Outpost by Ann Aguirre

Deuce’s whole world has changed. Down below, she was considered an adult. Now, topside in a town called Salvation, she’s a brat in need of training in the eyes of the townsfolk. She doesn’t fit in with the other girls: Deuce only knows how to fight.

To make matters worse, her Hunter partner, Fade, keeps Deuce at a distance. Her feelings for Fade haven’t changed, but he seems not to want her around anymore. Confused and lonely, she starts looking for a way out.

Deuce signs up to serve in the summer patrols—those who make sure the planters can work the fields without danger. It should be routine, but things have been changing on the surface, just as they did below ground. The Freaks have grown smarter. They’re watching. Waiting. Planning. The monsters don’t intend to let Salvation survive, and it may take a girl like Deuce to turn back the tide.

I really loved Enclave. This book, though, not so much.  Where Enclave was really a plot-driven adventure story Outpost turned into a more character-driven emotional roller coaster.  That's not necessarily bad, however it was really slow and much harder to get invested in things.  Deuce is still set on surviving, and that's really the arc of her character through the book: getting more stubborn and making the world around her something that protects her.  She has a few issues with growing up and trying to reconcile romance with her hunter nature, but that is not a very pressing issue.  Fade and stalker, on the other hand, really shine in this book.  Where they were both characters of little growth in Enclave they really made up time in this book.  I like how they both seem so similar and yet make such divergent choices.  The plot is incredibly predictable in the beginning, which isn't helped by the snail's pacing.  It gets better towards the end, and the plot twists near the climax worked well for me.  I wasn't as pleased with the big twist concerning the zombies or the cliffhanger ending, but it was not a total turn off.  In all I'd say that I'm not a fan of this book but the ending makes me hopeful that the next book in the series will be more like Enclave.

This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers

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?

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. In a lot of ways this book reminded me of “Life as We Knew It” by Susan Beth Pfeffer. The end of the world and bleak outlook certainly helped. That’s not really a bonus for me, though, because I really can’t get books like “Life as We Knew It”. I have difficulty with books where I can’t see the characters having an out, where I know that after the book their life will only get more difficult until they die. That made this book a rather hard read for me.

In other ways, though, there was a lot to like about this book. Sloane is a good narrator. I had a hard time putting myself in her place because of her experiences with abuse and her sister, but it did allow me to empathize a lot with her and her position. The way the book is written, with a lot of introspection and inner monologue, makes it easy to feel for Sloane. I even understand and feel for her when she decides to commit suicide. The language in the book is very poetic and beautiful, and there is little action to break up the pace, which actually seems like a good thing in this book. Add in that Summers is not careful with her characters, they can get dirty and say things people won’t like and get hurt and die and you get a pretty good character-driven story. Was it enough for me to get over my dislike of grim outlook books? Honestly, I’m still not sure. You can find out for yourself, though. Here’s a free excerpt of the book:

http://courtneysummers.ca/this-is-not-a-test-excerpt/

A copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher for free in exchange for an unbiased review.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

In Mary's world, there are simple truths.
The Sisterhood always knows best.
The Guardians will protect and serve.
The Unconsecrated will never relent.
And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village....

I first got interested in this author because I fell in love with her story, Bougainvillea in Zombies vs. Unicorns. I am so glad I looked for other work by the author, because The Forest of Hands and Teeth is truly a wonderful, horrible book. Wonderful in that Mary is a realistic, vibrant character who is only trying to make a better life for herself. Wonderful because the descriptions in the book are vivid and the language is evocative. And wonderful because the plot is surprising yet not out of left field, the worldbuilding is thoughtful and has a solid base in science, culture, and geography, and the writing structure is eloquent and works well to draw the reader into the story. But the book is horrible as well. Mostly the book is horrible because of the zombies. Horrible because there are places where you truly feel the despair and lack of hope of the characters. Horrible because of the choices the characters have to make, and the characters die and are left to horrible fates, and Mary's pain is so palpable you can't help but empathize as a reader. However, as horrible as the plot gets sometimes, this book walks the fine line between lack of hope and hopeless. There is always a draw to keep going, both for the characters and the reader, and there really isn't a moment when you want to give up in reading the book because you just can't feel that the situation has no escape and you can't bear to watch the characters get picked off. I highly recommend this book as heavier reading, and I will be looking for its sequels as soon as I can stomach them.