Originally posted at The Wandering Fangirl.

ZOMBIIIEEEEES!

I do a huge amount of my e-reading in bed at night while my boyfriend sleeps, which is the worst idea when reading something that involves zombies. As much as I love the zombie genre, I know how to terrify myself when it comes to the creatures, and This is Not a Test fit the bill.

However, This is Not a Test doesn't entirely focus on the zombies themselves. Most zombie fiction these days focuses on how the humans try to keep on living through the end of the world, and we follow Sloane, who doesn't want to live. Not really. She's stuck in a school with five other teenagers, who try to figure out how to survive - the only question is what surviving really means.

The book explores the relationships between each of the survivors, how they react to each other, how they begin to find themselves or crack under the pressure. Being stuck in a school with only each other, surrounded by the undead brings out the best and worst in them, and it's fascinating to read. Each of the characters seemed well thought out, and though I disliked one or two, I felt as though I was meant to -- and it's not as though they're entirely bad kids. They are what the apocalypse made them.

This is Not a Test is a fantastic, heartbreaking entry into the zombie genre, and I totally recommend it to anyone.