I do not like zombies.

Like, not at all.

So for me to read a zombie book, it either has to be an accident (which happens), or I have to REALLY, REALLY like the author. In the case of Dread Nation, it's firmly the latter. Justina is one of the best people I know.

ANYWAY

So the premise is that after the battle of Gettysburg, the dead rose up and started roaming around the US (and other places. Europe is mentioned a couple of times, but nothing is said of Mexico or Canada, which is fine: the book has other things to do). The US government responded by forcing First Nation and newly freed black people to go to school and learn to fight the dead...so that white people wouldn't be at risk.

Anyway, the dead keep coming and our narrator, Jane, is about to graduate, when she gets involved in a conspiracy and life gets complicated, quickly.

Justina's book is amazing. Her writing style is vicious and her plotting, characters, and settings are staggering familiar. Jane is mean and smart and talented and stubborn, and I loved her to bits. Katherine, one of the secondary characters, was my favourite for reasons that will be immediately apparent when you read the book.

DREAD NATION comes out in April (I fiiiiiiiiiinally got an ARC), but if you want a sample of Justina's work, you can buy THREE SIDES OF A HEART. It's an anthology, and her story is set in the Dead Nation world (full disclosure: I also have a short story in the anthology). THREE SIDES comes out on December 19.