Published: June 19th, 2012
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Format: Paperback (E-book, Audio)
Pages: 323
Genre: YA, Horror: Zombies, Dystopia
Purchase*: Barnes and Noble/ Amazon
Add on Goodreads
Source: Bought from Barners & Noble.
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?
“This is not a test. Listen closely. This is not a test."
But I think she's wrong. I think this is a test.
It has to be.”
But I think she's wrong. I think this is a test.
It has to be.”
On a day Sloane decides to end her life, the world ends instead. What do you live for when everything that ever matters is gone? How do you survive if you don't even want to live? What do you do when someones life ends, but you still exist?
The Plot. This is Not A Test is an amazing book. It's not really a zombie book, because it doesn't really focus on zombies and there are not even a lot of scenes with zombies. It focuses on survival. To stay alive and to keep going. I just loved this plot and how surprisingly different it was from what I imagined it to be. When I started reading it, I just thought its going to be another Walking Dead type of book(which I love), and I would't really mind if it was because I love books like that, but This is Not A Test is something else. In This Is Not A Test six students take shelter in high school to stay safe and wait for help. They don't really know what is going on, only that everyone else is dying or dead, or more like undead. But than the threat starts coming not only from the outside and the dead but also from the inside. Everyone has their secrets and everyone has to make choices, that might just get them all killed. It seems like giving up is might be the only way to be free.
“I woke up and the last piece of my heart disappeared. I opened my eyes and I felt it go.”
The Characters. Sloane is a main character. She is quit and doesn't talk much, but inside she screams louder than anyone else. She wants to let go, she wanted to die long before everything that happened. She tells us about her life, and her world that was hell way before zombies. She is not a heroin that is strong and fights for survival, she is given up a long time ago, and now she is just trying not to be selfish and put everyone at risk. I loved her character!
" “I wouldn't have left you like that. Not like she did to me." I swallow hard. "She always said I'd die without her and she left anyway."
"But you didn't die," He says.
"I did," I say. "I'm just waiting for the rest of me to catch up.” "
"But you didn't die," He says.
"I did," I say. "I'm just waiting for the rest of me to catch up.” "
Summers just wrote her character so realistic that it made you not hate her for wanting to die. The way she thought and her actions, everything just made sense. Every character in this book were hard to hate, but easy to like. All of them had a story to share and all of them wanted to live, except for Sloane.
“Waiting around to be saved is like waiting to die and I have done more of both than anyone else in the room.”
The Ending. I honestly really liked the ending, but I also hoped there would be more. Summers ended this book in a way that leave you with questions. But it does not feel incomplete, even if you think about it, it should, but it doesn't. For me it was just perfect, the ending and the whole book was perfect.
This Is Not a Test was an intense read, it just kept you on the edge. Summers just pulls you into the story without a way of letting you go, you get stuck in Sloane's thoughts and all of the scenes and actions just feels like you are there. I highly recommend to read this book. Even if you are not a fan of zombies, I would still give this book a try because zombies are not a main subject in this book.
GIVEAWAY!
So this giveaway is awesome!
One Winner will get one of the e-book packs that I put together, they all kind of have an Apocalyptic/Dystopian feel to them.
I present e-book packs:
Across the Universe Pack#1
Across the Universe (Across the Universe #1) by Beth Revis
A Million Suns (Across the Universe #2) by Beth Revis
Newsflesh Pack#2
Feed (Newsflesh Trilogy #1) by Mira Grant
Deadline (Newsflesh Trilogy #2) by Mira Grant
Hunger Games Pack#3
The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games #1) by Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire (The Hunger Games #2) by Suzanne Collins
The Forest Pack #4
The Dead-Tossed Waves (The Forest of Hands and Teeth #2) by Carrie Ryan
Unwind Pack#5
Unwind (Unwind Dystology #1) by Neal Shusterman
UnStrung (Unwind Dystology #1.5) by Neal Shusterman , Michelle Knowlden
Test Wave Pack#6
The 5th Wave (The Fifth Wave #1) by Rick Yancey
The Testing (The Testing #1) by Joelle Charbonneau
Black Angel Pack#7
Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days #1) by Susan Ee
Black City (Black City #1) by Elizabeth Richards
Selective Icon Pack #8
Icons (Icons #1) by Margaret Stohl
The Selection (The Selection #1) by Kiera Cass
a Rafflecopter giveaway
I like zombie apocalypse books. I have a strange obsession with zombies. Some people like vampires, I like zombies lol.
ReplyDeleteI like slow apocalyptic stories, ones where you can see present day people slowly becoming more and more desperate as they see their world change. The Death of Grass by John Christopher would be my example of that. Another example would be Olivia Butler's Parable of the Sower, though it starts further along the collapse (so not from present day, the collapse has been happening for a while when the novel starts).
ReplyDeleteI like both disaster and virus, stories even though they are to me the most likely to occur for some reason I enjoy them the most.
ReplyDeleteI love Natural Disasters and virus stories.
ReplyDeleteI like thecafter effects of war like hunger games
ReplyDeleteI am still into wolves go figure, I did the vamp thing when I was younger and I am still having a hard time finding zombies attractive in my romances. But I am enjoying AM Griffins para/scifi series where earth is ending due to alien invasion she shows the earth and outer of this world side of things.
ReplyDeleteI love them all but I think I usually get more intrigued by natural disasters. Only read about 1/3 of the listed books above. Thanks for the other suggestions! Very excited to read the next book in the Angelfall series!
ReplyDeleteI like disaster, because it could happen now.....
ReplyDeletezombies, disaster, vampires.. name it I love it. .;)
ReplyDeletevals_hemi at yahoo dot com
Any! Particularly unique topics that haven't been done a million times! Thanks for the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteApocalyptic and Dystopian stories.
ReplyDeleteAnything dystopian is awesome! Great review I have read good things about that book. ;)
ReplyDeleteI like sci-fi or zombies. I liked The Lunar Chronicles and Zenn Scarlett.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite is nuclear fallout or natural disasters. Seems more realistic to me. Thanks for the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite apocalyptic book is the Blood of Eden series, so I would have to say vampires and viruses!
ReplyDelete