Book Review: iZombie vol #3

Book: iZombie vol #3: Six Feet Under and Rising (issues #13-18) by Chris Roberson with illustrations by Michael Allred, color by Laura Allred and letters by todd klein

Guest Artist: Jay Stephens for "Vampire Queen of the Amazon"

Edition: Trade Paperback

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

Gwen is a zombie living in Eugene, Oregon and everything seems to be going great for her. She's celebrating her birthday with her two best friends, Ellie (a ghost) and Scott a.k.a. "Spot" (a were-terrier) and the mysterious and immortal Amon. Things are going great between her and her boyfriend, Horatio (a monster hunter). However, despite all the good things, she is still having problems with losing her memories.

According to Amon, the only way she can fix that is by starting to eat the brains of the living. And that's something she's not even going to consider.

But her fading memories are the least of her concerns when she found out from Ellie that Spot fell down a sinkhole leaving him trapped in a tunnel with a horde of zombies. To try to rescue her friend, Gwen went to Horatio for help but it's a tricky thing going to a monster hunter for help even if he is her boyfriend. He doesn't know that Gwen is a zombie or that Spot is a were-terrier.

Gwen and Horatio immediately realized that they were dealing with a huge zombie situation and they were going to need to figure out a way to save Spot. That wasn't their only problem once they realized that zombies had started to crawl out of the lower depths and were terrorizing the city.

Spot had been missing for a few days which had his grandfather start to worry and decided to go look for him. This wouldn't be a problem except for his grandfather's spirit is in the body of a chimp and that makes things a tad difficult and even more so with zombies plaguing the city.

Monster hunters like Horatio were not the only ones in town, a secret supernatural government group called the Dead Presidents were working on a case that lead them to Eugene. And with so many strange things happening in the small town, it's a good thing the Dead Presidents were there especially since they saved Gwen from being put down by Horatio's monster hunting partner Diogenes. It's safe to say that Horatio now knows she's a zombie but will he be able to look passed that to see that she's more than just a monster.

There is something strange going on with Gwen's brother Gavin. He went to a comic book convention where he met a writer but from there something strange happened and now I'm left wondering what's going on.

I really love reading this series, the writing is fantastic, the story is funny yet has a good amount of drama, suspense and mystery. I continue to be a fan of the artwork, it's colorful and full of expression and movement.

I can't wait to see how this series ends in the next and final volume because there's a lot of supernatural things happening in this small town and I get the sense that there is this big bad approaching and that Gwen might be the one to stop it.

Currently Reading: Doctor Sleep and iZombie vol #3

After reading a middle grade, a mystery and a literature book I wanted something different. I haven't read anything from the horror genre in a while and I figured I couldn't go wrong with a Stephen King book. I can't believe I had this book for nearly five years and I'm only now reading it.

As for the second book, I loved reading the first two volume of iZombie, it's a fun take on the supernatural with a dash of mystery thrown in. I wish there was more than only four volumes in this series because it's so hilarious to read.

Book: Doctor Sleep (The Shining book #2) by Stephen King

Edition: Digital

Description:

On highways across America, a tribe of people called the True Knot travel in search of sustenance. They look harmless—mostly old, lots of polyester, and married to their RVs. But as Dan Torrance knows, and spunky twelve-year-old Abra Stone learns, the True Knot are quasi-immortal, living off the steam that children with the shining produce when they are slowly tortured to death.

Haunted by the inhabitants of the Overlook Hotel, where he spent one horrific childhood year, Dan has been drifting for decades, desperate to shed his father’s legacy of despair, alcoholism, and violence. Finally, he settles in a New Hampshire town, an AA community that sustains him, and a job at a nursing home where his remnant shining power provides the crucial final comfort to the dying. Aided by a prescient cat, he becomes “Doctor Sleep.”

Then Dan meets the evanescent Abra Stone, and it is her spectacular gift, the brightest shining ever seen, that reignites Dan’s own demons and summons him to a battle for Abra’s soul and survival. This is an epic war between good and evil, glorious story that will thrill the millions of devoted readers of The Shining and satisfy anyone new to this icon in the Stephen King canon.

Book: iZombie vol #3: Six Feet Under and Rising (issues #13-18) by Chris Roberson with illustrations by Michael Allred, color by Laura Allred and letters by todd klein

Guest Artist: Jay Stephens for "Vampire Queen of the Amazon"

Edition: Trade Paperback

Description:

Gwen's a zombie (the good kind). When she eats the brains of the bodies at the cemetery where she works, she absorbs their memories too. Solving their mysteries, righting their wrongs, and fulfilling their dying wishes are just her way of saying "thanks for dinner." But her immortal friend Amon says that unless she starts eating the living, her life (or y'know, whatever) is in grave danger...

Gwen's not the only zombie in town -- or under it. Deep beneath the dive bars and diners of Eugene, Oregon, sprawls an endless maze of catacombs, crawling with mindless undead hungry for human flesh. When Gwen's ghost friend Ellie and were-terrier buddy Spot stumble into the zombie tunnels, only her monster-hunter boyfriend Horatio can help. But that risks blowing Gwen's cover -- and it puts them all in the crosshairs of a secret government monster squad, the Dead Presidents.

Book Review for A-Z Title Challenge: iZombie vol #2

Book: iZombie volume #2: uVampire (issues #6-12) by Chris Roberson and illustrations by Michael Allred

Edition: Trade

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

The more I read of this series the more I love it. The first volume introduced the reader to all of these interesting weird and slightly kooky characters while this second one give you a little more insight into who they are.

Similar to the first volume, it opens with a flashback story of when Gwen was a camp counselor. Following that short story, Scott a.k.a. "Spot" the were-terrier got the spotlight in the beginning of this as it depicted his life first starting with how as a child his life changed after the death of his parents. He ended up living with his grandfather and everything was fine with their relationship that is until Scott started to get older and they became more distant. Things between them were even worse after Scott graduated from college, he was tired of his grandfather constantly criticizing him and their relationship pretty much deteriorated after that. Scott moved to Eugene, Oregon and some how became friends with Gwen (who he has a huge crush on) and Ellie. It also showed how he became a were-terrier.

Which brings the story to the present, because one day out of the blue, Scott received a phone call from his grandfather. He was not interested in talking with him and hung up but some time later he received a phone call telling him his grandfather was in the hospital.

Scott headed back to his hometown of Portland to see his grandfather who was dying but you would think after he died that would be the end of the story. But this is iZombie and something strange and weird is bound to happen, case in point, Scott's grandfather's spirit/soul wound up in a chimp. Yes, you read that right, a chimp who is now living with Scott.

Aside from Scott's situation, Gwen was starting to suffer due to a lack of brains to eat since bodies have been going missing from the morgue and that leaves fewer bodies to be buried at the cemetery. She was finally able to get a brain but the memories and consciousness of the person she fed on had her trying to connect with an old friend who believed Gwen to be dead. Catching up with her friend also had Gwen remembering her brother Gavin who thanks to her memories from her living life starting to fade she had nearly forgotten about him. Although Gwen didn't know it, Gavin had already met Scott (even though he didn't know that was Gwen's brother) when they recently met at a comic book store.

Gwen also continued to get to know Horatio (from the first volume) by going out on date however unbeknownst to her, he is a monster slayer.

Horatio and his monster slaying partner Diogenes continued their vampire hunting but were lead into a trap.

Meanwhile, as Ellie the ghost was receiving advice from Amon the mummy man about how to use possession, she told him about the missing bodies. The information lead him to an old acquaintance who may be attempting a very dangerous experiment that may destroy the world.

This volume ends with a backstory for Ellie showing her life before she died and surprisingly how she first met Gwen.

I love this series because it's funny yet smart and has an interesting mystery woven throughout. I like how everything is starting to connect and these characters feel like people you already know although they just so happen to be zombies, ghosts, etc.

I really can't wait to read the third volume which is sitting on my shelf but I'm going to wait since I have quite a few other books that need to be read.

Currently Reading for A-Z Title Challenge: iZombie vol #2

The first volume was truly great, it was funny and suspenseful. I hope this will be just as good.


Book: iZombie volume #2: uVampire (issues #6-12) by Chris Roberson and illustrations by Michael Allred

Edition: Trade

Description:

Told from a female zombie’s perspective, this smart, witty detective series mixes urban fantasy and romantic dramedy.

Gwendolyn “Gwen” Dylan is a 20-something gravedigger in an eco-friendly cemetery. Once a month she must eat a human brain to keep from losing her memories, but in the process she becomes consumed with the thoughts and personality of the dead person – until she eats her next brain. She sets out to fulfill the dead person’s last request, solve a crime or right a wrong.

In uVAMPIRE, Gwen dines on the grey matter of a person who knew her as a child – and things quickly get complicated. Meanwhile, ghost-girl Ellie learns a few tricks from Amon the mummy; Spot the were-terrier goes to the comics shop and meets someone from Gwen’s past, the mad scientist Galatea engages in a bit of grave-robbing; and the monster-hunters tackle the town’s vampire problem once and for all.

Book Review: iZombie vol #1

Book: iZombie volume #1 (issues #1-5 and The House of Mystery Halloween Annual #1) by Chris Roberson and illustrations by Michael Allred with color by Laura Allred

Source: Library

Rating: 4 1/2 stars

Review:

This was a refreshing take on the Zombie genre. The story is about Gwen Dylan who just happens to be a zombie but she only needs to feed on one brain a month to keep her from turning into the stereotypical zombie. But when she feeds, she ends up with the memories and feelings of the person and this times the memories she's getting seems to be telling her that the person may have been murdered.

Gwen's two best friends are Ellie and Scott or as she like to call him 'Spot'. But they're just as different as Gwen is. Ellie is a ghost and Scott turns into a were-terrier during a full moon. See different.

However, Gwen and her friends are not the only beings lurking in town, a group of female vampires is preying on guys but not in the normal way. They have a paint ball business which allows them to feed but not kill that is until one of the vampires diverges from the plan. And her actions have caught the eye of a pair of monster hunters.

Despite the theme of the book, this was such a lighthearted funny story. This was really good and totally love the artwork.

I'm not sure how the new iZombie TV series will be in the fall but I hope it will be worth watching.