Title: Once Upon a Zombie: The Color of Fear
Author: Billy Phillips and Jenny Nissenson
Series: Once Upon a Zombie #1
Publisher: The Toon Studio Press
Publication Date: October 1, 2015
Source: Netgalley
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Imagine you find yourself in a world where all of your childhood stories are real. You get to meet your fairytale heroes: Cinderella, Rapunzel, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and so many more. Now imagine that all of these beloved people you only thought existed in stories turn out to be zombies. This is Once Upon a Zombie in a nutshell and it is fantastic.
Our main character, Caitlin, gets to experience just this. There had been a bunch of sightings at some grave sites around the world of the living dead and her friend Jack talks her into going to the graveyard he thinks is going to be the next one to be visited.
They are supposed to go to the graveyard after the school dance, but thanks to some mean girls, she ends up at the graveyard alone. Or so she thought. Her sneaky little sister managed to follow her there despite being told to stay home.
However, that isn't the end of it. While at the graveyard, a hand starts to come out of the grave. Eventually an entire undead girl is standing before them. The undead girl is looking for...you guessed it....Caitlin.
The undead girl wants Caitlin to go with her back to where she came from. However, Caitlin is scared to go with her, and rightfully so in my opinion. However, her way to brave for her own good little sister jumps right in. Caitlin is then forced to follow, so that she can get her sister safely home.
What happens once she goes through the proverbial rabbit hole is a wonderfully frightening adventure. One you are going to have to read and experience for yourself.
I am going to be honest. While I ended up really enjoying this book, I thought the beginning was a little rough. I am going to chock it up to creating the world and the characters. Some of why things are the way they are aren't really explained, but they end up making sense when you get further into the story.
After I got to know the characters, I really liked them. At first I was really iffy about Caitlin. She is very scared of everything. I was wondering how our heroine was supposed to get anything done if she couldn't even leave the room without counting the corners of the room. Thankfully we get to see her grow throughout the course of the story.
However, her sister could have used a bit more growth I think. She was very brave. Sometimes too much so and very impulsive. The exact opposite of Caitlin. Then again, the poor girl was stuck in a chili pepper outfit and a yellow rain jacket for the majority of the book. I guess you have to be brave if you are stuck with that as your only outfit.
I loved the zombie princesses. Their personalities are very fun and each is very different from the next. Cinderella is the ever hungry one, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White are both pretty quiet, and Rapunzel is obviously the leader.
There was one character that really kind of bugged me and that was the frog. Almost every single time he talked he said "Amigo." After awhile I just wanted him to be quiet and stop talking. The word was really over used.
I also really enjoyed the take on zombies. It did take me awhile to get used to it. At first I was wondering why the Princesses even needed to drink water seeing as they were dead. However, once I accepted that the zombies in this book aren't technically your traditional zombies I was able to over look this and let myself enjoy them for what they are.
By the end of the story I was completely sold. I found myself totally enjoying all of the characters and the creativeness of it all. I also loved the lesson that is built into this story (YES! There is a lesson!). I will most definitely be continuing on with this story in the future.
They are supposed to go to the graveyard after the school dance, but thanks to some mean girls, she ends up at the graveyard alone. Or so she thought. Her sneaky little sister managed to follow her there despite being told to stay home.
However, that isn't the end of it. While at the graveyard, a hand starts to come out of the grave. Eventually an entire undead girl is standing before them. The undead girl is looking for...you guessed it....Caitlin.
The undead girl wants Caitlin to go with her back to where she came from. However, Caitlin is scared to go with her, and rightfully so in my opinion. However, her way to brave for her own good little sister jumps right in. Caitlin is then forced to follow, so that she can get her sister safely home.
What happens once she goes through the proverbial rabbit hole is a wonderfully frightening adventure. One you are going to have to read and experience for yourself.
I am going to be honest. While I ended up really enjoying this book, I thought the beginning was a little rough. I am going to chock it up to creating the world and the characters. Some of why things are the way they are aren't really explained, but they end up making sense when you get further into the story.
After I got to know the characters, I really liked them. At first I was really iffy about Caitlin. She is very scared of everything. I was wondering how our heroine was supposed to get anything done if she couldn't even leave the room without counting the corners of the room. Thankfully we get to see her grow throughout the course of the story.
However, her sister could have used a bit more growth I think. She was very brave. Sometimes too much so and very impulsive. The exact opposite of Caitlin. Then again, the poor girl was stuck in a chili pepper outfit and a yellow rain jacket for the majority of the book. I guess you have to be brave if you are stuck with that as your only outfit.
I loved the zombie princesses. Their personalities are very fun and each is very different from the next. Cinderella is the ever hungry one, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White are both pretty quiet, and Rapunzel is obviously the leader.
There was one character that really kind of bugged me and that was the frog. Almost every single time he talked he said "Amigo." After awhile I just wanted him to be quiet and stop talking. The word was really over used.
I also really enjoyed the take on zombies. It did take me awhile to get used to it. At first I was wondering why the Princesses even needed to drink water seeing as they were dead. However, once I accepted that the zombies in this book aren't technically your traditional zombies I was able to over look this and let myself enjoy them for what they are.
By the end of the story I was completely sold. I found myself totally enjoying all of the characters and the creativeness of it all. I also loved the lesson that is built into this story (YES! There is a lesson!). I will most definitely be continuing on with this story in the future.
My Rating
5 stars!
This review is based on an eARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley for an honest review.
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