns intended.
In more detail, we follow yet another goth - I'm not like other - girl in a small rural high school. You'd think these goth kids would learn. Much like Vampire Kisses, there is a football popular guy who seems to be obsessed with her despite also hating her. Men are weird, what can I say?
Our MC does have a bestie who is also a goth, and she's also got this guy called Adam who's basically her real BFF but he's also a football jock who has been ignoring her at school for the last few years. Outside of school it's fine...
Anyway, he's very much in love with her a la Matt from The Vampire diaries. Except Adam has a whole ass girlfriend and instead follows Phoebe around like a puppy the whole book and I don’t think we even get told the girlfriend’s name.
We touch on some difficult home life stuff for him too, but it’s really to focused on.
Essentially, this is what's up with the zombies:
Several years ago, a kid died in a store robbery and then he came back to life.
Since then teenagers and only teenagers have been going all iZombie. Not all of them do, and they all have varying degrees of...well, being dead. Some seem more alert than others, but they also don't seem like the same people exactly. They can't age, can't cry, can't breathe etc, but they don't eat brains. One of the zombie girls at their high school is their former best friend Colette.
The main characters get pulled into an inclusion program to help people accept Zombies. Obviously that goes about as well as it went when the first black girl went to an all white high school. Yes, an obvious racial allegory, including the white men being threatened by the main character having an interest in a zombie boy.
The problem is, this is a book with zombies, but it doesn't feel like one. The background of what happened or why, the zombies themselves are large just a metaphor and not very well used. The love interest (?) Tommy barely even speaks. At least R in Warm Bodies has a personality and does things to indicate that even when he can't really speak more than a few words.
I ended up throwing in the towel because, while I wouldn't have minded if the book had just been an exploration of racism in high school, it tries to frame it as a sci fi with mystery and depth, when the only depth is the deapths of boredom I reached.
Some interesting topics came up;
Bullying, abuse, alcoholic parents, parental abandonment (not unlike the type you get with LBGT+ kids), forbidden love, classism, sexism, sexual harassment etc. While I appreciate these topics being addressed, if you're going to frame it within a zombie novel, you need to focus on that instead of the petty teen archetypes.
The novel may have also been more interesting if we weren't also instead the heads of almost everyone:
Phoebe, Pete (the bully) , Adam and had instead left us guessing what the bad guy would do instead of him telling us and how he's had a hard time too. I get it.
A heavy handed metaphor for racism with a non-satisfying plot and characters that lack personality or spark of life. Puns intended.
In more detail, we follow yet another goth - I'm not like other - girl in a small rural high school. You'd think these goth kids would learn. Much like Vampire Kisses, there is a football popular guy who seems to be obsessed with her despite also hating her. Men are weird, what can I say?
Our MC does have a bestie who is also a goth, and she's also got this guy called Adam who's basically her real BFF but he's also a football jock who has been ignoring her at school for the last few years. Outside of school it's fine...
Anyway, he's very much in love with her a la Matt from The Vampire diaries. Except Adam has a whole ass girlfriend and instead follows Phoebe around like a puppy the whole book and I don’t think we even get told the girlfriend’s name.
We touch on some difficult home life stuff for him too, but it’s really to focused on.
Essentially, this is what's up with the zombies:
Several years ago, a kid died in a store robbery and then he came back to life.
Since then teenagers and only teenagers have been going all iZombie. Not all of them do, and they all have varying degrees of...well, being dead. Some seem more alert than others, but they also don't seem like the same people exactly. They can't age, can't cry, can't breathe etc, but they don't eat brains. One of the zombie girls at their high school is their former best friend Colette.
The main characters get pulled into an inclusion program to help people accept Zombies. Obviously that goes about as well as it went when the first black girl went to an all white high school. Yes, an obvious racial allegory, including the white men being threatened by the main character having an interest in a zombie boy.
The problem is, this is a book with zombies, but it doesn't feel like one. The background of what happened or why, the zombies themselves are large just a metaphor and not very well used. The love interest (?) Tommy barely even speaks. At least R in Warm Bodies has a personality and does things to indicate that even when he can't really speak more than a few words.
I ended up throwing in the towel because, while I wouldn't have minded if the book had just been an exploration of racism in high school, it tries to frame it as a sci fi with mystery and depth, when the only depth is the deapths of boredom I reached.
Some interesting topics came up;
Bullying, abuse, alcoholic parents, parental abandonment (not unlike the type you get with LBGT+ kids), forbidden love, classism, sexism, sexual harassment etc. While I appreciate these topics being addressed, if you're going to frame it within a zombie novel, you need to focus on that instead of the petty teen archetypes.
The novel may have also been more interesting if we weren't also instead the heads of almost everyone:
Phoebe, Pete (the bully) , Adam and had instead left us guessing what the bad guy would do instead of him telling us and how he's had a hard time too. I get it.
June 9, 2023
INSPIRATIONAL, GENERATIONAL, FUNNIEST BOOK I HAVE READ IN YEARS!
October 22, 2017
"No esperes a morir para amar"
August 24, 2009
Get ready for the next sensation: waking up after you’ve died.
It started with one strange case, and now it’s happening to more and more American teens. But having a second chance doesn’t make living, or whatever their existence is called, any easier for these “living impaired” or ���differently biotic” teens. They face much discrimination, fear, and hatred, and they don’t have any legal rights either. That means anyone who hates them enough can destroy them – and the differently biotic won’t be able to come back after their second death.
Most people are terrified of the differently biotic, but Phoebe is actually attracted to their leader, Tommy Williams. This makes Phoebe’s best friend Margi uncomfortable because of what happened to their other friend Colette. Phoebe’s other good friend Adam is just realizing his deeper feelings for Phoebe, and he doesn’t quite know how to deal with the fact that Phoebe likes Tommy. Add in Pete, a football player who hates the differently biotic with a passion, and you have the incredible novel Generation Dead.
Daniel Waters proves himself to be an exceptionally talented writer with this debut. This story is fast-paced and incredibly unique, and I was impressed with how Waters took on the philosophical topic of death (or undeath, in this case). I liked how each character’s past influenced the decisions they made and the mysteriousness that surrounded others. I can honestly say Generation Dead was one of the best-written and most unique stories I have ever read.
Generation Dead was an incredibly amazing novel, and it has the potential to be made into a series, which I hope happens. I most definitely recommend this novel to anyone and everyone, especially fans of the Twilight series and other vampire novels. I suggest everyone run to the nearest bookstore on May 6 before Generation Dead gets sold out.
reposted from http://thebookmuncher.blogspot.com
It started with one strange case, and now it’s happening to more and more American teens. But having a second chance doesn’t make living, or whatever their existence is called, any easier for these “living impaired” or ���differently biotic” teens. They face much discrimination, fear, and hatred, and they don’t have any legal rights either. That means anyone who hates them enough can destroy them – and the differently biotic won’t be able to come back after their second death.
Most people are terrified of the differently biotic, but Phoebe is actually attracted to their leader, Tommy Williams. This makes Phoebe’s best friend Margi uncomfortable because of what happened to their other friend Colette. Phoebe’s other good friend Adam is just realizing his deeper feelings for Phoebe, and he doesn’t quite know how to deal with the fact that Phoebe likes Tommy. Add in Pete, a football player who hates the differently biotic with a passion, and you have the incredible novel Generation Dead.
Daniel Waters proves himself to be an exceptionally talented writer with this debut. This story is fast-paced and incredibly unique, and I was impressed with how Waters took on the philosophical topic of death (or undeath, in this case). I liked how each character’s past influenced the decisions they made and the mysteriousness that surrounded others. I can honestly say Generation Dead was one of the best-written and most unique stories I have ever read.
Generation Dead was an incredibly amazing novel, and it has the potential to be made into a series, which I hope happens. I most definitely recommend this novel to anyone and everyone, especially fans of the Twilight series and other vampire novels. I suggest everyone run to the nearest bookstore on May 6 before Generation Dead gets sold out.
reposted from http://thebookmuncher.blogspot.com
September 28, 2009
Generation Dead is an amazing new YA series.
I was instantly hooked. I love that it has action and it's paced, but it's really interesting. Yo learn a whole new life and the story behind the 'living impared'(or zombies) which the zombies rather be called(by those who mean no harm in the word).
The characters are easy to get attached too, Daniel Waters really grasped teenagers(male and female). I like Phoebe and Adams humor towards eachother and how they can trust eachother with stuff that they don't trust anyone else with. And Phoebe and Tommy are also good together, because they truly want a friendship even though it's looked upon strangly. It's an interesting relationship and I cannot wait to see how all the relationships grow in the second in the installment.
Synopsis:
All over the country, a strange phenomenon is occuring. Some teenagers who die aren't staying dead. Termed "living impaired" or "differently biotic," they are doing their best to fit into a society that doesn't want them.
Fitting in is hard enough when you don't have the look or attitude, but when almost everyone else is alive and you're not, it's close to impossible. The kids at Oakdale High don't want to take classes or eat in the cafeteria next to someone who isn't breathing. And there are no laws to protect the differently biotic from the people who want them to disappear - for good.
With her pale skin and goth wardrobe, Phoebe has never run with the popular crowd. But on one can believe it when she falls for Tommy Williams, the leader of the dead kids. Not her best friend, Margi, whose fear of the differently biotic is deeply rooted in guilt over the past. And especially not her neighbor, Adam, the star of the football team. Recently, Adam has realized that his feelings for Phoebe run much deeper than just friendship. He would do anything for her; but what if protecting Tommy is the one thing that would make her happy?
I was instantly hooked. I love that it has action and it's paced, but it's really interesting. Yo learn a whole new life and the story behind the 'living impared'(or zombies) which the zombies rather be called(by those who mean no harm in the word).
The characters are easy to get attached too, Daniel Waters really grasped teenagers(male and female). I like Phoebe and Adams humor towards eachother and how they can trust eachother with stuff that they don't trust anyone else with. And Phoebe and Tommy are also good together, because they truly want a friendship even though it's looked upon strangly. It's an interesting relationship and I cannot wait to see how all the relationships grow in the second in the installment.
Synopsis:
All over the country, a strange phenomenon is occuring. Some teenagers who die aren't staying dead. Termed "living impaired" or "differently biotic," they are doing their best to fit into a society that doesn't want them.
Fitting in is hard enough when you don't have the look or attitude, but when almost everyone else is alive and you're not, it's close to impossible. The kids at Oakdale High don't want to take classes or eat in the cafeteria next to someone who isn't breathing. And there are no laws to protect the differently biotic from the people who want them to disappear - for good.
With her pale skin and goth wardrobe, Phoebe has never run with the popular crowd. But on one can believe it when she falls for Tommy Williams, the leader of the dead kids. Not her best friend, Margi, whose fear of the differently biotic is deeply rooted in guilt over the past. And especially not her neighbor, Adam, the star of the football team. Recently, Adam has realized that his feelings for Phoebe run much deeper than just friendship. He would do anything for her; but what if protecting Tommy is the one thing that would make her happy?
December 27, 2011
Generation Dead by Daniel Waters was recommended to us by one of our readers, and after enduring this book, I have no idea what this person was thinking. As you may have guessed by the title, Generation Dead is a zombie story. In the movies the zombie is usually the antagonist, who spends most of its time trying to eat living humans; however, in Generation Dead, the zombies are trying to integrate into society. At this point the only zombies are teenagers, who come back after dying. Science cannot explain why they come back to life or why some of them are more animated than others.
As you might expect, there are some who are happy to have their loved one back and others who quickly abandon them out of fear. Preachers are actively saying that the dead are a sign of the coming apocalypse based in the idea that zombies are unholy. Because zombies have been declared dead they have no rights and this means that killing them is not a crime, nor is discriminating against them in many forms.
This is a book primarily about discrimination and prejudice. I don’t think it’s especially a love story (though there are elements of that) or even a YA school story - this is about discrimination, how people deal with bigotry, how bigotry affects people and the different forms of bigotry.
I’ve said before that the whole “fantastic” prejudice theme is overdone - and it is. But I’m not going to slam a book for that because I also think it can be a decent way to explore prejudice if it is done right.
Sadly, I don’t think this book did that.
It touched on many issues but didn’t really explore them. It’s also a book about prejudice told entirely through the eyes of people who don’t experience the prejudice - and oh boy have we seen them before. But it also covers a lot of issues very shallowly
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As you might expect, there are some who are happy to have their loved one back and others who quickly abandon them out of fear. Preachers are actively saying that the dead are a sign of the coming apocalypse based in the idea that zombies are unholy. Because zombies have been declared dead they have no rights and this means that killing them is not a crime, nor is discriminating against them in many forms.
This is a book primarily about discrimination and prejudice. I don’t think it’s especially a love story (though there are elements of that) or even a YA school story - this is about discrimination, how people deal with bigotry, how bigotry affects people and the different forms of bigotry.
I’ve said before that the whole “fantastic” prejudice theme is overdone - and it is. But I’m not going to slam a book for that because I also think it can be a decent way to explore prejudice if it is done right.
Sadly, I don’t think this book did that.
It touched on many issues but didn’t really explore them. It’s also a book about prejudice told entirely through the eyes of people who don’t experience the prejudice - and oh boy have we seen them before. But it also covers a lot of issues very shallowly
Read More
August 24, 2009
I was actually expecting something more from this book. A bit more POW and excitement. While the general concept was interesting the execution failed for me. Every once in awhile there will be scenes which I enjoyed and thought was humorous. For example there’s a scene where a “celebrity” gives the group a pep talk. It was funny break from all the drama and nonsense.
It was whole stereotypical characters were what mostly turned me off though. The hot, goth girl who is technically the social outcast and the super kind football player who happens to the childhood best friend. The majority of the characters I felt were two-dimensional. No true flaw, almost perfection. There was however a character that was compelling to read. It was the so called villain, Pete. He had the most spunk, the most depth, the most charisma I must say.
There was also this one awkward scene that I felt had no place in the novel, the scene with Margi and Adam. I won’t go in further depth with this one since some people despise spoilers. Speaking of scenes that had no place, about a third of the novel I felt could have been removed. It basically threw off the natural flow and just added weight to an almost good book.
Overall: A huge upset on my part. Not to say this was an awful, horrible, disgusting book. It wasn’t. It just wasn’t for me. There are plenty of other reviewers who enjoyed, and loved Generation Dead. This happens to be my opinion of it.
It was whole stereotypical characters were what mostly turned me off though. The hot, goth girl who is technically the social outcast and the super kind football player who happens to the childhood best friend. The majority of the characters I felt were two-dimensional. No true flaw, almost perfection. There was however a character that was compelling to read. It was the so called villain, Pete. He had the most spunk, the most depth, the most charisma I must say.
There was also this one awkward scene that I felt had no place in the novel, the scene with Margi and Adam. I won’t go in further depth with this one since some people despise spoilers. Speaking of scenes that had no place, about a third of the novel I felt could have been removed. It basically threw off the natural flow and just added weight to an almost good book.
Overall: A huge upset on my part. Not to say this was an awful, horrible, disgusting book. It wasn’t. It just wasn’t for me. There are plenty of other reviewers who enjoyed, and loved Generation Dead. This happens to be my opinion of it.
September 20, 2009
The concept behind Generation Dead is incredibly clever and executed well by Daniel Waters. I was expecting a book about teenage zombies - what I didn't expect was a well-written and complex young adult novel dealing with the universal themes of discrimination and acceptance. Daniel Waters blew me away with this fantastic debut!
The compelling charactersleapt shuffled off the page and into my heart. Waters never stopped developing each of his characters - they constantly evolved throughout the story and entertained me to the end and beyond. The plot was original and perfectly paced, keeping the reader turning the page to see what was coming next. The dialog was enjoyable and witty and incredibly realistic.
Generation Dead is a quirky and surprisingly deep novel. Don't judge this book by it's cover (fabulous as it may be!) It is a well-written story with a whimsicality not often found in your "typical" zombie book. I really enjoyed reading this one, and I can't wait to get my hands on book 2, Kiss of Life.
The compelling characters
Generation Dead is a quirky and surprisingly deep novel. Don't judge this book by it's cover (fabulous as it may be!) It is a well-written story with a whimsicality not often found in your "typical" zombie book. I really enjoyed reading this one, and I can't wait to get my hands on book 2, Kiss of Life.
March 18, 2010
I really enjoyed this book about the teenage Zombie's (differently biotic) trying to fit in at school and with society, the Zombies were mostly all very likable, I especially liked Karen who I think is featured on the front cover.
The ending was good and also a bit of a cliff hanger leaving you wanting to pick up the next book in the series straight away.
The ending was good and also a bit of a cliff hanger leaving you wanting to pick up the next book in the series straight away.
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