Book Review – ‘The Burning World’ (#2 Warm Bodies) by Isaac Marion

Breathing more life into the apocalyptic series.

Genre: Y/A, Dystopian, Horror

No. of pages: 500

A romance between a zombie boy and a human girl is bound to have its problems, but after battling against the odds and the undead, it seemed that Julie and R had earned their happy ending. But they soon must face a new enemy more terrifying than the walking corpses that still roam the wasted cities: a faceless and merciless corporation who are seeking control of the ruins of America. The key to survival and victory may lie in R’s past life, but can he finally face his own demons?

This almost feels like a road trip novel. The characters go from A to B and some plot points are tied up and some aren’t… it seems like this would suffer a middle book syndrome, but it doesn’t. To be honest I was a little worried going into to ‘The Burning World’ with its 500 page length for a zombie dystopian, it has the potential to have an ambling pace, but Isaac Marion put his foot on the accelerator and did not let up until the end. It was a journey with so many things coming at the characters hard and fast.

You get a real sense of humanity through the characters, they react in a realistic way to the circumstances they face. ‘The Burning World’ picks up just after the events in ‘Warm Bodies.’ I’d say this novel primarily deals with filling in R’s backstory. It gives us a hint about the start of the zombie virus, but not quite. I’m hoping it all comes to light in the last book of the franchise ‘The Living.’

There are a lot of interesting elements in ‘The Burning World.’ We get interspersed chapters following a younger R; A young Nearly Dead boy with amber eyes; and some collective consciousness observing the planet and its evolution that seems to have some sort of vast knowledge. There was something like that in ‘Warm Bodies’ with the Boneys – but we don’t see them in this book. There is a sense that everything is connected, that a tangled mess of plot points is being set up. I’m hoping for an epic conclusion.

Isaac Marion’s writing style is both concise and poetic. Descriptions and actions are written with brevity, but philosophy and ambience are waxed lyrical. It is a unique and interesting tone of voice to read.

There does not feel like a tonne of character development. R’s eyes and personality are growing both with the return of his memories, and seeing Julie in the differing scenarios they survive. The other characters have minor realisations of their own, but nothing that pivots or redirects the plot. As you can guess I’m saying this is a plot driven story, rather than a character driven one.

It’s hard to say I predicted anything about ‘The Burning World’ because I didn’t really know where it was heading… and the journey is still yet to be completed. We get enough plot points resolved to finish the novel at a natural point and felt satisfied, but it didn’t altogether feel like a resounding conclusion. I was surprised at many of the elements introduced in this novel – ‘Warm Bodies’ feels simplistic in comparison.

Definitely looking forward to ‘The Living’ to complete the story and see where this all leads. Recommend this to fans of ‘Warm Bodies’ and any of the zombie and dystopian niches, but you must get your hands on both ‘The Burning World’ and ‘The Living’ to skip disappointment. (Luckily I have my copy waiting to go.)

Overall feeling: Didn’t see that one coming…

© Casey Carlisle 2020. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Casey Carlisle with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

#bookquotes

I pledge allegiance to the Rmy!!

Book Review – ‘The New Hunger’ (# 1.5 Warm Bodies) by Isaac Marion

A great little teaser into the zombie romance blockbuster.

Genre: Y/A, Horror

No. of pages: 170

From Goodreads:

The end of the world didn’t happen overnight.

After years of societal breakdowns, wars and quakes and rising tides, humanity was already near the edge. Then came a final blow no one could have expected: all the world’s corpses rising up to make more.

Born into this bleak and bloody landscape, twelve-year-old Julie struggles to hold on to hope as she and her parents drive across the wastelands of America, a nightmarish road trip in search of a new home.

Hungry, lost, and scared, sixteen-year-old Nora finds herself her brother’s sole guardian after her parents abandon them in the not-quite-empty ruins of Seattle.

And in the darkness of a forest, a dead man opens his eyes. Who is he? What is he? With no clues beyond a red tie and the letter “R,” he must unravel the grim mystery of his existence—right after he learns how to think, how to walk, and how to satisfy the monster howling in his belly.  

A marvellous depiction of some of the main cast from ‘Warm Bodies’ before those events took place in Isaac Marion’s breakout novel. I really enjoyed figuring out the timeline and how the cast fit into the storyline introduced in ‘Warm Bodies.’  Told in different perspectives of a young Julie and Nora, with the addition of the Tall Man. Those who know me are aware I’m not a big fan of “head jumping” or flashbacks and ‘A New Hunger’ has both. But I have to admit, it works. Which is surprising given that it is a novella, and needs to pack a lot of information into a small number of pages.

Julie lacked the substance she has in ‘Warm Bodies’ for me, but she is only twelve years old, and you get a sense of her accepting the bleak new world as normal. It was interesting to see the type of person she started out as and left me hungering (pun intended) for what happened to shape her into the Julie we come to know in ‘Warm Bodies.’ I loved her determination, desensitivity to gore and death, as well as innocence all mixed together… not qualities that gel, but on her, it worked so well.

Nora was much more interesting; she comes across as a realistic teen attempting to survive in this dystopian world. Reminding me of Cassie from ‘The Fifth Wave.’ I really liked how she stumbles and not everything goes her way. It added credence to the world and a desperation‎ to the serious threats she faces. As with Julie, it was great to see the beginnings of her character, so different to the person we meet in ‘Warm Bodies.’ Out of all the cast, Julie has the greatest amount of development, and I was still wanting more.

The tone of ‘The New Hunger’ is different to ‘Warm Bodies.’ I was hoping for a little more insight to the start of the epidemic, or even the beginnings of the Boneys… but unfortunately they were left unanswered – I guess Isaac is leaving it for another book in this series. I’m really looking forward to see what unravels in the next release, ‘The Burning World’ next year. Even with the need for more explanation of the overarching plot from this novella, it was still very entertaining. Although I felt it lacked a bit of pacing and cohesion, mainly because it’s just short snippets in time and doesn’t cover the expanse of their lives or humanities downfall.

The sense of the zombies, the dark cloud with arms that was almost a sentient consciousness – we’ll I’m not sure how I feel about that. It didn’t make a lot of sense to me. I’m hoping it leads to something later in the series. It was only touched on in ‘Warm Bodies’ and lightly alluded to here, so I am desperate to learn about the mythology behind Isaac’s dystopian world and uncover more about the origins. I liked the realism and hinting at some paranormal force behind the zombie apocalypse, but left it as a mere suggestion.

It did miss the humour I was expecting. The witty banter and comedy from ‘Warm Bodies’ is not present in this novella – you could read it as a standalone, but it doesn’t go anywhere. I like the references to ‘Warm Bodies’ and the reveal at the end (though easy to guess.)

A cute addition to the collection and a strong novella. I’d recommend this to fans only, there’s not enough to grab a new reader to this series, or genre. And definitely read ‘Warm Bodies’ first, even though ‘The New Hunger’ is a prequel, you need the setup of the dystopian world and establish the main cast to fully understand what is going on.

On a side note: loving the cover – the metallic sheen and pop of red. Totally captures the mood of the narrative.

I’m eagerly awaiting ‘The Burning World.’  C’mon 2017!

Overall feeling: Middle-of-the-road-zombie

 

© Casey Carlisle 2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Casey Carlisle with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

 

Film vs Novel – Warm Bodies

A zombie tale with heart

‘Warm Bodies’ was marketed as the ‘Twilight’ for zombies, and being such a lover of the paranormal, YA and film with supernatural themes, it was the movie that first got me hooked on this story.

Such a unique little love story. I liked how the symbolism eluded to (more strongly in the book) that they weren’t actually zombies (in the traditional sense). Merely a symptom of something bigger that was wrong with society. (We all know how zombies were meant to symbolize consumerism in the first place).

One big difference between the film adaptation and the novel that lost some of the interpretation in the film, was the quasi-civilization/ society of the zombies in the novel, and the Boneys weren’t so comical and less of a threat. The older generations in this book, (i.e. Julie’s Dad and the Boneys) stand for something about the old world… and alternatively our protagonist, R, and his love interest Julie stand for something new.

The people, much like the earth, is dead or in a state of decay (hence the zombies) – it is hope that changes things… as illustrated by Julie’s Mum, Peter, and Julie’s Dad to an extent.

I did think towards the end the characters jumped around all over the place a bit too much when reading the novel – it was difficult to picture the landscape because lengthy descriptions would’ve ruined the pace. In that respect the simplicity of the film was much easier to follow. Like the set of the stadium: where in the film it was the backdrop for the culminating battle and Julie’s secret place; and in the book it was the fortress that kept the humans alive containing all their shanty houses.

Dark irony and comedy was kept from book to film, which I’m greatful for Isaac Marion has a brilliant sense of humour. Also, I would normally be against superfluous profanity but in the novel Julie’s swearing added some humanity to the bleak monochromatic landscape. I was kinda glad her potty mouth didn’t make it to the screen, I doubt it would have made the same impact. Plus, you know, ratings and classifications…

I really appreciated the build in the relationship between R and Julie – some reviews (and the film to an extent) give the impression of instalove, but in actual fact, if you pay attention in the book, they grow from friendship, to trust, to fondness, to love and hope. Peter (Julie’s unfortunate ex’s) brain is merely a catalyst of what is already inside of R, and the dreams/flashbacks are the conduit for R to work it all out and come to terms with his actions and what is happening to him/the world.

R, played by Nicholas Hoult in the film adaptation did a commendable job. The right amount of stoicism and humour. In the novel he gets married and adopts two zombie children, again there is important symbolism here, but this mini arc was completely omitted from the film.

I also noted that the film failed to show how R slipped up a number of times in his attempt to ween off eating brains.

R’s change was more gradual in the novel, like his growing affection for Julie. Comparatively the majority his transformation was in a single scene during the movie, a knock on R’s head somehow the catalyst. In the novel, R was also a bit more damaged, a stab wound to the forehead, but the film opted for a more cosmetic treatment – a bullet would in R’s shoulder is what bleeds after the “change.” (Pfft – there’s a change of life joke there somewhere)

Julie, (Teresa Palmer in the film) goes through some changes in the novel that did not make it to the big screen. Like when eyes change colour after a kiss, resulting in Julie getting infected, but fought it off (and I’m guessing was forever changed?) It certainly adds another layer to the novel.

A notable performance in the film for me was M, played by Rob Corddry. He’s not an actor that I particularly like in some movies, but he was spot on in “Warm Bodies.”

One massive disappointment was that the Boneys came off as camp in the movie. Showing them as always malicious, where they were old zombies stuck in their ways in the book, leaders in the zombie community.

A little gripe I had with the story as a whole, was the amount of daydreams and flashbacks – although they each dropped a small nugget of wisdom, they were getting a little tired in the plot. Surely there was another method to impart the need to know bits that still captured our interest?

The movie remained true to the tone of the novel and I enjoyed the comedic moments better. It also had better pacing, though losing some of the importance and layers of the book, coming off a bit cheesy – though that still worked for the tone of the film.

But I have to say I liked the novel better – it skims a fine line between philosophy, the soul, and the meaning of life.

 

Now this is where the film and book hugely digress: the final battle! Zombies did not come to the aid of R and Julie as in the movie – it was R and Julie’s union that released some sort of energy wave that dispersed the Boneys… the zombies were all in hiding. Somewhat corny, but fit the theme of the book. I definitely loved the action scenes in the film though.

The novel also depicts Julie’s Dad being killed by a Boney, failing to have a change of heart – depicting the old way of things dying (as the Boneys themselves do).

In the movie it is love and human connection that heals, where in the book it feels more like the will to live and hope (love is by and by something to live for). Both saccharine sweet and like a nice warm hug. Both a satisfactory conclusion.

© Casey Carlisle 2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Casey Carlisle with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.