Rowland, Diana: Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues
Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues (2012)
Author: Diana Rowland
Publisher: DAW
Genre: Contemporary Fantasy, Mystery
Pages: 312 (mass market paperback)
Series: White Trash Zombie #2
Angel Crawford is finally starting to get used to life as a brain-eating zombie, but her problems are far from over. Her felony record is coming back to haunt her, more zombie hunters are popping up, and she’s beginning to wonder if her hunky cop-boyfriend is involved with the zombie mafia. Yeah, that’s right-the zombie mafia.
Throw in a secret lab and a lot of conspiracy, and Angel’s going to need all of her brainpower-and maybe a brain smoothie as well-in order to get through it without falling apart.
Why I Read It: I recently read and enjoyed My Life as a White Trash Zombie (my review is here), so I went out shortly after and bought this and put it on top of the reading queue. No spoilers for this book, but there will be spoilers MLaaWTZ.
When I wrote my review for MLaaWTZ, I talked about how I found Angel's personal arc and Coming of Age arc to be the most satisfying aspect of the novel. Because it came to such a satisfying conclusion in the first book, I was curious to see how Rowland would continue it in the second, and which aspects of Angel's life she would focus on.
In the first book, Angel came to accept herself and realize that she has the will power to change her circumstances and not be the "loser" she had resigned herself to. This book focuses much more on how other people see Angel, and how even though Angel has moved on from her past, there are a lot of people who haven't. From Marcus' family, to her probation officer, to her employers, Angel's actions are constantly under scrutiny and her word is taken with a grain of salt. This is officially a blow to Angel's new self-esteem, and her narrative arc centers around her overcoming that.
Like in the first book, I was was rooting for Angel like crazy. She's still self-deprecating -- sometimes depressingly so -- but her voice is distinct and consistent with what readers were presented with in the first novel. It's easy to sympathize with her, but Rowland never let's the story become "Angel vs. THE WORLD", because she does have a good support system and people backing her up, which was touching. One of those people, surprisingly, was her father. The relationship between Angel and her dad was left hanging a little at the end of the first book, so I was glad to see it taken up again in this one, and I liked the direction it took. Their relationship is obviously far from perfect, but it felt realistically flawed, and when they had good moments together I thought "YAY!!" I wanted them to work things out.
The new romantic relationship between Marcus and Angel took a bit of a predictable route, but still diverged in some ways to keep it from being totally rote. People associated with Marcus' family look down on Angel, but thankfully his parents were much nicer and understanding. Sophia, Marcus' old high school girlfriend had the potential to be eye-roll inducing, but thankfully Angel has a good head on her shoulders and is jealous of her for the "right" reasons; she isn't jealous because Sophia and Marcus once dated -- she's jealous because Marcus treats her like an EQUAL. Big difference, and I liked how that was dealt with. It made Angel a flawed and rounded character without making her annoying or unlikable. The ending provided a satisfying conclusion to Marcus and Angel's relationship and it'll be interesting to see how they end up in the future.
So now that I've talked your ear off about Angel and her relationships with other characters, what about the rest of the book? Again, the mystery aspect to this one was satisfying and kept me guessing, but the plot in this story is significantly grander than the first one. Where the first book was very self-contained, this one is a little more open-ended, though everything that needs to be wrapped up IS wrapped up. It's just much more open to a sequel than the first one was. The one thing that bugged me was that I felt like Angel made a couple leaps in logic in regards to coming to some answers, which bothered me a little, but were far from hindering my reading experience as a whole.
Final Verdict: I liked the direction that this second book took, and it felt like a natural progression from the first. Angel continues to be a likable character who I can't help but root for, and I enjoy watching her succeed and overcome the challenges she faces. Her character arc continues to be surprisingly touching and emotional, and is easily my favourite aspect of this series. The mystery in this book is on a much grander scale than the first, and was overall satisfying and kept me guessing, even when Angel made some leaps in logic to come to some answers. This series is a lot of fun, while also having some emotional heft, and I can't wait to read the third book, White Trash Zombie Apocalypse, due out in 2013.
Cover Commentary: I like this cover considerably less than the first. It's sort of the same style as the first, but way less aesthetically appealing. I'm also wondering why they wanted this kind of picture... Angel sitting on a toilet (with no toilet paper no less); I get that it represents things not going so well for Angel but.. I don't know. It just doesn't really work for me.