Book 166: Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
Book 166: Warm Bodies (Warm Bodies #1).
Author: Isaac Marion, 2010.
Genre: Horror. Zombie Romantic-Comedy. YA.
Other Details: Paperback. 240 pages.
'R' is a zombie. He has no name, no memories, and no pulse, but he has dreams. He is a little different from his fellow Dead.
Amongst the ruins of an abandoned city, R meets a girl. Her name is Julie and she is the opposite of everything he knows - warm and bright and very much alive, she is a blast of colour in a dreary grey landscape. For reasons he can't understand, R chooses to save Julie instead of eating her, and a tense yet strangely tender relationship begins. This has never happened before. It breaks the rules and defies logic, but R is no longer content with life in the grave. He wants to breathe again, he wants to live, and Julie wants to help him. But their grim, rotting world won't be changed without a fight... - synopsis from UK publisher's website.
I received the film adaptation from Love Film and wanted to read the novel ahead of watching it. This certainly was a different take on the zombie sub-genre with charming dark humour expressed via in R's inner dialogue and his relationship with fellow zombie 'M'.
I wasn't all that convinced by the 'science' of the zombie plague, which wasn't really explained or by the solution; it seemed more fantasy though it's not a novel with a premise that bears too much thinking about. More one just to sit back and enjoy, which I did. I also enjoyed the film adaptation that was quite charming with Nicholas Holt perfect casting for 'R'.
Vintage UK will be publishing its prequel, The New Hunger, in a few weeks and I think I will look out for that as it is bound to give more background on the plague.