adastra
Written on Jan 1, 2013
Older than her years and completely alone, Temple is just trying to live one day at a time in a post-apocalyptic world, where the undead roam endlessly, and the remnant of mankind who have survived, at times, seem to retain little humanity themselves. Temple has known nothing else. This is the world she was born into. Her journey takes her to far-flung places, to people struggling to maintain some semblance of civilization -- and to those who have created a new world order for themselves. When she comes across the helpless Maury, she attempts to set one thing right, if she can just get him back to his family then maybe it will bring forgiveness for some of the terrible things she's done in her past. Because Temple has had to fight to survive, along the road she's made enemies -- and one vengeful man is determined that, in a world gone mad, killing her is the only thing that makes sense ...
- ISBN10 0330518968
- ISBN13 9780330518963
- Publish Date 2 September 2011 (first published 1 August 2010)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 24 October 2014
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Pan Macmillan
- Imprint Tor
- Format Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
- Pages 304
- Language English
Reviews
Angie
Written on Sep 11, 2012
I'm not sure how things got to where they are, but the world (at least the US from what we witness) is overrun with zombies aka meatskins aka slugs. Temple has been living on a small island for a few years, but at the beginning of the novel she realizes it's time to go. She ends up at a relatively safe place, a community of people held up in office buildings, but she makes enemies with the wrong man and is forced to leave. From that point on she's on the run, since that man, Moses Todd, is out to get her. During her journey she meets up with some very interesting characters and even picks up a traveling companion. Moses is never far behind though.
Even though Temple is on the run, I never felt a sense of urgency. The narrative was very detached and it seemed as though Temple didn't even care that a man who wants her dead is following her across the country. It was almost like the events were happening separate from her rather than to her, another reason why I just didn't care where she ends up.
There are some very disturbing scenes throughout the book and there is a lot of gore. Temple is good with a knife and takes down many meatskins, and a few...I'm not even sure what they are, mutant humans, I suppose. We're not spared any of the carnage. I kept reading in hopes of learning more about how the zombies got there, but we're basically told it's been that way all of Temple's life, and that's that. Overall, this book just was not for me.
Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.
SilverThistle
Written on Jan 12, 2012
The zombies were not the focus of this book but I still LOVED it! So much!
It's true, it's not about the zombies. They're there, and they're just as stinky and dead as you'd imagine but I felt 'safe' walking among them because I had Temple with me. Temple is so amazing. From now on in my nightmare's I'm going to take Temple with me. Temple has fear of nothing and/or nobody and despite being just a little girl, a teen, she's one of the most kick-ass heroine's I've read about in a long time.
She hasn't known any other way of life as she was born after the dead started rising and has been pretty much alone her whole life. We're told that she spent some of her early life in an orphanage and that she's had a few companions on her journey through the wasteland but when we meet her she is on her own. Having Temple as a guide made me just relax and enjoy the ride. She's Street-Smart and infinitely capable. She takes everything in her stride, doesn't freak out and above all gets the job done. Always. In a way she's even more deadly than the zombie's.
Along the way she meets two men who are to become central to her story. Maury is a grown man with the mental age of a very young child and Temple takes him under her wing and looks after him (initially unwillingly), and their relationship is very touching. Moses is an older, male version of Temple herself and their relationship is based on friction but there's some grudging respect there too.
I'll be honest, I thought I was going to hate this book for the simple reason that within the first 2 pages I spotted my pet hate in written text. THE WORST TEXT CRIME. The word 'of' instead of 'have' - "I should of known that was wrong" instead of "I should have known that was wrong". I kept going though and quickly realised that it's mostly told from Temple's point of view and is written exactly as if spoken, text crimes and all. Having said that though, the story was so good and I was so engrossed in it that I was halfway through before I noticed there's nothing to indicate speech. Sound's crazy but I honestly didn't even notice that to begin with and when it suddenly dawned on me I didn't even miss a beat. It's weird but I didn't have a problem with it...which in itself is weird because that sort of thing usually rubs me up TOTALLY the wrong way.
Anyhoo, it's a fantastic story.
I'd recommend this as a great read if you're into zombies, the apocalypse and/or road-trip type books. I really, really liked it.