Ashley B. (daredevilgirl013) reviewed Generation Dead (Generation Dead, Bk 1) on + 746 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
A beautiful well written book. You get deeply involved with all the characters from the start to the finish of this book. And this is a very thought provoking book. How would we act if our friends came back from the dead? What would we do the first time we saw them? Just an amazing book that gets you to thinking and the story is amazing as well. A total page turner! And hopefully this is a start of a series...hopefully!
Helpful Score: 2
I expected this book to be a light-hearted story about zombies in high school. It was totally not what I expected. This story is a lesson in acceptance, persecution, bigotry, prejudice & racism (or bioism as the book called it for the zombies). Its a very "in your face", obvious lesson, but since it is a YA book I didnt expect the "deepness" of a book written for adults. If you are looking for a funny, light-hearted paranormal type book, this is really not it. That being said, I enjoyed the story, and it was still interesting and I cared about what was going to happen to the characters enough to keep reading. I just kept feeling like it was a bit overdone on trying to get the point accross kinda like an "after school special" on TV :)Overall, worth reading, but not worth full bookstore price. Get it on PBS!
Helpful Score: 2
Generation Dead had so much potiential being a supernatural book which is very popular right now. I really wanted to love this book the way I loved the title. However, the book cover had nothing to do with the plot ( their are no dead cheerleaders here). Second, this was sort of a snooze in some places. I really struggled to get through most of it and I did skip to the end just to find out what happened. The ending was rather well done. The author is young and you can tell it's kind of like he just graduated highschool and isn't over it yet. I guess the biggest problem was the editing he could have just cut a lot of the part about the program and focused on Phoebe and Adam or just Adam he was the most likable character in the whole book. Probably won't read the second or the third book.
Jennifer W. (GeniusJen) reviewed Generation Dead (Generation Dead, Bk 1) on + 5322 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
Reviewed by The Story Siren for TeensReadToo.com
You've heard of Generation "X" and Generation "Y." Get ready for Generation Dead -- Generation Dead being known for its, well, undead. Science can't explain it, and no one really knows why it happens, but American teenagers are coming back to life. Known to the living as differently biotic or the living impaired, these zombie teenagers try to "live" their undead lives, but as with any group of people that vary from the norm, there are always prejudices.
Phoebe, a Goth girl, finds herself unexpectedly drawn to one of these so-called living impaired students, Tommy Williams. Her best friend, Margi, thinks she is crazy, but Margi's feeling for the undead are more complicated than a general dislike. Then there is Phoebe's neighbor and childhood friend, Adam. Adam has finally realized his true feelings for Phoebe, but he still can't find the courage to tell her. Of course, it doesn't make the situation any easier when he discovers Phoebe is crushing on the dead kid.
Phoebe talks Margi and Adam into joining a work study at the Hunter Foundation, which is centered around the undead phenomenon. Unfortunately, not everyone tries to be as open-minded. There aren't any laws protecting these teens, and they are being singled out and sometimes killed again. When a student makes a personal vendetta to take out the living impaired and anyone associated with them, the situation can only end in tragedy.
GENERATION DEAD went above and beyond what I was expecting. Sure, it is about the dead, but there are so many underlying messages in this book. Prejudice is something that is very apparent, and is something that we deal with in reality on a daily basis. There is a part in the book where they have a guest speaker in their undead studies program. Basically, they are discussing how they can acclimate the undead into society. I have to say that the dialogue of the speaker totally blew me away. I think I read it maybe three or four times, and I just kept thinking, if only acceptance and change were and could be that easy, the world would be a better place.
As for the rest of the story, the characters were beyond three-dimensional. I felt like I knew these kids, and they continued to develop throughout the entire story, I mean literally up until the last page. I loved it! The plot was totally original and kept me turning pages until the late hours of the night. I love Mr. Waters' writing style, as it's engrossing yet simple. The story was full of wit and humor, and I was totally captured!
Obviously, I really liked/loved this book!
You've heard of Generation "X" and Generation "Y." Get ready for Generation Dead -- Generation Dead being known for its, well, undead. Science can't explain it, and no one really knows why it happens, but American teenagers are coming back to life. Known to the living as differently biotic or the living impaired, these zombie teenagers try to "live" their undead lives, but as with any group of people that vary from the norm, there are always prejudices.
Phoebe, a Goth girl, finds herself unexpectedly drawn to one of these so-called living impaired students, Tommy Williams. Her best friend, Margi, thinks she is crazy, but Margi's feeling for the undead are more complicated than a general dislike. Then there is Phoebe's neighbor and childhood friend, Adam. Adam has finally realized his true feelings for Phoebe, but he still can't find the courage to tell her. Of course, it doesn't make the situation any easier when he discovers Phoebe is crushing on the dead kid.
Phoebe talks Margi and Adam into joining a work study at the Hunter Foundation, which is centered around the undead phenomenon. Unfortunately, not everyone tries to be as open-minded. There aren't any laws protecting these teens, and they are being singled out and sometimes killed again. When a student makes a personal vendetta to take out the living impaired and anyone associated with them, the situation can only end in tragedy.
GENERATION DEAD went above and beyond what I was expecting. Sure, it is about the dead, but there are so many underlying messages in this book. Prejudice is something that is very apparent, and is something that we deal with in reality on a daily basis. There is a part in the book where they have a guest speaker in their undead studies program. Basically, they are discussing how they can acclimate the undead into society. I have to say that the dialogue of the speaker totally blew me away. I think I read it maybe three or four times, and I just kept thinking, if only acceptance and change were and could be that easy, the world would be a better place.
As for the rest of the story, the characters were beyond three-dimensional. I felt like I knew these kids, and they continued to develop throughout the entire story, I mean literally up until the last page. I loved it! The plot was totally original and kept me turning pages until the late hours of the night. I love Mr. Waters' writing style, as it's engrossing yet simple. The story was full of wit and humor, and I was totally captured!
Obviously, I really liked/loved this book!
Brittany H. (poohbritt) -
Helpful Score: 1
I liked the idea. But I wasn't exactly drawn in from the first chapter. It took a few times of me picking up and putting it down to finish, and of course it ends in a HUGE cliff-hanger. So be forewarned, when you read this you'll want to be able to get the next book soon. Which is in Mid-may, I believe.
The premise is that American teens start coming back from the dead and are part of a new demographic of "Differently Bionic." They go to school, and what not, but are of course the object of fear and therefore hate by the masses. Somewhat like what other minorities faced. There's teen love, and romance. Of course. Phoebe, the main character, becomes interested in Tommy Williams, who is trying out for the football team and undead. Other folks, don't care too much for this and the plot ensues.
All in all, worth the read. But if I had bought it, I wouldn't be happy about it.
The premise is that American teens start coming back from the dead and are part of a new demographic of "Differently Bionic." They go to school, and what not, but are of course the object of fear and therefore hate by the masses. Somewhat like what other minorities faced. There's teen love, and romance. Of course. Phoebe, the main character, becomes interested in Tommy Williams, who is trying out for the football team and undead. Other folks, don't care too much for this and the plot ensues.
All in all, worth the read. But if I had bought it, I wouldn't be happy about it.
Helpful Score: 1
This was such an excellent book! I started reading it because I got into all of those horror-esque books since twilight. I thought this book was very well written and pulled me in as if I was there watching it all happen. I would give this book 4 stars. A definite nice change of pace from all the bad book I've read lately!
SUSAN S. (susieqmillsacoustics) -
Helpful Score: 1
For some reason, I loved this book. It was unique and I loved the characters. It is a strange book and written for young adults-but I like to occasionally read YA books because they can sometimes be so well written. I felt this was one of those books. The characters were absorbing. You felt so much for both the dead and the living. It is based on a world where in parts of America a phenomena of teens come back from the dead and scientists are trying to figure out why, but society is trying to cope with where they belong and the living are afraid of them. For me, I enjoyed it thoroughly.
Jason C. (jasoncavallaro) reviewed Generation Dead (Generation Dead, Bk 1) on + 92 more book reviews
Decent
Stephanie S. (skywriter319) -
They don't like to be called zombies. Or dead heads, or worm food, or whatever pejorative terms the "creative" people of the world are coming up with. They're differently biotic: American teens literally rising from the dead into some semblance of their former selves. Everyone is terrified of them. What are they, and why have they come back from the dead?
High school junior Phoebe doesn't share the world's qualms. In fact, she just might have a crush on Tommy Williams, a quietly powerful differently biotic boy who shocks all the students of Oakvale High when he tries out for the football team, just to prove that he can. Phoebe admires Tommy's guts, but there are people less happy with his actions, most notably Pete Martinsburg, fellow teammate and soul-crushing zombie-hater who just might do anything to stop the differently biotic from living a life that is not theirs to live.
Phoebe's best friend Adam is secretly in love with her, and thus finds it difficult to believe that she can like, well, a dead guy like Tommy Williams. But as Adam begins to learn about the plight of the differently biotic, the prejudices and difficulties they face, he realizes that maybe the only way he can help Phoebe be happy is by protecting Tommy... no matter the cost.
Wow! Daniel Waters creatively plugs into the typical YA reader's love for paranormal romance and ends up teaching us all a lesson about civil rights, prejudice, and tolerance. All of the characters are carefully constructed to be three-dimensional: readers can even empathize with the jerk Pete Martinsburg's tortured feelings towards zombies. I also appreciated the generous--and accurate!--details about sports (football, baseball, Frisbee) because that is not something I come across often enough in YA literature. While occasionally the lecturing about tolerance goes on for a page too long, overall GENERATION DEAD is a fun way of being enlightened about the issues regarding bigotry and prejudice.
High school junior Phoebe doesn't share the world's qualms. In fact, she just might have a crush on Tommy Williams, a quietly powerful differently biotic boy who shocks all the students of Oakvale High when he tries out for the football team, just to prove that he can. Phoebe admires Tommy's guts, but there are people less happy with his actions, most notably Pete Martinsburg, fellow teammate and soul-crushing zombie-hater who just might do anything to stop the differently biotic from living a life that is not theirs to live.
Phoebe's best friend Adam is secretly in love with her, and thus finds it difficult to believe that she can like, well, a dead guy like Tommy Williams. But as Adam begins to learn about the plight of the differently biotic, the prejudices and difficulties they face, he realizes that maybe the only way he can help Phoebe be happy is by protecting Tommy... no matter the cost.
Wow! Daniel Waters creatively plugs into the typical YA reader's love for paranormal romance and ends up teaching us all a lesson about civil rights, prejudice, and tolerance. All of the characters are carefully constructed to be three-dimensional: readers can even empathize with the jerk Pete Martinsburg's tortured feelings towards zombies. I also appreciated the generous--and accurate!--details about sports (football, baseball, Frisbee) because that is not something I come across often enough in YA literature. While occasionally the lecturing about tolerance goes on for a page too long, overall GENERATION DEAD is a fun way of being enlightened about the issues regarding bigotry and prejudice.
This is the first book in Generation Dead series by Daniel Waters. Right now, I believe that 5 books are planned. The 2nd book "Kiss of Life" came out May 2009 and the third book "Passing Strange" is planned to release in May of 2010. I really liked this book; I'd give it 4.5 stars. The book itself deals with deeper issues than the somewhat hokey cover would lead you to believe.
Suddenly American teenagers who have died are coming back to life. There is only a small percentage of them that return to life and no one knows why. Phoebe's high school is considered to be one of the better schools for the "living impaired" or, more politically correct, "differently biotic," teenagers. When Phoebe meets Tommy, she is fascinated by the fact that he is dead but still very intelligent and very focused. When Tommy tries out for, and makes, the football team he meets Adam, one of Phoebe's best friends. Tommy joining the football team upsets a lot of people who believe that the "Dead" kids should stay dead and buried. Then a research foundation asks for kids to join a study work group focused at helping relations between the traditionally biotic (trads) and the differently biotic (zombies). Suddenly Adam, Tommy, Phoebe, and a few others who join the study group find them selves targets for violence and are ostracized.
When I started this book I was concerned that this would be just another young adult high school drama but with zombies. It is a lot more than that. Waters creates characters that are very personable, engaging, and believable. Phoebe is a wonderful sweet and smart girl; who communicates very effectively with her parents and her friends. Adam and Tommy are also great characters. In fact every single character in this book is very well developed and interesting to get to know. This isn't a story about some crazy zombies, it's a story that talks about how society deals with things that are different.
I was also impressed with how Waters treats the living impaired teenagers. This book is approaching un-death as a disability or a new race. As such many social and political aspects of society are realistically dealt with in surprising depth. Many questions about how having a new race of un-dead teens affects family life, school life, social life, and the world as a whole are dealt with.
So, overall I thought this was a surprisingly well-done book. Of course, you do have the standard things a lot of teen books have. You have a love triangle between Tommy, Phoebe, and Adam to create some tension between the characters. You have a prom dance, and you have the standard jock jerks that try to make everyone's lives miserable. These things were dealt with tastefully though.
The only thing I didn't like about the book was the middle of it. I thought that the story started to drag a bit in the middle. The whole portion where they are forming the support group could have gone a bit faster. Also it would have been nice to have more urgency to the plot and maybe something urgent happening. You have the whole impending sense of doom that something bad is going to happen to the undead kids, but other than that there isn't a ton to the plot. That being said, the beginning and ending of the book kept me pretty hooked; given the ending I wish I had "Kiss of Life" in hand so I could start reading it now. I will definitely be keeping up with this series.
Suddenly American teenagers who have died are coming back to life. There is only a small percentage of them that return to life and no one knows why. Phoebe's high school is considered to be one of the better schools for the "living impaired" or, more politically correct, "differently biotic," teenagers. When Phoebe meets Tommy, she is fascinated by the fact that he is dead but still very intelligent and very focused. When Tommy tries out for, and makes, the football team he meets Adam, one of Phoebe's best friends. Tommy joining the football team upsets a lot of people who believe that the "Dead" kids should stay dead and buried. Then a research foundation asks for kids to join a study work group focused at helping relations between the traditionally biotic (trads) and the differently biotic (zombies). Suddenly Adam, Tommy, Phoebe, and a few others who join the study group find them selves targets for violence and are ostracized.
When I started this book I was concerned that this would be just another young adult high school drama but with zombies. It is a lot more than that. Waters creates characters that are very personable, engaging, and believable. Phoebe is a wonderful sweet and smart girl; who communicates very effectively with her parents and her friends. Adam and Tommy are also great characters. In fact every single character in this book is very well developed and interesting to get to know. This isn't a story about some crazy zombies, it's a story that talks about how society deals with things that are different.
I was also impressed with how Waters treats the living impaired teenagers. This book is approaching un-death as a disability or a new race. As such many social and political aspects of society are realistically dealt with in surprising depth. Many questions about how having a new race of un-dead teens affects family life, school life, social life, and the world as a whole are dealt with.
So, overall I thought this was a surprisingly well-done book. Of course, you do have the standard things a lot of teen books have. You have a love triangle between Tommy, Phoebe, and Adam to create some tension between the characters. You have a prom dance, and you have the standard jock jerks that try to make everyone's lives miserable. These things were dealt with tastefully though.
The only thing I didn't like about the book was the middle of it. I thought that the story started to drag a bit in the middle. The whole portion where they are forming the support group could have gone a bit faster. Also it would have been nice to have more urgency to the plot and maybe something urgent happening. You have the whole impending sense of doom that something bad is going to happen to the undead kids, but other than that there isn't a ton to the plot. That being said, the beginning and ending of the book kept me pretty hooked; given the ending I wish I had "Kiss of Life" in hand so I could start reading it now. I will definitely be keeping up with this series.
Personally, I have mixed feelings about this book. I'm not a teen, but have always loved the teen books. Twilight was a favorite, and other such books. While this book had me hooked, it was not something I would suggest, nor a book I would keep (which I do with all my best). It was good until the ending. So that's my review, I know others have enjoyed it and will read on.
Kimberly N. (cardiaccarern) reviewed Generation Dead (Generation Dead, Bk 1) on + 2 more book reviews
After reading the "Twilight" series by Stephenie Meyer, I became a huge fan of books about vampires. After reading all of the other series that I found appealing, I ran out of good vampire stories! The title of this book is what initially caught my eye.. after reading it, I am semi-impressed. I will probably continue to read the series as more books are published. The story is somewhat addicting, yet a little on the weird side. Overall, it was an easy read that kept my attention!
This was a good book, the first 150 pages were slow, but after that it really picked up. The ending was very unexpected.
Caitlin C. (GothicxLollitaxDoll) reviewed Generation Dead (Generation Dead, Bk 1) on + 7 more book reviews
I really love this book and i am currently reading Kiss of Life which is the second book in the series. This gives a whole new meaning to 'Zombies'. I recommend this book to everyone.
Loved it. It was funny, cute, and kept a great pace. I didn't want to put it down, but I also didn't have "withdrawal" if I didn't read it as soon as I got home. (Endless Knight anyone??) It had a Twilight forbidden love feel to it (only much better written), yet it's easily able to stand on its own as not to be thought of as "another Twilight book".
Phoebe and Adam are very likable characters. Their friendship seems a little odd since he's the football star and she's the "goth girl", but since they have been neighbors for years and Adam has a crush on Phoebe, I bought into it. Tommy is... mysterious. I wanted to like him, but at the same time he was a huge question mark for me because there is so much that you don't know about him. Meanwhile, Margi is written as a realistically, annoying best friend that most people don't like, but for some reason you're friends with. The other supporting characters - Karen (who I'm pretty sure is supposed to be the girl on the book cover), Pete, Thorny, Colette, etc - are nicely developed and definitely add welcomed layers to the story.
Phoebe and Adam are very likable characters. Their friendship seems a little odd since he's the football star and she's the "goth girl", but since they have been neighbors for years and Adam has a crush on Phoebe, I bought into it. Tommy is... mysterious. I wanted to like him, but at the same time he was a huge question mark for me because there is so much that you don't know about him. Meanwhile, Margi is written as a realistically, annoying best friend that most people don't like, but for some reason you're friends with. The other supporting characters - Karen (who I'm pretty sure is supposed to be the girl on the book cover), Pete, Thorny, Colette, etc - are nicely developed and definitely add welcomed layers to the story.
