In 2013 I read This Is Not a Test a book about a group of teenagers who were hiding in a school to get away from the zombies. Zombies? Yeah, I read a book about zombies, can you believe it? I once said I thought zombies were the Umbridge of mythical/supernatural creatures (ok they're not really mythical nor supernatural but you get what I mean), and that I would avoid books, movies and TV shows about them like the plague. But I did end up reading a couple of zombie books (Warm Bodies, The Forest of Hands and Teeth, etc), and of course TINAT. I was so frustrated with the open ending that I might have cheered when I heard about Please Remain Calm.
This novella of about a hundred pages goes further where the previous book ended, with Rhys and Sloane trying to get away from their hometown and to a safe place that they heard about on the radio. But along the way, they get separated. Rhys ends up meeting a couple of people who will help him get Sloane back, but nothing really goes according to plan, which is kind of obvious if you're right in the middle of a zombie apocalypse.
The story is written from Rhys' point of view, which took a bit for me to get used to. I am just more used to reading from a girl/woman's POV than from a boy/man's, but I guess that's a bit obvious when you're a girl yourself. But in the end, I did like reading from his POV. We meet three new characters in this book; Jess, Lisa and Ainsley, and they were really nice and I liked them a lot. And I was just so sad at what happened to that lovely little family. I mean I think Ainsley wasn't older than five (I think her age was mentioned somewhere in the book but I forgot, oops) and TO SEE THAT LITTLE GIRL CHANGE INTO A ZOMBIE JUST BROKE MY HEART OK!!!
Of course, with the book having only a hundred pages, a lot of stuff happened in a short amount of time, and I thought the book ended way too quickly. And I have to say I am still not really that happy with how it ended, because it still had an open ending. (So fingers crossed for another novella? Okay just kidding.
I liked Courtney Summer's writing, and I am definitely planning on checking out more of her books, just not her zombie books, because I still think zombies are the Umbridge of all the creatures that exist. Sorry not sorry.
My opinion on this book in one gif:
I think people who've read it will understand at which part I did this.. (gif credit)