Bookaholics book club: This is not a test

4 Jun 2013

This is not a test - Review

This is not a test by Courtney Summers

Available now

What's it about?

It’s the end of the world. Six students have taken cover in Cortege High but shelter is little comfort when the dead outside won’t stop pounding on the doors. One bite is all it takes to kill a person and bring them back as a monstrous version of their former self. To Sloane Price, that doesn’t sound so bad. Six months ago, her world collapsed and since then, she’s failed to find a reason to keep going. Now seems like the perfect time to give up. As Sloane eagerly waits for the barricades to fall, she’s forced to witness the apocalypse through the eyes of five people who actually want to live. But as the days crawl by, the motivations for survival change in startling ways and soon the group’s fate is determined less and less by what’s happening outside and more and more by the unpredictable and violent bids for life—and death—inside. When everything is gone, what do you hold on to?

My review

This is not a test is so much more than just another zombie novel, its as much about Sloane's emotional journey and state of mind. When we start the book Sloane is depressed and resigned to commit suicide, but then the Zombie apocalypse gets in the way and she finds herself holed up in a high school with five other teenagers, but she's still wrestling with her demons and looking for a way out. As the book goes on we learn what's happened to Sloane in the past that's made her feel how she does now, its very much part of the story as the Zombies are and the terror that's come over the world.
I enjoyed This is not a test a lot and really liked getting right into Sloane's head. I know it sounds like it could be depressing, following a character who wants to kill herself but its really not, I felt I understood her to a point and could see why she was struggling. I'd like to have seen more of an ending as it was a bit abrupt but otherwise it was a great book.