Mortal?

Mortality by Kellie Sheridan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

OK, so it's official ... I am no longer a Zombie-fiction virgin.

MORTALITY was my first, and it may not be my last. I don't usually go for tales of the disintegrating undead - vampires possibly, at a pinch ... but I've not before felt the compulsion to wander into stagger-and-lurch-ville.

I think I followed a 'read now' link from a NetGalley e-mail extolling the virtues of newly available eARCS ... yes, I am that easily led!

Enough about me, and more about the novel!

Pleasantly surprised.

This is a solid little read. We have an alternating First Person POV and the separate stories come together in a fairly satisfying way. Both our heroines are interesting, flawed (but working on it), and they each have a voice so don't suffer the fate of similar protagonists in other novels who can't seem to decide what voice to speak with when they're on centre stage. There's enough men around to make life interesting, the love triangle (while inexplicable) isn't too egregious or long-lived, the parents aren't insufferable (although they're all very absent) and the pace is okay -a little patchy, but that's okay ...

I liked it. I didn't love it, but I liked it.

I was a little bit worried the story would focus on the Herculean feats of a small über-mädchen combatting the shuffling hordes. I mean, how much depth can you get in a novel about kill-or-be-killed when your enemy is icky and slow and stupid and trying to eat you? There isn't much honour in slaughtering such a foe, is there. However, there is a little twist where one of the characters turns that premise on its ear. I really enjoyed Ms Sheridan's fresh perspective on this. Very inventive.

All in all, I'd be interested to read more in this series. Well done.

I doubt I'll convert to becoming a born again zombie book reader, but this one was with the risk of trying something new. Thank you NetGalley and Kellie Sheridan for letting me read so successfully outside my comfort zone.

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