Xombies

I love this book! Not at all what I was expecting, with its elegant writing, Islamic Beatles tribute band (allah ackbar, indeed), characters affecting over-the-top New England accents, and plucky pre-pubescent heroine. I know, it sounds like a joke, but I'm really glad I added this to my "undead" collection, despite the unfortunate title and cover art. Really, I'm surprised this received such a low rating...although the "xombies" are not the flesh-eating, slow-moving creatures you'll find in the works of authors following the so-called "Romero Rules". This book is a treat to read...surreal and compelling. Rock on, LuLu!

While technically a zombie book, the 'x' aside, this mostly reads more like a dystopian or post-apocalyptic book, bridging adventure and survival for the majority of the work. There are some spats of great zombie action, but considering the supposed genre, they're few and far between. Regardless of genre, however, the book reads as quite a bit more dated than I'd expect of a book written in 2004. A big part of that is the dialogue, which veers between folksy for some characters and stilted for others; another part is the fairly stereotypical behavior aligned by gender, which is somehow all the more obvious with only a few women in the book, as dictated by plot device. In truth, though, it's the rough dialogue that made me think about show more giving up on the book early on.

All told, I'm not entirely sure why I kept going with the book, and although there were some entertaining moments and twists, this isn't one I'd recommend for any but the most devoted zombie-book fan. show less

Odd and unusual twist to the usual zombie apocalypse theme. This time, they're blue. The color, not the emotion. Women of childbearing capacity are turning into cobalt killing machines. However, even their mode of death is odd and unusual. Instead of ripping their victims apart and eating them, they grab them and plant the kiss of death on them. Yep.

Enter Louise, who at 17, has some sort of 'medical condition' and has yet to menstruate. She and Mom are on the run from bill collectors and currently stalking the man who may or may not be Lulu's father. They are in a tiny beach town that has pretty much closed up for the winter. It's isolated and they know nothing about Agent X or the mayhem occurring around the country. So when her mother show more turns into a Blue Meanie and Lulu barely escapes from a trailer crawling with Xombies, she is rescued by the man her mom has identified as her father. They end up on a submarine. I kid you not.

From there, you have the usual trying to find sanctuary from these things while finding your place in your surroundings. It was pretty interesting and I have to say that I liked it.

Then they ended up somewhere and things got too weird for me. Between the rich and powerful, the baboon named Don Ameche and everything else going on, it lost me. Literally. I have no idea what happened at the end. Even so, I did enjoy the book, although not enough to continue reading it since it is apparently a series. I'll stop with this one. show less

I think anyone who liked THE HUNGER GAMES would like this book. It's about a terrible plague that turns women into unstoppable blue demons, and one teenage girl who is immune due to a medical condition - basically the last girl on Earth. Her only escape is aboard a nuclear submarine full of paranoid male refugees, and she must cope with their hostility as well as the terror of the "Xombies." The book takes all kinds of surreal (and sometimes very funny) twists and turns as the submarine searches for a safe port - I don't want to give away the surprises, but Beatles, Eskimos, and giant crabs all figure into it. Great read.

I had real problems finishing this. The lead character, Lulu, kept flipping and flopping from sympathetic to repulsive and by the time it ended, I really just wanted it over with.

Interesting concept, but terribly disappointing. Given that it's YA fiction, maybe I'm just too old?

OK, I am having a hard time even beginning a review because I don't know where to start...and neither did the author of this book. We start off with Lulu and her completely irresponsible mother stalking Lulu's father. They don't even know that some "virus" is going around and people are starting to eat each other until it is too late. Cut to: Lulu's mom is a xombie and is now out of the picture and Mr. Cowper (Lulu's dad)takes Lulu to a local naval base, boatyard, naval repair center, some crazy guy's dock who happens to have a submarine, take your pick (Even though Mr. Cowper was pretty much hiding from her in the first place and only women can randomly catch the "disease" and men have to bitten).

The whole middle of the book is a show more bunch of boys, military men, and Lulu stuck on this submarine, underwater, heading to god knows where and nothing happens. Oh, except they let a bunch of the boys off in Canada who are then promptly gunned down.

Almost at the end of the book, the sub "crew" ends up somewhere up in the northern hemisphere where a bunch of rich dudes were paying to have immortality and utopia seriously studied. These men accidentally let loose the xombie virus and killed off all women who menstruate in the search for their immortality. But now they have this elitist post apocalyptic island in which they can live the high life until they die and are frozen to live until they come up with a cure, an anti-xombie process, a way to make men produce children...I am not sure. The "science" behind all of this is never really explained or if it was, it was done poorly and I had given up long ago.

So in summary, pass this by. Maybe one of these plotlines would make a good book (maybe), but together it was just schizophrenic nonsense that is barely readable and certainly not care about-able. show less

This was an ok book. Not great but not horrible. At first it was a little confusing trying to understand what was going on especially when they kept saying that this “virus” targeted women first. It isn’t until almost the end of the book that they explain what the deal was. I also didn’t find myself liking the main character very much. I did like some the guys that eventually took Lulu under her wing but as you don’t see them that often it didn’t really help to improve the book. In comparison to the other zombie books I’ve read this one falls below average. The best thing was the concept of how this virus came about. The ending left it wide open for a sequel. I am unsure if that is what Xombies: Apocalypticon.