
Title: Mortality
Series: The Hitchhiker's Strain
Author: Kellie Sheridan
Genre: YA Post-Apocalyptic
Pages: 280
Format: E-book
Received: Purchased
Published: March 19th by Patchwork-Press
Stars: 5/5
Book Description:
After surviving a deadly plague outbreak, sixteen-year-old Savannah thought she had lived through the very worst of human history. There was no way to know that the miracle vaccine would put everyone at risk for a fate worse than un-death.
Now, two very different kinds of infected walk the Earth, intent on nothing but feeding and destroying what little remains of civilization. When the inoculated are bitten, infection means watching on in silent horror as self-control disappears and the idea of feasting on loved ones becomes increasingly hard to ignore.
Starving and forced to live inside of the abandoned high school, all Savannah wants is the chance to fight back. When a strange boy arrives with a plan to set everything right, she gets her chance. Meeting Cole changes everything. Mere survival will never be enough.
Review:
Mortality is a young adult post-apocalyptic zombie story that will have you on the edge of your seat. Kellie Sheridan tells two stories simultaneously that intertwine to create Mortality. The two narrators Savannah and Zarah fight their way through a world full of zombies, but ultimately their biggest enemy are those still living who have their own agendas. They fight for love,friendship, and their lives. Morality was an amazing book and I was hooked from chapter one.
Zombie stories have been told many times. Kellie Sheridan was able to put a unique spin of the idea of a virus making people crave human flesh. It was extremely creative that she made it her own. In this story the spread of the original virus wasn't as widespread as most stories. Therefore people were able to create a vaccine, but said vaccine had some very bad side effects. It was really interesting and different from anything I have read or seen.
Sometimes multiple point of views don't always work and sometimes you end up gravitating towards the original narrator because you have a longer connection to them. I think the use of both Savannah and Zarah worked great in this book. Further more, I loved that Kellie Sheridan wrote more chapters in Savannah's P.O.V because you start this story with her and she is in the present. I never had that feeling when I was waiting for a Savannah chapter because Zarah's were few in between. At the same time I enjoyed reading from Zarah's P.O.V because we got to see what happened during the initial outbreak and the second outbreak, which wasn't shown in Savannah's perspective.
Savannah is hands down my favorite character in this book. I really connected with her determination and ambition. She wasn't going to settle for greatly completing a simple task ; she wanted to accomplish a difficult task whether or not she did is a different story. She isn't perfect and she makes mistakes, but she always tries to right her wrongs. Lately in YA, we are seeing these perfect heroines/heroes who time and time again rise to the occasion and miraculously save the day. Yes this is fiction, but I want realistic characters who fall down and can then pick them selves back up.
The turn of events with Zarah were absolutely crazy. I was so not expecting that to happen at all. I loved how Kellie Sheridan wrote her transition through that. Her writing style in the mind set of someone who is infected was incredible. It felt like I was reading from someone who was truly losing them self and that someone was only compelled by their need for food.
The is romance in this book, but it never over shadowed the conflicts in the book. There are two main relationships in this book. Zarah and Liam are a couple that we don't necessarily see fall in love, but you get to see them in love. I loved them together, and what made them work was that they would have done anything for each other. Then there is Savannah and Cole, as romances go they weren't my favorite. There relationship is still very new, but I am just not the biggest fan of him. I like him as a character, but I also don't trust him. Hopefully in the next book I will like Cole more.
I loved how through out this story both narrators are pretty close to each other and as the reader you are constantly waiting for them to meet. They finally do right at the end of the book. I can't believe what happened, it was completely crazy. I have so many feelings about it.
I can't wait to read Duality. I need to know what happens next and how Savannah, Liam, and Cole are going to get through all of this. I also really want to read End Dayz, the prequel that sheds light of the pasts of Alex, Belle, Zack, and Pierce.This book is definitely for fans of The Walking Dead and The Forrest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan. I can't recommend this book enough.