First of all, I want to say that I did like this book. I read it in two sittings. I was torn between a 3 star and a 4 star rating - and I decided to give it 4 stars, which I will explain in a minute.

Remy, the 19-year-old protagonist, is living in a post-apocalyptic world overrun with zombies. She is desperately searching for her little brother and is the somewhat reluctant leader of a group of people who are tagging along as she makes her way across the country in search of her 8-year-old brother, Max. I almost just gave it three stars because there were a few things that made me lean toward a "like" instead of a "really like" - for example, even though the beginning starts off with a bang and threw me right into the middle of the action, some things happen to characters that I just didn't care about yet, and it didn't seem too much like Remy overly cared about them either. I guess those scenes were just supposed to show how bad this world had become and to show what lengths Remy would go to to find her brother and that she did not have a moment to waste. But then there was the lion. Ripley. The fact that Remy stopped to free this lion that could have ripped her to shreds sort of went against her earlier "can't stop" attitude about looking for Max. Then the lion sort of follows her and her group around helping to fend off zombie attacks. Somehow, this lion has become Remy's guard lion. Also, she encounters two older boys along the way and there is never any struggle over leadership - Remy is the leader and everybody just accepts that, even though Remy insists several times that she'd rather be making this trip alone. Character development is minimal, but being that this was mainly an action oriented story, that didn't really bother me all that much. Also, Remy and her brother were supposed to have been in this "quarantine" or army-type base at an old school at the beginning of this novel for about two months before the zombies broke through, Max was evacuated, and Remy escaped and started looking for him. A soldier working there, Beck, had evidently been training Remy how to shoot and defend herself against the zombies while he was also looking out for Max, who was in the sick bay, during those two months. Well, Beck must have had some mad ninja training skills because in two months this 19 year old girl not only became a marksman, being able to hit snipers on rooftops, but she also developed hand-to-hand combat skills and used techniques rivaling Lara Croft from Tomb Raider - including quickly climbing a tree in the middle of a zombie attack, swinging from a branch, and kicking a zombie to make it impale itself onto some branches from a neighboring tree stump. So, basically, I had to suspend belief a little while I was reading this to really enjoy it. But...when the story is interesting enough, I am willing to do that. I mean, this is a story full of flesh-eating zombies, right? Suspending belief a little bit sort of comes with the territory for that, anyway, doesn't it? The pacing in the story is handled really well and it kept me reading...which brings me to why I decided to give it a 4 star rating.

I almost never read this kind of novel. I've read a few vampire novels and stuff like that - and they really weren't my favorite reads. But this is my first zombie novel. I downloaded this book to my kindle months and months ago - I can't even remember who recommended it to me - and I never read it because I was so convinced I wouldn't like it. But I did like it. I would have never finished it in two sittings if I wasn't engaged in the story. It was a quick, light read (despite its subject matter) and I enjoyed it. There is a sex scene that may be inappropriate for younger audiences - it isn't overly graphic, but, still, it's a definite sex scene and it's handled in such a way that makes unprotected sex between young people who essentially just met commonplace and no big deal. It ends in a sort of cliffhanger, setting up for the sequel. If you like zombie tales, post-apocalyptic novels, female leads with fighting skills, and action oriented stories, you will probably like this novel a lot. If you are looking for a more emotional story with lots of character development, maybe this novel isn't for you. But not every novel is for every person. I generally prefer the latter, myself, but this novel made me rethink my stance on zombie stories. And that is what makes it a 4 star novel for me. ( )

The plot was very predictable and I found the main character rather stupid and annoying. The ending seemed very odd and it didn't really compel me to read the next book. I found the style to be very simplistic and clumsy. ( )

I'm not sure about the appeal of this book. I like zombies, don't get me wrong. Unlike most apocalypses you can pretend you could survive if dropped into the middle zombie-pocalypse. Heck, all you need is a gun, but if you can't find that a lamp might do. No radiation, just don't get bit! What's not to love? And yet this book falls far short.

The narration is flat, with no anguish, no fear, no pain, no bitterness, no hope. Just the facts ma'am, which makes it a pretty dull read. The characters are frustratingly flat or stupid, take your pick. "Bad ass" Remy is an idiot, leaving a girl in the desert, presumably to be torn apart by zombies because she can't bare to pull the badass trigger (or, more realistically she doesn't want to waste bullets), then works her butt off to save some lion. She then immediately meets two boys she decides to pigeon hole based on her own small-mindness. Doctor boy is safe, but rockstar, who's doing just as much of the heavy lifting is an idiot? There's of course the worlds most cliche cult, and the marauders, and oh so much lameness. The twist is predictable by Chapter 2 if you can call it that.

And the lion, don't get me started with the lion. Should you meet a lion that survived the zombie apocalypse shoot it. It will never behave like any of these stupid felines. Wandering around with a lion that is unrecognizable as a lion and not a kitten is not cool, it's laughable.

The zombies! Weak! A 19 year old girl can punch their heads in? I feel like a broken record, but weak adversaries do not make a heroine strong, just the opposite! And she'll try to clobber them to death with junk, to save the bullets and then shoot randomly at windows hoping to hit human bad guys. Not smart. Not impressive.

And don't get me started on the virus. If you want a well thought out virus, with a well thought out apocalypse world read [b:Feed|7094569|Feed|Mira Grant|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327883721s/7094569.jpg|7351419] or [b:Deadline|8429687|Deadline (Newsflesh Trilogy, #2)|Mira Grant|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1314464938s/8429687.jpg|13292985]. No you won't get 40 million zombies going squish, maybe a handful, but there's emotion, hope, fear, and real bad guys, not to mention a virus so believable I'm literally convinced Grant is an unknown oracle.

And Biology Soap Box: Just for the record, the Rabies virus is a mammalian virus, it will not become human specific, it will never magically evolve in days to something that causes disease in hours to days, and if an outbreak did occur in people, as described, we'd have it quarantined in hours, seeing as the number of people actually exposed in the United States is tiny and it's literally so easy to vaccinate for Rabies that it was pretty much the first vaccine (ignore small pox!). Being immune to a virus does not make you a science experiment waiting to happen. It makes you lucky. If you don't produce protective antibodies, it means it's a genetic weirdness. They don't need to trap you in a hospital and practically kill you. Just ridiculous. A flu virus would be more believable than this. Pet peeve over.

So basically:
Flat writing = unemotional - don't care if you die
Flat MC = don't care if you die
Plotless wander = boring ( )

I enjoyed reading this book. It was an interesting vision of a post apocalyptic world overrun with zombies. I liked the main character, Remy, and how tough she was. I really liked the inclusion of the lion, Ripley. I liked her dedication to her brother, Max, and to her surrogate family Blue, Lazlo and Harlow. It was interesting how the zombies seemed to be evolving. I am sure they will become much more of a threat in future books. I wasn't real thrilled with the ending, only because I don't know how Remy will get herself out of it. But it will be interesting to find out. ( )

This is the first book in The Hollows duology by Hocking. This is a very typical zombie apocalypse YA novel. Parts of it were okay and other parts of it were very predictable and/or annoying.

I listened to this on audiobook and the narrator does a good job with narration. I would recommend listening to on audiobook if you enjoy audiobooks.

This book was incredibly predictable. The big mystery throughout the story is the mystery around Remy’s brother Max and why he is evacuated before anyone else in the beginning on the book. If you have ever read a post-apocalyptic zombie book you will figure this “huge” mystery out very quickly.

Additionally Remy and her traveling companions go through every typical post-apocalyptic scenario you’ve ever already read about. Do they run into a crazy religious cult? Yes. What about a Mad Max scenario...yep. Over-controlling military scenario? Yep, that too. I had to roll my eyes everytime anything happened exactly as planned.

Remy was a decent character but she was incredibly black and white in her thinking. The end of the book is ridiculous; she never once tries to compromise or strike a deal with the doctors she talks to. The doctor doesn’t seem like an unreasonable man...she should have at least tried to compromise with him. It was silly.

The other characters weren’t as well done. Harlow (who is thirteen and travels with Remy from the beginning) is just plain annoying. She almost gets the whole party killed a number of times with her squealing and stupidity. Does anyone ever talk to her about her behavior and point out how much she endangers the party? No.

The two boys that join the party aren’t well done either. Lazlo is incredibly immature and I never understood the attraction. Blue, who seems like a much more interesting character, ends up being very underdeveloped. My favorite side character in this whole book was the lion that Remy picks up on the side of the road.

Overall this is an okay book. The writing isn’t horrible and the story does move along at a quick pace. However, the story is incredibly predictable and not at all creative. The side characters are not well done and come across as either underdeveloped or just plain annoying. I will not be continuing with this series. There are so many other more well done post-apocalyptic zombie YA novels out there. ( )