We are inundated with post-apocalyptic books at the moment, so when I saw this new one I thought it was another in a long line. But then I read the blurb and was immediately intrigued.

Our heroine, Alex has run away from home. She’s suffering a number of tragedies that lead her to camp in the mountains indefinitely. After meeting up with an older gentleman and his very young granddaughter who are trying to reconnect after the death of her parents, they are all suddenly hit with disaster. When they come to, the world has changed and not for the better. The old are all dead and the young are fierce savages that no longer have any sort of reason.

Alex is fierce in her own nature: not only a strong heroine but flawed in a human way that is engaging, and the occasional humour makes you long for her survival. When they run into Tom, a war veteran who also hasn’t changed, they begin their desperate struggle to survive.

This book is written in a particular way that doesn’t seem to have the same clichés as some other post-apocalyptic fiction. Engaging in prose and style, the characters are endearing while the zombies themselves are disturbing and fantastically awful in conception and character. This book is sure to be well appreciated by those who are fans of Hunger Games, Chaos Walking trilogy and other such brilliant books.

Kate Rockstrom is from Readings Carlton