This Is Not A Test By Courtney Summers

Series: Standalone
Genre: Young Adult, Horror, Dystopia
Release Date: June 1st 2012 
Source: Bought 
Overall Rating: 5/5 Stars 
Cover Rating: 3/5 Stars 
Synopsis: It’s the end of the world. Six students have taken cover in Cortege High but shelter is little comfort when the dead outside won’t stop pounding on the doors. One bite is all it takes to kill a person and bring them back as a monstrous version of their former self. To Sloane Price, that doesn’t sound so bad. Six months ago, her world collapsed and since then, she’s failed to find a reason to keep going. Now seems like the perfect time to give up. As Sloane eagerly waits for the barricades to fall, she’s forced to witness the apocalypse through the eyes of five people who actually want to live. But as the days crawl by, the motivations for survival change in startling ways and soon the group’s fate is determined less and less by what’s happening outside and more and more by the unpredictable and violent bids for life—and death—inside. When everything is gone, what do you hold on to?

I was very hesitant to read this book. Not because it didn't look very good but because it did look so good. In my experience the ones that look the best are often the worst. Not because their bad but because your expectations were so high that disappointment tarnishes anything you may have liked ordinarily. That was the fear I had for this book. I was lucky though because this book actually exceeded my expectations which was very rare indeed. The book is set at literally the end of the world. Yes it's the zombie apocalypse. The good thing is that the book is less centred on the zombies but more on how it has changed the characters lives. Nearly the whole book takes place inside a high school. Sloane and 5 other students have taken cover there. The five students are desperate to survive but Sloane just wants to pull down all the barriers and throw herself to the zombies. But she can't, she may want to die but the others don't. As the days go on and Sloane spends more and more time with the others, her motivation to live slowly seeps back in.

The characters in this book were unbelievably real. They all had flaws some larger than others but they all surfaced. Sloane's story is really what caught my interest in the first place. She comes across very cold and distant but her reasons behind it really make you feel for her. I loved the authors unflinching way of portraying the character. She doesn't hold back which is what I think makes Sloane such a believable character. The other characters were so great I have to tell you about them all which is not something I usually do. Cary was the oldest, he was the kind of person you would cross the road to avoid. The thing about him was that the moment we met him he gave off such a huge misunderstood vibe I had to like him. He may have been very into self preservation but he looked after those he cared about and that's what mattered. Rhys was the popular guy at school but he wasn't all stuck up. He looked after Sloane, even when she didn't want him to. What I liked about the twins, Trace and Grace, was how devoted they were to each other. They argued as all siblings do but they were inseparable throughout. Lastly is Harrison. He's the youngest of them all. The reason I liked him so much was how much he grew throughout. He started off wimpy but by the end he was one of the bravest and probably the most admirable.

This book was flawless and the best zombie book I've ever read without a doubt. By the end I was almost in tears. I said in my earlier review of The Forest Of Hands And Teeth that I don't get upset with books unless I bond with the characters and unlike in that book, I really did. I would recommend this book is absolutely anyone and everyone because it was truly one of the best I've read this year.

My Favourite Quote:

“I wouldn't have left you like that. Not like she did to me." I swallow hard. "She always said I'd die without her and she left anyway."

"But you didn't die," He says.

"I did," I say. "I'm just waiting for the rest of me to catch up.”

Email me at: confessionsofabookaholic@LIVE.CO.UK