I'm in two quite separate minds about this book.

On the one hand, the story is solid, the characters are sympathetic and one cares about what happens to each and everyone of them. The social and anthropological observations re: human (specifically, teenage) interaction are touching because they are plausible - were actual dead youngsters to return as zombies and attempt to reintegrate themselves in a school setting, reactions would be as complex and contradictory as they are portrayed here.

Also effective is the multi-perspective narrative: though the book is written in the third person, we are taken inside the minds and hearts of several of the characters in turn and gently urged to consider their point of view. Even the main baddie, while being too far gone into evil to be felt sorry for, is given enough psychological depth for the reader to understand just why he is evil.

On the other hand, the writing is a bit repetitive, editing becomes rather sloppy in the latter part of the book (missing punctuation, inverted words, that kind of thing), and the I'm-such-a-cliffhanger-you-must-now-buy Book II ending vexed me.

As it happens, I do intend to buy Book II aka The Kiss of Life, because the story and the characters warrant such an investment, however as Generation Dead is less well-written and edited than its topic deserves, I didn't get the must-buy-Book II-now withdrawal angst I got straight after finishing (say) Gregory Maguire's Wicked.

All in all: there's enough good in here for me to recommend it, but bear in mind that this is a book with more plot than style - if, like me, you like voluminous vocabularies and uniqueness of expression, you will on occasion become annoyed at all the wasted potential. ( )

Remarkably readable considering it's essentially about zombies! Except it's not. It's about prejudice and discrimination and love - sometimes to a slightly preachy degree - but with strong characters who drive the book along. ( )

I have been wanting to read "Generation Dead" for awhile so I started it almost immediately after purchasing it. Usually books have a decent wait in my TBR stack first! This is the story of an America where for the past three years, recently deceased teenagers aren't staying dead. They are coming back zombie-like, this includes vacant stares, slow movements, and legnthly pauses before speaking. At least in some cases. In other cases, you almost wouldn't even know the kid next next to you didn't have a heartbeat. Why the difference? Will teenagers ever be able to give the Dead kids a chance? Its the newest movement in equality...you cannot descriminate based on religion, race, gender, sexual orientation...or biotic makeup. The story in particular focuses on Phoebe and her best friends Margi and Adam. Phoebe and Margi recently lost a friend who came back from the dead. Unsure of how to treat her, they ignored her pleas for help. Adam plays on the football team where a mean teammate wants to hurt a dead kid named Tommy because he wants on the team. I was afraid that this book would be like so many of the other YA paranormal books out there, but I have to say this one pleasantly suprised me. The characters felt genuine and I could empathize with both the living and the dead teenagers. The story has a nice message too in the struggle for equality and it was handled in a fun and never preachy manner. The book does end on a downer, a cliff hanger if you will. The next book is already out and I know that I want to read it as soon as possible! The book is fine for adults and teenagers. A preteen warning that there are some vague mentions of sexual relations here, but nothing else to really worry over your child reading. This book is published by Disney Hyperion. This book is worth your time if you have been interested in other paranormal tales. ( )

Terrific story about teen zombies. More heartwarming than it sounds. ( )

The concept behind Generation Dead is incredibly clever and executed well by Daniel Waters. I was expecting a book about teenage zombies - what I didn't expect was a well-written and complex young adult novel dealing with the universal themes of discrimination and acceptance. Daniel Waters blew me away with this fantastic debut!

The compelling characters leapt shuffled off the page and into my heart. Waters never stopped developing each of his characters - they constantly evolved throughout the story and entertained me to the end and beyond. The plot was original and perfectly paced, keeping the reader turning the page to see what was coming next. The dialog was enjoyable and witty and incredibly realistic.

Generation Dead is a quirky and surprisingly deep novel. Don't judge this book by it's cover (fabulous as it may be!) It is a well-written story with a whimsicality not often found in your "typical" zombie book. I really enjoyed reading this one, and I can't wait to get my hands on book 2, Kiss of Life. ( )

Reviewed by The Story Siren for TeensReadToo.com

You've heard of Generation "X" and Generation "Y." Get ready for Generation Dead -- Generation Dead being known for its, well, undead. Science can't explain it, and no one really knows why it happens, but American teenagers are coming back to life. Known to the living as differently biotic or the living impaired, these zombie teenagers try to "live" their undead lives, but as with any group of people that vary from the norm, there are always prejudices.

Phoebe, a Goth girl, finds herself unexpectedly drawn to one of these so-called living impaired students, Tommy Williams. Her best friend, Margi, thinks she is crazy, but Margi's feeling for the undead are more complicated than a general dislike. Then there is Phoebe's neighbor and childhood friend, Adam. Adam has finally realized his true feelings for Phoebe, but he still can't find the courage to tell her. Of course, it doesn't make the situation any easier when he discovers Phoebe is crushing on the dead kid.

Phoebe talks Margi and Adam into joining a work study at the Hunter Foundation, which is centered around the undead phenomenon. Unfortunately, not everyone tries to be as open-minded. There aren't any laws protecting these teens, and they are being singled out and sometimes killed again. When a student makes a personal vendetta to take out the living impaired and anyone associated with them, the situation can only end in tragedy.

GENERATION DEAD went above and beyond what I was expecting. Sure, it is about the dead, but there are so many underlying messages in this book. Prejudice is something that is very apparent, and is something that we deal with in reality on a daily basis. There is a part in the book where they have a guest speaker in their undead studies program. Basically, they are discussing how they can acclimate the undead into society. I have to say that the dialogue of the speaker totally blew me away. I think I read it maybe three or four times, and I just kept thinking, if only acceptance and change were and could be that easy, the world would be a better place.

As for the rest of the story, the characters were beyond three-dimensional. I felt like I knew these kids, and they continued to develop throughout the entire story, I mean literally up until the last page. I loved it! The plot was totally original and kept me turning pages until the late hours of the night. I love Mr. Waters' writing style, as it's engrossing yet simple. The story was full of wit and humor, and I was totally captured!

Obviously, I really liked/loved this book! ( )

I found this to be very original, yet appealing for the legion of Twilight fans. The parallels to Special Ed were interesting. ( )

This book makes you think- If you died, would you want to come back, knowing that may be limits, you cannot smell and at the start you may not even be able to talk?!
What Daniel Waters does is he makes you feel for the characters like in most books that you are hooked. But what happens is that you are with Adam, nearly all the time and then when you finally start the get him and feel for him because he would do anything for her, they kill him off in a very noble way.
I'm not lying I am so glad that he came back but the story would be so different if he stayed dead.
You defiantly feel for him because he's totally in love with her and she's dating Tommy, but I think it was just heart breaking that he tried to tell her that he loved her and he couldn't!
Thank you Daniel for writing this book! ( )

Definitely a new take on the zombie genre. It's nice to see a zombie story that has zombies as good guys. Well developed characters -- even the villain, while totally hated, was understandable. Also has an interesting moral about prejudice against what we don't understand. The slow pace of development of some of the relationships can be linked to the fact that the book has a sequal, but made some parts of the story unsatisfying. Overall, a good read. ( )

I’m not a huge fan of zombies, anybody who knows me knows that I’m ridiculously terrified of just the idea of them. So when I opened this as a gift previously, I was a little iffy. However, as I began reading, the entire concept just drew me in.

The plot kind of reminds me somewhat of True Blood, where zombies are like vampires and are mostly frowned upon by society. Of course, I’m not relating the two of them past that, because they are radically different. (And I wouldn’t suggest True Blood to anybody under 18, just a friendly hint) Moving on, I found a new adoration for zombies during this. Daniel Waters introduced a very clever way of portraying them in a positive light, which I’ve never seen before.

I was a bit hot and cold with the characters, but towards the end, everything fortunately cleared. They’re your run of the mill, teenage cliché group of students, but with the zombies (which is an insult to them!) mixed, it works.

This book was a lot more than just “forbidden” romance. Phoebe and friends are dealing with the pressures of being ridiculed for their choices of interacting with the dead. The “differently biotic” are dealing with the struggles of trying to find their place in a world that wants them gone. I found the main topic of the book being racism, and Daniel Waters approached it very wonderfully.

I haven’t had the pleasure of reading Kiss Of Life, the sequel, yet. I hope Tommy redeems himself, and I hope Dan turns the angst level up a whole lot more. It’s not my favorite book in the world, but it’s a great read, and I definitely recommend it to any YA reader! ( )

Daniel Waters has a lot going on in this book - the undead (zombies, living impaired, differently biotic - take your pick), the prejudices they face, the lack of civil rights for the undead teens, the impact of parental abandonment on the recently reanimated, a shadowy group of white vans re-killing zombies, organizations with questionable motives and those looking to turn a profit on the current undead culture craze..

Oh - and the story of a zombie boy looking for a traditional girl to love.

Waters manages to pull off an engaging story even with all of this involved in the story line. Not everything is resolved in this first book, but neither are most of the issues he's touching on in real life. Along the way, Waters tosses in plenty of red herrings along the way and resists simple explanations for behaviors - not even the characters are wholly aware of why they do the things that they do. A small detail for sure, but lazier authors often like to have wholly white and black-hatted characters who always seem sure of their actions with a few minor hiccups. Admittedly, he does make being a zombie a relatively simple thing - there are no needs to consume brains or any questions about why there are no needs to adhere to zombie legends of old - but with everything else that's thrown in, it's an easy thing to forgive. ( )

I read Generation Dead despite my mother's upraised eyebrow at the cover and content matter. The book is more than just a book about zombies. It is about high school, peer pressure, and standing up for your rights against the prejudices of those around you. I enjoyed the book a great deal. I will be honest and say I cried. Yes I cried. That to me gives a book an instant 5 star. At least until you have time to truly think the book content over. After thinking it over I still give it a 5 star. I really like the cover art too. I will say though, at first glance I had my doubts, but then reading the book made the cover more appealing to me. I can't wait to read Kiss of Life!!!! If you haven't read Generation Dead, go get it right now! ( )

As many other bloggers have noted, the cover threw me off as well. Along with the description on the back of the book, I pictured Phoebe to be a cheerleader who falls in love with a zombie, when in fact, she's goth. Perfectly fine by me, just wasn't what I was expecting. Also, Waters' writing has been described in various arenas as a mix of Stephenie Meyer, John Green, and Joss Whedon and I do agree to a point. I think that Waters voice is his own, just reminiscent of these great writers.

Overall, I found the characters to be well developed and, as far as teenage personalities go, spot on. I found it very interesting that, like the living, no two zombies were alike. They learned at a different pace, walked, talked, and motioned differently. I also appreciated the message of acceptance and equality in the book. Waters wrote some very moving words in the form of a speech delivered in the gymnasium, and also words directly from Tommy's blog. You read that right folks, Tommy has a blog.

I thoroughly enjoyed Generation Dead and am eager to begin Kiss of Life, the second book in the series. If you haven't read this series yet, I highly recommend it! ( )

Despite picking this up with the assumption that it would be a sweet, easy read with few redeeming qualities, I found it to be a much more rewarding high school drama then I was used to. It was socially conscious and showed purpose, which is a desirable trait amongst the scads of unmemorable drivel written for teenagers recently. Unlike many other YA novels, the romance isn't the key here: overcoming prejudice and changing societal views was the author's theme.

The idea here is that American teenagers have started to rise from their graves, becoming the undead, or to be more politically correct "differently biotic". Waters' discussion of what call the newly risen is telling: at first everyone calls them "living impaired" thinking it's PC, but that is determined to have a negative connotation and it's changed. The undead "take back" the title of zombie, similar to other groups in our society feeling alright using racist terms within their ranks.

A living teenage girl, Phoebe, becomes friends with the undead, then involved with their charismatic leader, Tommy. Unbeknown to Phoebe, her longtime best friend, Adam, has been harboring a crush on her and a group of boys from their school is out to get the undead and their friends. While a relatively simple, and classic, story, the zombie twist updates it and made it an entertaining read.

There are many interesting issues here to explore. One complaint is that Waters didn't fully explore any of them. While leaving a reader with some questions is fine, not coming to any conclusions seemed like a cop out. Also, certain characters are brought in and summarily booted out of the narrative without reason leading to many loose ends. I could definitely see this having a sequel, which is a pet peeve. Sequels are fine, but books should stand alone as well! ( )

Oakvale High has got a new type of student: dead. Well, actually, "living impaired" or "differently biotic" are the technical terms.

The phenomenon of the living impaired is sweeping the nation and nobody can quite explain why it is happening. Teenage Americans are rising from the dead just like nothing happened. Except for the fact that none of their organs are functioning any more.

Technically, the teenagers are still dead. They all have death certificates and the government refuses to issue rebirth certificates. Because of this, none of the living impaired teens have any rights and aren't even considered citizens anymore.

As with any group of people who vary from the typical, the living impaired are targets of many hate crimes including violent acts such as burning at the stake and being re-terminated. And the worst part is, they can't do anything about it.

Most people at Oakvale are terrified of the living impaired. All except Phoebe Kendall. Phoebe doesn't know why but she is inexplicably drawn to the leader of the living impaired, Tommy Williams. Even her best friends don't understand what is going on with her. Her best friend, Margi, has her own personal issues involving the living impaired and doesn't know why Phoebe would want to be with one of them. Her other best friend, Adam, has only just realized his true feelings for Phoebe but only wants her to be happy.

When the Hunter Foundation creates a living impaired class for both live and dead students, all three decide to sign up and face their myriad of fears. Little did they know, they had much more to fear than the dead, they had to fear the living. Because someone doesn't want the living impaired to be acclimated into society and they are willing to kill anyone who stands in their way.

Will Phoebe and Tommy be able to overcome the prejudices of others and have a true relationship? Will Margi get over her fear of the dead? Will Adam ever admit his true feelings to Phoebe? And most important, will they be able to catch the killer before he catches them?

As soon as I started reading, I knew this book would become one of my favorites. Daniel Waters manged to tell an age-old story about prejudices while incorporating a very new subject, zombies. With so many vampire and werewolf books out there now, it was nice to read a book about a different paranormal subject. ( )

Teenage Zombies. We're not promising great depth here, but this is a fun take on "fantastic creatures stands in for oppressed minority" literature. The characters turn out to have surprisingly complex motivations and there are smart takes on issues like the commercialization of descent. But really. It's teenage zombies. What, precisely, do you want? ( )

They don't like to be called zombies. Or dead heads, or worm food, or whatever pejorative terms the "creative" people of the world are coming up with. They're differently biotic: American teens literally rising from the dead into some semblance of their former selves. Everyone is terrified of them. What are they, and why have they come back from the dead?

High school junior Phoebe doesn't share the world's qualms. In fact, she just might have a crush on Tommy Williams, a quietly powerful differently biotic boy who shocks all the students of Oakvale High when he tries out for the football team, just to prove that he can. Phoebe admires Tommy's guts, but there are people less happy with his actions, most notably Pete Martinsburg, fellow teammate and soul-crushing zombie-hater who just might do anything to stop the differently biotic from living a life that is not theirs to live.

Phoebe's best friend Adam is secretly in love with her, and thus finds it difficult to believe that she can like, well, a dead guy like Tommy Williams. But as Adam begins to learn about the plight of the differently biotic, the prejudices and difficulties they face, he realizes that maybe the only way he can help Phoebe be happy is by protecting Tommy... no matter the cost.

Wow! Daniel Waters creatively plugs into the typical YA reader's love for paranormal romance and ends up teaching us all a lesson about civil rights, prejudice, and tolerance. All of the characters are carefully constructed to be three-dimensional: readers can even empathize with the jerk Pete Martinsburg's tortured feelings towards zombies. I also appreciated the generous--and accurate!--details about sports (football, baseball, Frisbee) because that is not something I come across often enough in YA literature. While occasionally the lecturing about tolerance goes on for a page too long, overall GENERATION DEAD is a fun way of being enlightened about the issues regarding bigotry and prejudice. ( )

High School can be hell, especially if you have to sit next to a zombie in class. In this unusual novel, American teens are coming back from the dead and facing prejudice and discrimination as the "living impaired" or "differently biotic". When living Goth girl Phoebe falls for dead football jock Tommy, the simmering hatred beneath the surface of Oxoboxo High erupts into violence. Bully Pete is out of control and his former friend Adam, who is secretly in love with Phoebe, is left trying to keep everything together, with tragic results. This is a compelling read with characters that seem genuinely real, both dead and alive. It was hard not to shed a tear at the end, and to feel moved by the prejudice faced by the "zombies". I hope there's going to be a sequel because this original tale really got to me. ( )

I expected Generation Dead to be standard young adult fare with a zombie twist. Instead, it turned out to be a good coming of age story. I would say great coming of age story, but a few flaws (weird pacing, lack of depth in secondary characters, etc.) keep it just below that bar.
Generation Dead explores common themes of unrequited love, teen anger, and feeling like an outsider, and the ending is stunning. ( )

Generation Dead Teenagers (only) have returned to life and are trying to fit back in. Phoebe falls for one of them; Thomas, while her best friend Matt crushes on her. Meanwhile the rest of the school is struggling to accept the "zombies" and there are some who aren't fond of them at all .... or a living girl dating one. I was pretty sucked in by the end of the book but there were quite a few moments on the way there that I was underwhelmed by the author's writing. I felt he spent to much time on "thoughts", there were a lot of conversations occuring internally that didn't work for me and I didn't think he had a good teenage voice; some of the things he had them thinking didn't seem like anything a teenager would ever think. But the story is unique and compelling "biotically challenged" aka "zombies" are struggling against "bioism" (racism against them). I do look forward to reading the next in this series Generation Dead Kiss of Life (especially as the book ends in a way that you are compelled to learn more). A fun read overall despite the awkwardness of the writer's voice at times. ( )

I was VERY pleasantly surprised by this book. I know the old adage, “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover,” but I was a bit leery upon just doing that.

However, I wound up liking this book more than many I read last year, especially the “Twilight” series.

Waters sucks you into the “biocism” that is going on in Oakvale. Many American teenagers are coming back from the dead--blame the hormones, the fast food, whatever--the zombies keep a’rising, especially in Oakvale. Nobody ever gets used to it though, and avoids them like the plague. A new Undead Studies elective is offered, and Phoebe is one of the first to sign up. Mostly because of the “living impaired” football player, Tommy Williams. The more Phoebe gets to know him, the more she wonders who is more alive. However, the new class is not having much effect on the prejudice, and things are getting dangerous.

Loved the surprise ending! I knew what was coming once it was set up for me, but still a twist.

I can’t wait until may for the sequel “Kiss of Life” in May! ( )

I was surprised by how good this novel was, especially based on the cover. Waters' book is an insightful look into, as cliche as this is, the teenage psyche. But instead of focusing on the 'traditional' topics of race or homosexuality, he goes down a totally different path -- zombies. The undead, differently biotic, or living impaired. While that idea seems a little, well, far fetched, Waters' novel is nothing of the sort. While there's primarily one main character, Phoebe (a smart goth girl), we're also let into the world of two other characters -- Phoebe's all but best friend, Adam (popular kid and somewhat start football player) and Pete (definitely star footballer player, popular and happens to hate 'the dead kids'). I found this style of writing a little confusing at first, but got over easily once I realized how necessarily it was to the way the book's written.

Generation Dead deals with more social issues than many books could ever dream of touching. Obviously, the difference is that it's about zombies instead of something more grounded in reality. But instead of turning the story into some sort of sci-fi farce, Waters grounds his characters and story in plot that's closer to our world than anything else. There's talk of forcing the zombie kids to go to war, there's hatred (protesters at a football game, fruit being throw, even murder -- or being killed a second time), love and everything in between.

The story revolves around Phoebe and her interest in Tommy Williams, a new kid in town who also happens to be dead. Eventually, this leads predictably to trouble, but that's the only thing predictable about the book. How the characters behave, the revelations about how some of the zombie kids died, and then at the end, there's a surprising twist that I definitely didn't see coming. The one disappointing thing about the book is that, as other reviewers have pointed out, there are too many loose ends. Luckily, Waters has written a sequel (Kiss of Life) that's set to come out in May of 2009. Which, really, is far too far in the future, but I can wait.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. It played on a lot of emotions and left me feeling a bit sad at the end. I am eager to find out where Waters is going with the storyline as well as what happens to the characters. Even if you don't like zombie stories, I recommend this book. It's much more than just a traditional zombie tale. More humor than horror, and that's only part of what makes it so good. ( )

Goth chick Phoebe and her friends go to school with zombies. Recently, American teens have been rising shortly after dying, and their school is very - well- zombie friendly. Phoebe becomes friends with one of the zombie kids and encourages her living friends to join her in a special project concerning the "living impaired" kids. But not everyone is on the zombie train, and being dead or dead adjacent is getting dangerous.

I enjoyed this book. The characters are great. The zombies are pretty much regular kids, except, you know, dead. I found myself being really interested in them (and the living kids) and wondering what would happen next. I thought this was a stand alone book, but there are some pretty big strings hanging at the end so I am hoping for a sequel to tie them up. ( )

Phoebe and her friends, Adam and Margie, join an Undead Studies seminar to show support for the "differently biotic" kids (aka zombies!!) in their high school who are being targeted by a group of hateful students. ( )