Review: This Is Not a Test by Courtney Summers

Name of book: This Is Not A Test
Author: Courtney Summers
Publication: June 19th 2012 by St. Martin's Griffin
Genre: YA Paranormal
Source: Owned

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 wantto 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?

-- My Rating --

3/5 Oscars: Liked it...

-- My Thoughts --

     I have read Courtney Summers' Cracked Up to Be and I was not happy with it. It was a little too cliché and confusing. But happily, this was much better and I have to admit that Courtney is much better in the paranormal and suspense genres than in the good ol' contemporary.
     Sloane's life was one living hell with her father, but when a dangerous flu spreads and people get all crazy and cannibal-ic, she tries to find ways to die. But being with five other teenagers in a locked-up high school who would do anything to survive, doesn't really give her much choice but to play along.
     I dove into this book expecting it to be horrific, gruesome and full of zombie-lore. While I got my share of zombie-lore, it was too little for my liking. But the lack in the plot-development was paid for by the uniqueness of the main character. Sloane is such a broken character and it was hard not to root for her. Although she made stupid decisions, the lack of anyone who cared about her in her life made up for it, somehow. I believed her motivations and her crave for love was sweet.
     Why I didn't give five stars? Well, first, there was not much action in this book, all they did was sit around and wait for the zombies to barge in and kill them. Second, most of the characters, except Sloane, were somehow poorly developed. They added charisma to the story and they had significance but I failed to sympathize with any of them. All in all, I am glad that I read this book and it was definitely unique, since I have not read anything like it before!