When I bought Anna and the Apocalypse I didn't realize it was the novelization of a movie, I actually thought it was the other way around, and the movie was based on the book. I can honestly say I wouldn't have bought it if I knew.
Anna lives in the small Scottish town of Little Haven. She is a high school senior who is ready to get on with her life, and get out of Scotland. Her best friend, John, is of course in love with her, and has yet to tell her. She has many friends, and is the bane of the school's vice principal, Mr. Arthur Savage. Anna has dreams and aspirations. Anna is also a very single minded, and boring character. In fact, most of the characters are a little dull and flat. They begin to become stereotypes of what someone thinks teens are like. And one of the issues I have with this novel is that the premises or plot is that if makes Anna sound much more developed, a seventeen year old (I assume) girl who is dealing with the death of her mother (she died when Anna was twelve, why is it such a huge deal in this novel when it doesn't add anything to the story), and trying to survive high school.
The back of the book touts that it is a "horror comedy about a teenager who faces down the zombie apocalypse with a little help from her friends," but there weren't a lot of zombies in this until about page 85, and there was very little, if any, comedy. There were attempts, but most of the jokes were bad puns and terrible, terrible jokes. None of the characters were very interesting, except maybe Steph, but there wasn't enough backstory for her to be fully developed. For example, the reader knows that she was sent to the school and is from Canada. She has a girlfriend, and her parents are going to vacation in Mexico. She keeps saying she was sent away because she was "difficult" but it isn't really what is explained what she means by that, and she is very protective of the fact that she has a girlfriend, but she doesn't expand on that either (for example, did she have a bad experience while out with her girlfriend, or do her parents no accept that she is a lesbian).
When the zombie apocalypse does finally happen, there is a development that is explained either. In fact, a lot of things in this book seem to be glossed over. Like how is Anna's father, Tony, unable to protect himself against Savage? Why is Savage such a jerk and why is he so strong? Savage has zero background, and so the reader doesn't have any idea why he seems to hate people so much, especially the teens he works with. This book is all over the place.
While it could have been fun and interesting, there was nothing but sad attempts at humor and a noticeable lack of good zombie scenes. I do not recommend this novelization, and I cannot recommend this book. It is flat and there is not enough interesting about the characters to keep one interested. It is a fast read, and if I had the time I could have read it in one sitting, but it takes too long to get to the zombies, and the characters don't make me care enough to care if they live or die.
Anna lives in the small Scottish town of Little Haven. She is a high school senior who is ready to get on with her life, and get out of Scotland. Her best friend, John, is of course in love with her, and has yet to tell her. She has many friends, and is the bane of the school's vice principal, Mr. Arthur Savage. Anna has dreams and aspirations. Anna is also a very single minded, and boring character. In fact, most of the characters are a little dull and flat. They begin to become stereotypes of what someone thinks teens are like. And one of the issues I have with this novel is that the premises or plot is that if makes Anna sound much more developed, a seventeen year old (I assume) girl who is dealing with the death of her mother (she died when Anna was twelve, why is it such a huge deal in this novel when it doesn't add anything to the story), and trying to survive high school.
The back of the book touts that it is a "horror comedy about a teenager who faces down the zombie apocalypse with a little help from her friends," but there weren't a lot of zombies in this until about page 85, and there was very little, if any, comedy. There were attempts, but most of the jokes were bad puns and terrible, terrible jokes. None of the characters were very interesting, except maybe Steph, but there wasn't enough backstory for her to be fully developed. For example, the reader knows that she was sent to the school and is from Canada. She has a girlfriend, and her parents are going to vacation in Mexico. She keeps saying she was sent away because she was "difficult" but it isn't really what is explained what she means by that, and she is very protective of the fact that she has a girlfriend, but she doesn't expand on that either (for example, did she have a bad experience while out with her girlfriend, or do her parents no accept that she is a lesbian).
When the zombie apocalypse does finally happen, there is a development that is explained either. In fact, a lot of things in this book seem to be glossed over. Like how is Anna's father, Tony, unable to protect himself against Savage? Why is Savage such a jerk and why is he so strong? Savage has zero background, and so the reader doesn't have any idea why he seems to hate people so much, especially the teens he works with. This book is all over the place.
While it could have been fun and interesting, there was nothing but sad attempts at humor and a noticeable lack of good zombie scenes. I do not recommend this novelization, and I cannot recommend this book. It is flat and there is not enough interesting about the characters to keep one interested. It is a fast read, and if I had the time I could have read it in one sitting, but it takes too long to get to the zombies, and the characters don't make me care enough to care if they live or die.
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