The Enemy

I feel rather guilty that I liked The Enemy so much. It’s an in your face, dark, violent thriller about children surviving and fighting with zombies that I found extremely gross yet very satisfying. With it’s fast pace, alternative viewpoints and awesome London setting this was a true page-turner. It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book that actually scared me, this book reminded me of watching horror movies with a pillow held closely to cover my face at the scary parts.

There was a epidemic that infected only adults, most died, but the ones who didn’t became flesh craving zombies. Children learned quickly to band together in order to fight for their survival. In this, the first book of the series, we follow the adventures show more of a group of children that have been living in a fortified grocery store. They are slowly losing members of their gang and realize they need to move on somewhere safer. During a zombie attack, they save a boy who tells them about a place of safety and they decide to risk the trip across London to get to this haven.

I realized early in the book to beware of getting too attached to any of the characters, they are indiscriminately killed off, which for me, added to the thrill. Never knowing who was going to survive hyped the book up another notch. A warning however, this book does have vivid and very brutal violence, lots of blood, guts and gore, which, if you are reading a zombie book is probably what you expect. I found The Enemy extremely addictive and I can’t wait to get my hands on the next book. show less

I'm not usually all that big of a zombie fan, but this book was amazingly crafted and very enjoyable for a zombie-apocalyptic horror novel.

An unidentified disease has swept through London, and perhaps the world, infecting everyone over the age of sixteen. Morphed into horrifying monsters riddled with all manner of nauseating physical wounds, they have nothing left but the desire to devour living things. Namely, the children who are left to fend for themselves on the streets of the massive city. But word is that Buckingham Palace has become a safe haven for kids...if you can get there. And even if you do, it isn't certain that you'll find a paradise at all.

Make no mistake, this book is violent and graphic and pulls few punches. But it show more doesn't feel gratuitous, it just feels disturbingly realistic. The young age of the protagonists doesn't dumb down the book in the slightest, and the author does a good job of keeping the youthful confusion and yearning while also toughening up these hardy survivors to incredible levels. The cast of characters is wide and varied, and there's something to enjoy and admire about almost every kid, from tough little Sam who navigates sewers and zombies all on his own, to swaggering fighter Achilleus (cool name, by the way), to kick-butt, level-headed leader Maxie, to the quiet and clever skirmisher Ollie, to the crazy awesome, scene-stealing loner named simply The Kid.

Suspense, great character interplay, realism, and a plot that's moving in very interesting directions all adds up to me being very happy that the sequel is only a couple months away. show less

I loved this book. I was looking for something that wasn't too heavy. I wanted to get lost in a book while I was on break between quarters (my college is on the quarter system instead of the semester system). This is the perfect book.

Charlie Higson can really write. Each character has its own specific voice. The best thing about the book is the Higson can create the child characters without making them sound, well, sound the way an adult thinks kids sound like. He writes in the teenager and pre-teen voice very well. The male and female characters are written very well that they were all very distinguished from each other.

This is the zombie equivalent of "The Hunger Games". Written so well. I had such a hard time putting it down that show more my husband had to take the book away from me periodically so I would turn off the light and go to bed.

The idea that adults and older teenagers turned into flesh eating zombie like creatures leaving all the younger teenagers and children to fend for themselves is a very interesting idea. Very Lord of the Flies except there are adults and they're trying to eat children. There are ideas about safety areas and the disappointment when things don't go as planned.

Higson does a really great job of exploring the psychology of these kids. It's not too deep because it is a YA novel, but it's mature enough that as an adult I wasn't bored but intrigued.

This is a fast paced read. There are tense moments and touching moments. Sections when you'll laugh and other times when you just might tear up. overall this is an excellent read for anyone. show less

The Enemy is a young adult title set in a London decimated by disease that turns anyone over the age of 16 into a rotting zombie, unable to speak, and intent only on survival by devouring the healthy children who have managed to survive in a world where grown-ups really are the enemy. The story centers on two groups of kids who have taken refuge in two supermarkets, one in a poorer area and one in a more well off area, whose numbers are dwindling daily. When the two groups who are rapidly running out of food and supplies and are being daily threatened by encroaching grown-ups meet a strange new kid, they're forced to choose whether to unite their forces and have to decide whether to take a big risk for a chance at a better, safer life. show more

I found myself thinking repeatedly while I was reading The Enemy that it is a book that would be great for boys. It's got blood and guts and assorted unpleasantness. More importantly, though, it's got the pace of an action movie. Its crowd of characters is always fighting against zombie grown-ups and amongst themselves, and there are countless "action movie" moments where just when you think the hero is safe, the next threat is already being revealed. This emphasis on action and moving the plot forward can make the story seem a bit shallow at times. That said, though, given the action driven plot and the sheer number of characters in The Enemy, Higson does an admirable job of fleshing out an impressive array of main characters, giving us ways to understand who they were before and how they became what they are after the disease struck and civilization crumbled.

Even though I would hardly call myself the ideal audience for The Enemy, I really enjoyed it. It's definitely a fast-moving action-packed romp of a post-apocalypse story that even, for a few fleeting moments, contemplates the possibility of the survival of goodness, loyalty, and doing what's right even when the world has gone horribly wrong. show less

The Good: This is a really interesting take on zombies. Kids are immune, only the adults turn into monsters. All the adults, every single person over 16 years old. The situation itself is terrifying. The kids stick together, search for safety. There were more than a few deaths and some were pretty painful to experience. I found both the plot and the writing itself highly engaging and well done. The action is nonstop and level of violence is brutal. I especially loved the series being set in England and the situation at Buckingham Palace was insanely interesting.

The Bad: The book has some romance that feels totally out of place. Of course, teens and stressful situations will always breed romantic entanglements, but here it was forced and show more inconvenient. Almost as though it was wedged in there as an afterthought. show less

The Enemy by Charlie Higson tells the heart-stopping story of a group of kids holed up in Waitrose (a supermarket) after a virus caused everyone over 16 to change into crazed, hungry, single-minded creatures ("Mothers" and "Fathers") who only want one thing: to eat kids. There are small gangs of children hiding around London, growing increasingly desperate and short of food. The group in Waitrose are well-organized with a charismatic 14 or 15 year old leader, and when they get word of another settlement of kids living in the safety of Buckingham Palace, they decide to head out on a dangerous journey across London to join the other group.

Battling the Mothers and Fathers is bad enough, but they encounter even more than they bargained show more for, and the short trip becomes a march of death. The story doesn't pull any punches, with central characters dying, disappearing, or being wounded, which makes the story heart-breaking. But the strength and character of the kids as they rally around each other and fight to survive makes it worth the heart ache. Excellent, thought-provoking story which evokes "Lord of the Flies" along with "The Road". Highly recommended. show less

As Higson says in the interview that concludes the book, The Enemy owes considerable debt to I am Legend. Having said that, I should add that the book isn't completely derivative and there is much to recommend it to middle school and young adult readers: lots of action and reasonable characterization. This is a title worth recommending to Hunger Games fans.