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Book Review: The Last Days of Salton Academy by Jennifer Brozek

Cover art for The Last Days of Salton Academy by Jennifer Brozek

The Last Days of Salton Academy  by Jennifer Brozek.

Speaking Volumes, 2022

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1645406822

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition ( Bookshop.org | Amazon.com )

 

I at first thought this might be dark academia, and it technically qualifies, but really it’s zombie survival horror that happens to take place mostly at an isolated boarding school. The premise is that 26 people were trapped at the school when a zombie outbreak hit (it’s unclear exactly when that was, but the novel starts after they’ve had a first freeze, and need to go on a second supply run before it snows, so it starts in mid-to-late October).

 

The book has been praised for character development, but it is fairly short and with so many characters it would be difficult to fully develop them all. Jeff, the boy in charge of guarding, rationing, and distributing food, is an interesting character to watch. Another memorable character is Evan, who keeps a zombie dog (nothing can go wrong with that, right?) and is running out of the medicine that keeps his JRA at bay (it’s not specifically mentioned, just described). Mr. Leeds, a predatory, hebephilic teacher who takes advantage of the isolation and vulnerability of the girls at the school, and Mrs. Hood, a teacher interested in protecting them, are also important to the plot. A few others worth mentioning are Shin, who doesn’t get a lot of page space but is very strategic, Maya, who is secretly stashing supplies in her room, and Nurse Krenshaw. (spoilers below)

 

Jeff decides residents will have to be eliminated in order for the food to last through the winter, and carefully plots to make it happen. He and  his fellow student Ron, a psychopathic killer, plan to kill off the weakest. They plan to send four students out on a supply run, then off the principal, Evan and his dog, and the teachers. They don’t count on Evan letting the dog loose and turning into a zombie, taking a couple of other kids with them.

 

In the meantime Mrs. Hood and the nurse conspire successfully to kill Mr. Leeds for his predatory behavior. In the end only Shin and Maya survive. Of the four on the supply run, two are infected and kill themselves, but the others encounter friends with a map to a well stocked bunker where they stay until spring.

 

This is what I’d expect from an old-school zombie novel– short and fast-paced. Despite its characters mainly being teenagers, this doesn’t read as a YA book to me. A similar YA title I can highly recommend is Marieke Nijkamp’s At The End of Everything, which is better developed and has a more hopeful ending.

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

Posted on February 13, 2023 by , Reply

Book Review: Killing November by Adriana Mather

cover of Killing November by Adriana Mather

Killing November by Adriana Mather (  Bookshop.org | Amazon.com  )

Ember, 2020

ISBN-13 : 978-0525579113

Available: Library binding, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook.

 

November Adley was told she was being sent to boarding school for her own safety, but on her arrival, she discovers it is full of intrigues she knows nothing about but is expected to rise to the challenge and survive deceptions, strategies, and attempts on her life from both students and teachers. The classes are like nothing she’s ever had to take before: knife throwing, poisons, deception, and tree climbing, among others. Deadly midnight challenges lead to shifting allegiances, every word and action has the potential to put her life at risk… and, while everyone assumes she knows exactly what’s going on, she has no idea why her father would send her to this school (I also question why her father would send her to a school filled with enemies she knows nothing about for safety. It would be a spoiler to reveal what she has in common with the other students, and that doesn’t make me question his judgment less).

November does have some survival skills she learned from her parents, mostly as games: she’s not unfamiliar with knife-throwing or tree climbing, she is good at observation and memorization, and she’s learned to think outside the box (her parents have kept a LOT of family secrets, and uncovering these is essential to her understanding of events and relationships at the school). But she has never learned to disguise her emotions or hide the truth, a disadvantage in the dangerous games of the school. She has to earn the trust of her prickly roommate, Layla, and decide whether she can trust Layla’s brother Ashai, an expert in deception, to survive.

Killing November rockets along from start to finish, and even the most unbelievable aspects of the story get caught up in the rush. It is the first in a series, and with November scrambling to figure out what’s going on, whose loyalties she can depend on, and who she is supposed to be, trapped in the claustrophobic boarding school environment, it is a really fun read. With much of this settled in the second book, while there’s still plenty of action, it’s less engaging. Both Killing November and its sequel, Hunting November, are enjoyable thrillers that have the potential to appeal to teen lovers of action, murder, mystery, and romance. Recommended.

 

 

Posted on September 14, 2020 by , Reply

Book Review: Shadow School: Archimancy (Shadow School #1) by J. A. White

Shadow School: Archimancy (Shadow School #1) by J. A. White

Katherine Tegen Books, 2019

ISBN-13: 978-0062838292

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook

 

Cordelia didn’t want to move from sunny California and away from her friends, but her dad’s new job is in New Hampshire,  so now she’s stuck in freezing New Hampshire at creepy Elijah Z. Shadow Middle School, a confusing maze of a building that looks more like a haunted mansion than a public school.  The truth is, it’s both,  Elijah Z. Shadow, the son of freed slaves who became a famous architect, was obsessed with capturing ghosts, and studied the construction of haunted houses in order to build one that would attract and trap ghosts– a process he described as “archimancy” . Only Cordelia and one other kid, Benji, can see the ghosts in the school. Aided by their scientifically-minded friend Agnes, Cordelia and Benji must decide what to do about the ghosts. Should they ignore them, fear them, help them move on, or let the school’s ghost catchers drain them into nothingness? Their adventuring is taking them into dangerous situations.

This is a nicely-done coming of age story tinged with an intriguing mystery, conflicted feelings about friendship, and nods to the horror genre (with teachers named Machen, Derleth, and Aickman– horror loving adults will probably appreciate them more than children). I haven’t seen the idea of studying haunted houses with the intent to trap ghosts elsewhere, although strange architecture certainly does seem to be a feature in many fictional and reputed haunted houses (such as Hill House and the Winchester mansion) and the convoluted piecing together of the story is interesting to see.  In many ways, though, this is more of a story about adjusting to moving, letting go, and building new friendships in middle school than it is about scaring the readers. Although there are a few genuinely scary incidents, White’s previous book, Nightbooks (reviewed here last year as part of this booklist), was far scarier and more disturbing. This is an original take on and loving homage to the haunted house genre, with diverse characters (Cordelia is half-Chinese and Benji is Peruvian) and would likely work well as a relatively gentle introduction to the horror genre for upper elementary and middle school students trying it out for the first time.

Highly recommended.

 

Contains: some violence

 

 

 

Posted on May 19, 2020 by , Reply
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