Summers, Courtney: This is Not a Test
This is Not a Test (2012)
Author: Courtney Summers
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Genre: Horror/Post-Apocalypse, Young Adult
Pages: 323 (trade paperback)
Series: Stand Alone
It’s the end of the world. Six students have taken cover in Cortege High but shelter is little comfort when the dead outside won’t stop pounding on the doors. One bite is all it takes to kill a person and bring them back as a monstrous version of their former self.
To Sloane Price, that doesn’t sound so bad. Six months ago, her world collapsed and since then, she’s failed to find a reason to keep going. Now seems like the perfect time to give up. As Sloane eagerly waits for the barricades to fall, she’s forced to witness the apocalypse through the eyes of five people who actually want to live.
But as the days crawl by, the motivations for survival change in startling ways and soon the group’s fate is determined less and less by what’s happening outside and more and more by the unpredictable and violent bids for life-and death-inside.
When everything is gone, what do you hold on to?
Why I Read It: I read and enjoyed Summers' debut novel Cracked Up to Be a few months ago. Even if I hadn't enjoyed that novel though, I still think this would have been high on my radar. It's been getting fantastic reviews, and I just had to buy it and read it right away.
I'm no connoisseur of zombie/post-apocalypse novels, but I do know that one of the driving forces of these works, what really creates tension, is the characters' need to survive; to make it through all the madness and despair and to still come out of it alive. So what do you do when you already want to die? Courtney Summers explores this with her new novel, in which the main character Sloane was actually ready to commit suicide and was actually *interrupted* by the end of the world.
Because Sloane is already suicidal, she looks at the world and the things happening around in a detached manner. You'd think this would make her an unlikable and/or boring narrator, but Summers somehow manages to pull it off. Sloane is just trying to not get in the way of the people around her because she knows that they DO want to survive, and she doesn't want to get in the way of that. THAT, I think, is what keeps her from being unlikable. Sloane rarely wallows in self-pity, despite having lived in an abusive home before the zombies, and despite being in the shitty situation she's in now that the zombies HAVE come. Even when Sloane DOES wallow in self-pity, it's never in an irritating way; I consistently felt horrible for Sloane, especially in regards to her feelings for her sister (which I don't want to say too much about -- it's not exactly spoilery, but I think it will have more impact if you don't know it beforehand.)
The other characters whom Sloane is stuck with in the school are well-developed and characterized, which is impressive considering how many of them there are. I had a bit of trouble keeping everyone straight at first because the readers of thrown into the narrative in media res (there's a prologue that's right before the end of the world, and then we're thrown right in a week later after Sloane has been taken up by the group and they've gotten to the high school), but they're all distinct in personality so it was easy to learn who was who. The way these characters behave is typical of any post-apoc/zombie book/movie/whatever; everyone bickers; people are dicks/horrible people; everyone usually gets at least one moment of redemption, etc. Trace did grate on my nerves consistently though, and that kid who kept crying all the time ended up being kind of an asshole. I think Grace was my favourite (aside from Sloane); she could be a bitch at times, but she was ultimately the nicest without being prissy or saccharine.
I've one one or two reviews were people were frustrated with the romantic entanglements, but I have to say that I liked how these were dealt with. Yes, this is a bunch of teenagers stuck in an abandoned school together, so people hook up, but it never felt romantic to me, and it never felt like it was trying to. The desperation is what really stood out, even when the moments were more quiet.
For people who aren't fond of zombies, I don't think this book present too much of a problem. Yes, there are zombies, and they are obviously important to the story, but they're not around a whole lot. They're always a looming threat, but this novel is much more focused on the characters, and what happens when people are pushed to their extremes. Yes, this is common in zombie fiction, but the lack of running away from/fight zombies that you would usually find in those narratives isn't present here, so we have a lot more human vs. human action. There's just enough of the zombies to keep the story tense and scary, but lacking just enough for the characters to be the stars, instead of them.
All in all, it was a really compelling read, and this review really isn't doing it justice. Even if you're not a fan of post-apoc/zombies, I would recommend this book. I even daresay it's one of my favourite books of the year.
Final Verdict: I really, REALLY enjoyed this. It's a great post-apoc/zombie novel and puts a lot of emphasis on the characters (even more so than most zombie books). All the characters in this novel -- and there are quite a few -- are distinct, and will likely instigate love-hate relationships with the reader. No one is WHOLLY likable or unlikable; they all sit in the middle (though I still have my favourites and not-so-favourites). The main character, despite being mostly (though not completely) detached, still manages to be an incredibly likable character who you just want to take care of. I'm really glad I read this and now want to devour the rest of Summers' backlist that I haven't gotten to yet (which is all of two books -- too bad.)
Cover Commentary: I've always liked this cover. I find it spooky, and I'm glad it doesn't show the girls face. I also love the colour blue, so those tend to win me over more easily.