Review: Generation Dead by Daniel Waters

“…I will say that I did what I set out to do, which was to plant a seed. I did not want to water that seed with the blood of the living.” (p. 235)

The dead aren’t staying dead. Well… at least for some teenagers. The morbid phenomenon is sweeping the US where some teenage kids die, and then come back to life, so to speak. Phoebe Kendall just so happens to go to a school there that specialize in “living impaired” education. She and her two friends, Margi and Adam, are adapting to these new students. Phoebe is open to the differences of the undead, and a new classmate, Tommy Williams, catches her attention. She realizes that he is different from the other zombies by the way he moves and the fact that he tries out for the football team. There are many people who are afraid of them, and deal with their fear by discriminating against the undead. Phoebe and her friends join an undead studies program to try to prepare a world where zombies and humans can coexist. Through their fight, Tommy and Adam fall for Phoebe, and Phoebe isn’t sure what she wants.

The idea of zombies in high school is awesome. The synopsis on the back of the book had me excited and ready to find out what the story held.

The book did not catch my attention right off, but I was interested in the general story. The moral obviously dealt with discrimination, which is a good topic for teenagers to understand. Though you may not like someone or approve of how they live, this does not make you better than them. For that matter, people of all ages and walks of life would benefit from remembering this.

Dialogue is my one thing I am super picky about. I love reading smart discussions, witty banter, and humorous conversations between characters. If it is not a comedic moment, then I prefer flowing intelligent conversation that expresses the feelings eloquently. The dialogue here is none of that to me. It does not feel right at all for how teens and young adults speak today. I felt the characters were ignorant and it was like watching an after school special from decades ago. Yet, with this type of words being exchanged, there were still curse words spread throughout. These words stood out to me and it felt like they didn’t match. The main character, Phoebe, also had a sort of naive nature to her. This is evident throughout the book.

I realized I did not like the writing, but I did like the story and the idea of zombies in high school. It took me a lot longer to finish this one. I kept putting it down and that is something I rarely do if the story is engaging me. I’m sorry to say that I would be reluctant to pick up another book by this author.

C-

For: Goths and zombie lovers