REVIEW: Warm Bodies By Isaac Marion

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
Series: Warm Bodies #1
Published by Vintage on 28th October 2010
Pages: 240

'R' is a zombie. He has no name, no memories and no pulse, but he has dreams. He is a little different from his fellow Dead.

Amongst the ruins of an abandoned city, R meets a girl. Her name is Julie and she is the opposite of everything he knows - warm and bright and very much alive, she is a blast of colour in a dreary grey landscape. For reasons he can't understand, R chooses to save Julie instead of eating her, and a tense yet strangely tender relationship begins.


This has never happened before. It breaks the rules and defies logic, but R is no longer content with life in the grave. He wants to breathe again, he wants to live, and Julie wants to help him. But their grim, rotting world won't be changed without a fight...
The Cover: It is simple in ways, but is very effective and gives a very strong presence of zombies. It easily captures your attention and reminded me a lot of when a group of zombies slowly amble their way to the city... and when I say slowly, I mean slowly slowly.

'R' is a Zombie. He is not sure where his kind stands in the world, he thinks of himself as a person... just dead and not alive. They think of themselves and each other as just disposable, merely shells roaming the earth with no purpose and ambition. He feels they are all misunderstood and just doing what they must do to survive (just like the living who are killing them). He doesn't remember anything from his past life, no dreams, no lasting thoughts, no sentimental items and not even his own name. Except their clothes, he believes he may have been a business man due to his smart attire, however he can only imagine within his decaying mind of what life was like. They keep a safe distance from the living... except when they must feed. Their favourite part to eat, the brain (yummy). It provides them with the memories they have lost and forgotten, a way of refilling their empty minds and bring them back to the life of the living. R is very different from the other zombies, he thinks very deeply and provides a great perspective of his world. When out on a hunting trip he meets Julie, and he feels like his heart is finally coming back to life. Instead of eating her, he saves her and so brings her back to his 'house' (an aeroplane, is that cool or what?) to keep her safe. And so amongst the strange thoughts, feelings and atmosphere, the zombie slayer and the zombie begin to build a sweet relationship in this confused world.


R is a brilliant character, he is funny at times but is also a big thinker. He thinks a lot about the purpose of life and what it will bring in the future. After every hunt he brings back a souvenir, he doesn't know why he does it, he just... does. He loves to listen to records as he feels it brings him that much closer to civilisation and loves to watch it as it feels much more real that an mp3 player. As the story progresses, he can feel himself starting to change and his number of syllables said in one sentence constantly increasing without pause, instead of his usual shrug. He thinks a lot about Julie's safety and is constantly looking out for her, making sure she isn't getting into any trouble.


Julie is a brilliantly developed character. She is clever, strong and easily holds her own, she can also be very funny at times when talking to R. Julie admits to making mistakes in her life, but easily learns from them and so helps those in need and always does what's best for others... such as R. We also learn about Perry, who was Julie's boyfriend of which R killed. After eating Perrys brain we got an insight on what life was like for Perry and also more about Julie. This was a great twist to the story and so allowed us to see what happened over the course of the years of which the earth got overrun by zombies, and the physical and 
psychological effects it had on the human race.


One thing I really loved in the book, was the zombies. I found myself thinking and in ways acting like them such as when they speak, because they struggle to say more than a couple of syllables, every time they took a breath I found myself taking a deep breath too... weird or what? Their groaning was also expressed a lot and was interesting the way they would just spend ages riding the escalators for hours on end and just, groan. In ways it showed their personalities but you should read about the 'Oldeys'... now they are a strange bunch.

This book had a great pace and always kept me interested. The two different perspectives were great and the way that R imagined talking to Perry really added an air of mystery to how powerful the brain really is. I could easily picture the settings as the description was flawless and effortless, the settings were also well planned out and the imagination in this book was spectacular. There was mystery, suspense, a hidden romance, pure emotion and the journey of a zombie unearthing himself and reappearing into civilisation.

I HIGHLY recommend this book and cannot wait for the next book in the series to come out.
Warm Bodies- 2

Comments

  1. I LOVED LOVED this book! Totally different then the movie - less directed toward teenagers. I honestly thought I wasn't going to like it - who could fall in love with a zombie in the first place?! Well, I did and I'm not ashamed. ha ha!

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