BEDAugust 3

Fridays are supposed to be reviews, so I guess I should try and think of something to review...um...give me a minute to think of something...oh! Oh! Oh! I've got it! Let's talk about zombies.

Zombies have become quite a phenomenon in pop culture. The Walking Dead has become so hugely popular that it's even the theme for Halloween Horror Nights, which is the park wide month long Halloween event at Universal Studios (both Orlando and Hollywood, which is rare). The movies keep coming, zombie walks are spreading from city to city, zombie bar crawls are a college campus staple, and let's not forget the very real situation in Miami. Shows, video games, movies, comics, books, websites, costumes, the list is almost endless.

I'm completely willing to admit I jumped on the zombie bandwagon without a backward glance. I've dressed up as a zombie on more than one occasion. I've read the survival guides, watched the movies, played my fair share of plants vs zombies, and participated in a couple of zombie flash mobs. I think the idea and the science can be almost as fascinating as the fiction. Of course I still prefer the fiction.

That's why I want to talk about this book, Can You Survive the Zombie Apocalypse? by Max Brallier. Meg purchased this book for me at a comic book shop and I LOVE it. It's a choose your own adventure book about the zombie apocalypse in New York City. This combines two of my favorite things, zombies and choose your own adventure, how could I not fall in love.

The book is witty and catchy, with the perfect mix of nerdy jokes and zombie killing action to keep me intrigued. I appreciated the biting commentary that popped in, and felt it added to the story. I also loved that there were almost 100 different endings to choose from (I post-it tabbed all of them so I could make sure I read every single one). Unlike most choose your own adventure books it was beefy, with lots of action and choices that weren't easily anticipated. It was written from the PoV of a man, which bothered me a few times (I would never chase a hot chick bartender), but most of the time I was able to forget that and enjoy the story.

I found that each new ending was better than the one before. I didn't know anything about New York City, and I thought at first that might be a problem, but it ended up working out for the better. I learned a bit about NYC geography and a bit more about surviving the zombie apocalypse. I got to chill in a Barnes and Noble, fight with Hell's Angels, swim to Liberty Island, and fight zombies with the nerds at NY Comicon. Each arch of the story was well developed and there was a great mix of positive and negative endings. The best part was that while most endings read "An End" there was one that read "The End". It wasn't any more final than the others, but it gave background to the story, answers to the zombie mystery, and I liked that added element.

If you like zombies read this book, if you like choose your own adventures read this book, and if you like both, BUY THIS BOOK NOW. I thouroughly enjoyed it and I have faith that you will too.

Until tomorrow.