Dust by Joan Frances Turner (REVIEW)

CAUTION: There maybe a few spoilers in this review, but I will warn you NOT to read further if you don't like spoilers.  

                                              

One day while I was at the college library, I decided I wanted to read a book about the popular supernatural/sci-fi creature known as The Zombie. But, I didn't want just any kind of Zombie story. I wanted one from the Zombie's point of view. Odd request, I know. I have read the book Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion, but it was a bit too simplistic for me. So my librarian recommended this book called Dust by Joan Frances Turner. From the moment I read the first line of the book, I was hooked.

The story is about a young girl named Jessie, who died in a car accident (this is stated on the first page) and rises up from her grave as one of the undead. She ends up joining a gang of other Undeads (Called The Fly By Nights) that find her in the forest of "hick-vill" Indiana. So far, un-death is wonderful. She has a new family and even another undead, whom she falls in love with, named Joe. They hunt, they dance, they fight, and they stick together.

 

All is well until Jessie one day she sees her alive sister, Lisa, at the grave yard and things go as expected. Lisa runs away from her, and Jessie is left feeling dumb for even attempting
to communicate with her. Eventually, things begin to change when Jessie and the rest of her gang, notice that there has been a change not only amongst themselves, but among the others around the area. They all appear to be more...Alive. Skin is beginning to re-grow, they stop eating, and they smell like they have been dipped in Ether. Time goes on, and things end up getting worse. Eventually, the whole gang is falling apart, and the only two left are Jessie, a fellow undead named Linc, Renee, and eventually, Jessie's sister, who also turned into one of the more "new" undeads.

OVERALL REVIEW: 
This isn't an incredibly well-written review, but I find it the only way I can really describe the book. It is a wonderful, fresh plot of a Zombie apocalypse narrated from a Zombie's point of view. Throughout the book, you are constantly questioning things and getting attached to characters, like Joe and Jessie. (The greatest Zombie couple ever).

The book itself, is well-written and the only downside, is that Jessie has a lot of odd dreams that kind of make you want to skip them, and get to the good parts. The book is very addictive, and has some interesting twists and turns.

Apparently, I found out the book is also a series, which the second two are Frail and Grave. I read a little bit of Frail, and all it was, was about a girl in a zombie apocalypse named Amy who gets left behind by her mother, and that's as far as I got. I have read reviews on this, and it is not as good and Fresh as the first one. I have yet to see the third, and will write a review on that as well.

My Rating: 
I give is 4 skulls out of 5. Reason being that, while this is a wonderful book with a fresh plot etc. There are a still a few things that I feel could have been avoided. The transitions being one of them. They were a bit sudden, and didn't seem to be a smooth as others I have read.