Review- Zomburbia by Adam Gallardo 4 1/2 *

Title: Zomburbia 
Series: Zombie Apocalypse #1
Author: Adam Gallardo
Genre: YA Horror

Rating: * * * * 1/2

Publishers: K-Teen  

(Aug 26, 2014)

Paperback: 368  pages

ISBN: 978-1617730986

FTC Disclosure: ARC from Net Galley

Lifeless. Slow-moving. Brain-dead. — Welcome To Zomburbia. — My name is Courtney Hart, and I’m here to tell you about things that suck. Being born in a podunk town like Salem, Oregon, for one. Living in a world infested with zombies? That, too. And the meat heads I go to school with? I think I’d actually take the undead over them most days. But I have a plan to get out of here and move to New York. I just have to keep selling Vitamin Z along with your fries at The Bully Burger. The secret ingredient? Zombie brains.

I’ve noticed things are getting even worse lately, if that's even possible. The zombies seem to be getting smarter and faster. If I can avoid being arrested, eaten by shufflers, or catching the eye of some stupid boy, I should be able to make it through finals week still breathing. . . 

Zombie Apocalypse

1. Zomburbia (2014)

2. Zombified (2015)

Normally, I don’t really like an angsty teen novel even if it does feature my fav horror character, zombies, but I really got a kick out of this book. While I realize that a lot of teens are characterized as moody, whiny, too stupid not to go down to the basement in their pjs to investigate THAT noise, the teens I raised and were around for what seemed like eons simply were not of that breed. Heck, I’d bet my group of country raised kids against any city raised group of kids come zombie apocalypse time anytime.
Anyway, back to this enormously entertaining book. Like I said earlier, usually the angsty teen has me beating my head against the wall in pain and hoping that they just bite the dust already. Not so with this book. Maybe it was the overall premise that the world has gone on in spite of the zombies. Yeah, everyone has a fence around their house and has a fully loaded shotgun in the gun rack of their truck or under the seat, but life goes on. The kids go to school, have part time jobs at the local hamburger shack, and dream about moving away from small town suburbia to New York City. Okay, okay, so NYC and most big cities are overrun by zombies. Small detail here. Like I said, country kids will make it hands down while the city kids are all turned into shufflers.
The main character, Courtney, has figured out a way to pay for college and while working at the Bully Burger supplements her income by selling Vitamin Z, a drug made from zombie brains, (okay something is just not right about that, I mean everybody know zombies eat brains) along with the burgers and fries. She has always been a bit of a loner so when a football jock starts hitting on her she starts hanging out with a new group of kids and some of her decisions leave a lot to be desired. While Courtney’s not quite a kickass zombie killer, she’s definitely no slouch either. I love Courtney’s interaction with her Dad when he starts dating. Some of her conversations in her head are so funny that I found myself sniggering. Teens faced with their parents having sex are always worthy of a laugh or two.
I loved seeing the change in Courtney and and can’t wait to see where Zombified takes us in January 2015.
One thing I really didn’t like--the covers. The covers had me prepared more for zombie horror while the story was more about the changes and growth of Courtney. So maybe Courtney all tricked out in the Bully Burger security guards zombie fighting uniform would have been better.

Adam Kreutz Gallardo is a writer 

who lives and works in Oregon.

 He's mostly known for writing 

comics (Star Wars: Infinities --

 Return of the Jedi, 100 Girls and 

Gear School volumes one & two).