Jeff Hart (1)

Undead With Benefits by Jeff Hart is a sequel to Eat, Brains, Love, a YA zombie story that was an equal combination of grossness, horror and humor. Basically this second book offers more of the same but I found that I quickly grew tired of the repetitive teen humor and angst.

The story continues with Jake, Amanda and Cass off on a road trip to Iowa as they search for the rumored zombie cure. They do get separated and have different adventures but overall I didn’t think this book brought anything new to the table. Personally I am fine with the ending but I have seen that many felt that it didn’t answer all the questions they had and were left hoping for another book.

While I enjoyed the awkward love triangle between the three main characters and the mindless ghouls that came out of the cornfields, I did find that the zombie warlord who ruled Des Moines was a little too much. Of course I realize that I am not the target audience for this offbeat adventure, but unfortunately I found most of this book rather boring.… (mais)

Eat, Brains, Love by Jeff Hart is a laugh-out-loud, slightly romantic (if you can get into romance and gore going together) story that my only complaint about is that it ended abruptly with a cliffhanger so I now need to schedule book number two in order to find out what happens.

High school stoner, Jake and high school beauty, Amanda, are an unlikely duo, but when they both morph into zombies and start chowing down on their friends, they realize the importance of sticking together. Pursued by an obscure branch of the government, they hit the road as they try to find out how to live the best zombie life possible. One of their pursuers is Cassandra, a sixteen year old physic, who is able to get inside Jake’s brain. It isn’t long before she develops “feelings” for Jake and is reluctant to reveal his whereabouts. Of course, Cassandra isn’t happy about Jake’s crush on Amanda, but she also realizes that a zombie and a human don’t have much of a future to look forward to.

Jake and Amanda hear about a rumoured cure that is available in Iowa, a state that has been overtaken by zombies so the plan is to head there. By the end of the book they have Cassandra with them, and Jake has his hands full keeping Amanda from eating Cass. The author never takes himself too seriously and I found his take on this zombie apocalypse is unique and made for a light, fun read. There is no deeper message to be gathered from this book, it is simply a horror story that uses humour, violence and government conspiracy to advance the plot.… (mais)

At the beginning of the day, Jake and Amanda could not have been further apart. At the same high school, they are part of vastly different groups: Jake with the burnout stoner crowd and Amanda with the popular crowd. Then the playing field is leveled when they are both attacked by and turn into zombies. After eating a bunch of their friends and classmates, they escape the carnage together and try to survive. The media says they shot up the school, but are in custody, so they have no idea what's going on. On the other side of things, Cass is a telepath working for the government in the Necrotic Control Division to contain zombie outbreaks. This isn't her first rodeo and, despite her young age, she is one of the most powerful telepaths they have. Her interaction with Jake and Amanda have her suddenly wondering if maybe zombies don't deserve to be hunted down and killed. Unfortunately, the leader of her organization has other plans.

I liked the slightly different lore than usual in Eat Brains Love. This zombie virus is a sexually transmitted disease, so a bite, no matter how bad, will just hurt.These zombies are not brainless all the time. When well fed, they are perfectly normal people with working systems and beating hearts. When extremely hungry, they turn into the zombies we are used to: shambling, brain hungry monsters. They have no control over their actions until they return to their well fed state. These changes added a lot to the story, especially because one of the narrators was capable of thought and speech. There is quite a bit of zombie carnage, but it doesn't generally disrupt the light tone of the novel.

I enjoyed Jake's narrative the most because of his budding and sweet relationship with Amanda and the excitement of their journey. I also found him likable and really sweet despite his slacker/stoner attitude. He feels really bad about the people he killed, but he accepts that's just how things are now. He tries to make the best of it with Amanda and their evolving relationship is my favorite part of the story. Cass is an interesting character with telepathy, but I found her narrative less compelling. The telepathy was pushing it for my suspension of disbelief, but it didn't bother me that much in the long run. Her story is less light with a government agency headed by an unscrupulous person who doesn't think twice about using people. She started to realize that full zombies are just like regular people, but then was shocked when they ate people still to stave off hunger. I thought she was a bit naive and annoying, especially when she became infatuated with Jake after seeing into his head so much like a creepy stalker.

Eat Brains Love is a cute, fun zombie novel. The different zombies and the love story sets this apart from other zombie novel. There's nothing revolutionary here, but I would definitely read the next in the series, Undead with Benefits.… (mais)