Zombies vs Unicorns edited by Holly Black & Justine Larbalestier

 

It's a question as old as time itself: which is better, the zombie or the unicorn? In this anthology, edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier (unicorn and zombie, respectively), strong arguments are made for both sides in the form of short stories. Half of the stories portray the strengths--for good and evil--of unicorns and half show the good (and really, really bad-ass) side of zombies. Contributors include many bestselling teen authors, including Cassandra Clare, Libba Bray, Maureen Johnson, Meg Cabot, Scott Westerfeld, and Margo Lanagan. This anthology will have everyone asking: Team Zombie or Team Unicorn?

I’ve never reviewed an anthology before, so please be nice and I’ll try my best *winks*

I’ll start by saying right away that I am not a big fan of either creatures. I’ve never seek books featuring them and The Forest of Hands and Teeth (Zombies) and Rampant (Unicorns) didn’t make great impressions on me. Now that being said I was surprised to actually enjoy this anthology! Don’t get me wrong, this thing is beyond weird, but Holly and Justine are just as weird so everything worked just fine.

I enjoyed their presentation (see bickering) before each short story and thought it added a lot of personality to this rather unusual concept.

I appreciated the wide variety of stories included in this anthology, from rainbow farting Unicorns to post-apocalypse 6 billions zombies, by killer unicorns and worm infected zombies with a semblance of conscience.   Each story was unique and well thought and my favorite was Scott Westerfeld’s story: Inoculata. It features four teens living in a post-apocalypse camp surrounded by tons of zombies. One of them will find a way to get out, and the story has a very original twits this it’s crumbling zombie lore, which I liked.

There is some violence but nothing very graphic, and two stories feature gay teens, which I liked (they actually were my two favorite stories) but might not work for everyone.

Now you all wanna know if I’m team Zombies or Unicorns I bet? Well I’d have to go with team Zombies. I hate the shuffling & Crumpling kind, but I thought the best stories in the anthology from for team zombie, so I’ll side with Justine =)

I recommend this book to anyone who what’s a trip out of the ordinary. Zombies vs Unicorns is funny, sarcastic, colorful and definitely original. What’s next? Fey vs Werewolves? I’d buy that !

Team Zombies Authors	Team Unicorns Authors
Libba Bray Cassandra Clare Alaya Dawn Johnson Maureen Johnson Carrie Ryan Scott Westerfeld	Meg Cabot Kathleen Duey Margo Lanagan, Garth Nix Naomi Novik Diana Peterfreund

Book Stats:

Reading level: Young Adult

Hardcover: 432 pages

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry (September 21, 2010)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1416989536

ISBN-13: 978-1416989530

 

Book Source: Review copy sent by Simon&Schuster Canada

Posted by Tynga at 00:05

 Anthology, Review, Simon Schuster, Unicorn, young adult, Zombies  3 People left their mark

Tynga is a 32 years old mom of two, from Montreal, working as a lab technician in an hospital specialized in heart disease. In her free time, she enjoys reading all things Paranormal and photography.

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