Series: Warm Bodies #1
Format: Paperback, 240 pages
Release Date: October 28, 2010
Publisher: Vintage
Genre: Horror > Zombies
Age Group: Young Adult
Get It: Amazon • Barnes & Noble
R is having a no-life crisis—he is a zombie. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse, but he is a little different from his fellow Dead. He may occasionally eat people, but he’d rather be riding abandoned airport escalators, listening to Sinatra in the cozy 747 he calls home, or collecting souvenirs from the ruins of civilization.
And then he meets a girl.
First as his captive, then his reluctant guest, Julie is a blast of living color in R’s gray landscape, and something inside him begins to bloom. He doesn’t want to eat this girl—although she looks delicious—he wants to protect her. But their unlikely bond will cause ripples they can’t imagine, and their hopeless world won’t change without a fight.
~synopsis by Goodreads
That being said... I loved Warm Bodies. I found it completely originally and unlike anything I’ve ever read before - aside from the fact that it’s a zombie novel.
First off, Warm Bodies is told from the POV of R, a zombie of unknown age. R “lives” in an airport in a zombie hive. I was very surprised at how normal the hive acted. They had a church, a school (where they taught you how to eat/attack the living), marriages, kids, and “sex.”
They even talk a little. Usually one or two words at a time with long pauses in between. After R meets Julie he’s actually able to get six syllables out in one sentence. I loved R’s one comment about how they talk: “I long for exclamation marks, but I’m drowning in ellipses” (51).
Despite the way they talk aloud, R has no trouble thinking coherently and forming thoughts, which made for beautiful narration.
I didn’t understand why Julie wasn’t so initially afraid. Regardless of a talking zombie, I would still be petrified if a zombie abducted me - for lack of better words - and kept me in his airplane... so the zombies of the airport wouldn’t get me. Never mind this zombie was just part of the group of zombies that ate all my friends, boyfriend included. She was very calm about the whole situation and I thought it weird.
The relationship between R and Julie was very cute and I loved the progression. It’s not every day you see love blossom between a girl and the zombie that just ate her boyfriend.
I very much enjoyed this plot and the characters. It’s not your typical zombie book in that it does and doesn’t feel like one. So if you’re not a fan of zombie (like me), you’d still enjoy this novel. If you are a zombie fan (like my brother), you'd still enjoy this novel. I’m glad my brother recommended it to me and I’m very curious to see what the sequel will be like.