Review: This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers

Title: This is Not a Test

Author: Courtney Summers 

Publication date: June 19th, 2012

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Genre(s): Young Adult (Post Apocalypse, Zombies)

Source: Publisher
Format: Digital Arc

Pages: 364

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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 wantto 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?

This is Not a Test was a pleasant surprise! It was actually the first survival novel I have read. I read this way back in february and to say I enjoyed it. I was so immersed in this novel that I couldn't put it down. I mean, a good survival book would do that to you. You just want to know what happens next, how will they barricade the school, did they miss a place? who will take the leadership role and basically how will they survive. I have read several survival books after This is Not a Test and this genre has become a fast favorite. 

I loved how you get to find out the true selves of each one of them brought out their survival instincts, whether good or bad. However I really did not enjoy how depressing the protagonist was. At the beginning of the book she basically gave up on living and since then she just wanted to die one way or another (i.e.: zombie attack). At the beginning it was a bit confusing, her depression, but then throughout the book you find out she lost a loved one and doesn't know HOW to deal with this loss. I really enjoyed the bonding of some of the students, but at the same time cringed at their need to lead and their mistrust of each other. 

However all in all, this book was definitely fast paced, action filled, and scared the crap out of me because of the zombies in it and their tendency to want to eat human flesh!! I would definitely recommend this book to any zombie lovers but also people who want to read a survival YA that would keep you on the edge of your seat and feel as if you are a part of the group and racing to survive from the zombie apocalypse. 

 

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