Review: Really compelling read!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 21, 2013
This is a story about flesh-eaters (zombies) with a difference!Wisteria lives her life fearing for her own life when her world was torn about two years earlier. The human population has been struck down by a terrible virus which turns people into flesh-eaters and it becomes a kill or be killed world. Wisteria is a teenage girl, who works alongside her mother and soldiers to keep one of the few safe-havens, well, safe. But there is more to the story than that as Bach enters the scene...I have a special place in my heart for 'zombie' books, especially after reading 'Warm Bodies', and Wisteria was a book I really enjoyed. There was a difference in this book that made it original from other books I had read. There's really two types of worlds involved - one was Wisteria's, and the other was Bach's. But those worlds connected in quite an interesting way. In some ways, it was like seeing both sides of the same coin. Wisteria and Bach both had different perspectives.Wisteria is the kind of girl I like - she had flaws. One particular flaw was panicking too much, which was really quite interesting, considering she worked as a tracker. She was kick-ass when she had to be and extremely loyal and protective. Her relationship with her mother was at times good, but, I guess also strained at times. It was really weird how I felt about that. Bach was the other main character. Initially he came across as unlikable, well, I thought so, but as the story developed, so did his character. I could see him changing before my eyes and his confusion and his suffering ended up making him adorable. Overall, the characters were likable, with the exception of those I wasn't meant to like. It's hard to say I hated them because they came from different sides of the spectrum. Actually, I have crazy mixed-up feelings about some of them.Wisteria was a book that had a unique take on what caused people to become flesh-eaters. Sure there was similarities between what I have already read and this one, but it also brought an element of something that has never been done before and that's what I liked about it. There were plot twists to this story that I didn't see coming, which is always a good thing when it comes to books.There's a certain kind of prejudice to the book in the way some of the characters felt about the others. It's only as I sit and write this review that made me realize it. Like there's a lack of equality, but, in the circumstances, it's kind of expected.The world-building aspect of it was done quite well, even though I did end up having a few questions about Bach's world and it's relation to Wisteria's. That's not to say that there wasn't some explanation surrounding it, because there was. I just wasn't certain that it was enough. I really liked the story line to Wisteria. And, it was better written than some of the books I've read lately -which is a really big bonus to me.Overall, I really found this book a great `zombie' read with a sci-fi twist. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes `zombies' (no brainer) and science fiction.