TITLE: This is Not a Test
AUTHOR: Courtney Summers
GENRE: Young Adult Zombie/Dystopian
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?
THE GOOD
There’s lots of good stuff in this book. Number one – emotion, or as my son would say
(he actually picked this up off my desk to read it) DRAMA. I did warn him this was what I would consider
to be a girl book. But it did not deter
him. Regardless, he said he could’ve
gotten by without the DRAMA in the beginning.
I kinda liked the drama in the beginning, to be honest. So, forget him.
Some of the characters in this book were well developed. By which I mean, they were unique and
created with care. I liked Sloan the
best and Trace and Grace second. They both
get second since they are twins. Funny –
the main love interest, Rhys, did nothing for me. Harrison was annoying, but that was his
purpose, and Cary had a lot of potential, but never lived up to it in my
opinion.
I enjoyed the story and the writing style. It was an easy book to read – and that’s not
saying it was simple. I’m saying it
flowed, so it was easy to read. I’m reading
another book right now that does not flow at all, and it makes reading it
difficult. Sometimes I think authors
want to write difficult books on purpose.
And it’s not about plot either, it’s about complicated, profusely
gushing sentences that you have to read so slow to get all the vowels in, you forget why you should care.
This is Not a Test did not have that to muck it up and I
liked it. Which is probably why my son
devoured this book, regardless of the DRAMA.
NEEDS IMPROVEMENT
Really, besides what I mentioned about the characters above,
the only thing that was disappointing was the ending. But this is a big deal. Endings make the book. I’m not sure if there’s a sequel planned, I could
not find mention of it on Goodreads, so I’m assuming not. The ending was unsatisfying.
My son excused this with the hope that there would be a sequel,
he said he felt like there should be one, so he’s basing his opinions of the
end on that assumption. Otherwise, I think
he’d feel the same way I do.
RATING
All in all, This is Not a Test is a good four star book that
could’ve been a lifetime favorite, but just missed the mark for me. If there is a sequel I will definitely read
it and maybe I’ll change my rating. It’s
pretty clean, a bit of swearing and some teenage groping and assumptions - as well as talk and or implications of other characters having sex. But Sloan is a virgin and her purity stays intact. There is some drinking, smoking, and mention of pot, but it's the end of the world, so... For mature teens only for these reasons, as
well as the violence of zombies, which can hardly be avoided.
