by R K Weir

YA Horror, Independently Published in 2025, 342 Pages

What I Didn’t Like:

The opening is a bit cliche. If you’ve read even one zombie book, you’ve read an opening like this.
This story feels like it takes place between stories. You aren’t getting the world building of when or how the apocalypse started and you aren’t getting the action promised at the end of the book will be coming in book 2. This book almost felt unnecessary.
There’s little to no difference in voice between the two POV characters, which is weird because they’re described as being so different. I prefer different POV characters to read differently.

Stella is a solid character. Her motivations were clear and you felt her struggling with them as the story progressed.
The danger of the hordes was well established. You understood exactly what kind of situation your characters were in and what was at stake.
The friendships are developing here and have promise of becoming something even stronger in future books. This feels like a solid set up for a second book that could really sing. The ending, particularly, teased a unique sequel.

Readers who like zombie apocalypse novels that center around survivors coming together will probably like this one.