Published in 2010 by Margaret K. McElderry
4 stars
It's a question as old as time itself: which is better, the zombie or the unicorn? In this anthology, edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier (unicorn and zombie, respectively), strong arguments are made for both sides in the form of short stories. Half of the stories portray the strengths—for good and evil—of unicorns and half show the good (and really, really bad-ass) side of zombies. Contributors include many bestselling teen authors, including Cassandra Clare, Libba Bray, Maureen Johnson, Meg Cabot, Scott Westerfeld, and Margo Lanagan. This anthology will have everyone asking: Team Zombie or Team Unicorn?
Review: Zombies vs. Unicorns is an awesome anthology that has a great mix of stories. Some are action, some are humorous, and some are romantic, but they are all awesome (ok a few are kind of weird but whatever). There is great banter between the two teams, captained by editors Holly Black (unicorns) and Justine Larbalestier (zombies) that ties the stories together and makes it both an anthology and a novel.
For this review I want to go through each of the stories because each one was very unique and at the end we'll see where my loyalties lie (though if you watch my youtube channel you probably already know lol).
The Highest Justice by Garth Nix - ok let me start by saying I FREAKING LOVE GARTH NIX. When I read this book Garth Nix was the only author I'd already read. I absolutely love his Keys to the Kingdom series, Sabriel series, and The Ragwitch. So needless to say I was really excited to read this story. However, I thought The Highest Justice missed the mark as a short story. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed it but I wanted more. It felt incomplete, like a selection from a novel, not it's own story. I really don't like it when a short story doesn't feel complete (that happens a lot in this book) but this was still good, just not standout. It does get points for having a zombie even though it's a unicorn story.
zombies:1 +1 for sneaking into a unicorn story
unicorns:1 +1 for being written by Garth Nix
Love Will Tear Us Apart by Alaya Dawn Johnson - This story was a little rude for my taste, but if you can get past the crassness it's an awesome gay zombie story. Yup, gay zombie romance. I really liked the explainationsuprisingly deep and had many different layers for a short story. It never felt incomplete either. Everything was well thought out.
zombies:2 +1 for standing up to your crazy Dad for being gay...and a zombie
unicorns:1
Purity Test by Naomi Novik - This was a more humorous and modern take on the unicorn myth. That was the strongest point of this story. There are some really great virgin and dragon jokes. I also really loved the baby unicorns (SO CUTE! lol). It's wasn't too serious, but it had a good complete feeling to the story.
zombies: 2
unicorns: 2 +1 for the baby unicorns that don't eat people! And Harry Potter.
Bougainvillea by Carrie Ryan. - This was a really good zombie story that told another facet of her Forest of Hand and Teeth world. People who have read that book will enjoy this story because it tells more about the orgins of the zombie outbreak. For those of you who don't know, I really didn't like The Forest of Hands and Teeth and I had pretty much written the series off. Until I read this story. Bougainvillea gave me hope that the series would pick up for me, so I went out and got The Dead Tossed Waves. I haven't read it yet, but I want to, which is entirely due to this story.
zombies: 3 +1 for saving a series for me
unicorns: 2
A Thousand Flowers by Margo Lanagan - This was weird. I didn't like this story very much at all. I guess I could see where it was trying to take the whole unicorns and virgins thing in a new way but it ended up being kind of boring then really gross. The ending was also very anti-climactic and a little bit confusing too.
zombies: 3
unicorns: 1 -1 for bestiality. Never a good thing.
The Children of the Revolution by Maureen Johnson - Probably my favorite zombie story. It's got a good satirical feel to it by making not too subtle comments on crazy celebrity antics. My favorite part of the story though was the freaking creepy ass zombie children. The pacing and buildup in this story is fantastic. I had serious aprehension about the narriator's choices and had to know what was going to happen next. Very well done with a pretty funny ending too.
zombies:4 +1 for everything. I loved this story
unicorns: 1
The Care and Feeding of your Killer Baby Unicorn by Diana Peterfreund - This story is from her Rampant series world, but since I haven't read those books, I only have this story to go on. I really liked the beginning of the story which has the unicorn as a side show attraction. However because it's a story about saving a baby unicorn, it felt like the introduction to a bigger book. The ending was really bad, because it was like Peterfreund literally just stopped writing. Almost mid-sentence. Maybe if I had read some of the Rampant books I wouldn't have minded, but as a stand alone the story wasn't developed enough.
zombies: 4
unicorns: 0 -1 for complete lack of an ending.
Inoculata by Scott Westerfeld - The idea behind the book is cool, but I wish the sience behind the zombies had been developed more. I love intersting reasons for the existance of zombies, and this story wasn't explained enough for me. Also the characters in this story are complete idiots. Seriously, I hate it when people in zombies stories made dumb decision that get other people or themselves killed. The ending was really bad too, because again it just stopped. It was like the story was just getting started and then bam! over. Loathe.
zombies: 3 -1 for sheer stupidity
unicorns: 0
Princess Prettypants by Meg Cabot - This is the Lisa Frank of unicorns. Rainbows and glitter galore. This is the most "teen" of the stories and is all about girl power. It doesn't have huge literary merit, but It's just a great story about girls getting back at boys that treat them like shit. With unicorns.
zombies: 3
unicorns: 1 +1 for rainbow farts. I'm not kidding.
Cold Hands by Cassandra Clare - First of all, what the heck time period are we in? There was medevial system of government but cars and cd and stuff. This story had a lot of potential, but didn't quite hit the mark with me as a complete short story. I liked the underlying message of accepting those who are different from you but I just couldn't get over the inconsistency's of setting. If that had been explained a little better I think I could have gotten on board with this story.
zombies: 2 -1 for being confusing as hell
unicorns: 1
The Third Virgin by Kathleen Duey - Probably the best unicorn story out of the bunch. I loved that the unicorn was the narriator and that he isn't perfect. I loved the morality brought up in this story with the unicorn's healing powers being both good and bad and how immortality isn't such a great thing. I thought this story had a lot of potential and therefore made the ending really frustrating. I wanted so much more,
zombies: 2
unicorns: 1 +1 for interesting unicorn perspective, -1 for the MAJORLY disappointing ending
Prom Night by Libba Bray - The premise of this story is that only the adults have turned into zombies and the teens and children are left to try and carry on society as best they can. The teens are looking for some sense of normalcy so they decide to throw a prom. I wish there had been more about the zombies in this story. Instead this was more about how a group of people survive in an apocalyptic setting. I really liked the sense that their relatively normal life wasn't going to last forever. There were allusions to their defences being slowly broken down by the zombie hoard.
zombies: 3 +1 for being little like Lord of the Flies with zombies (I like it)
unicorns: 1
So yes, I am on team zombie! Was there really any doubt? I love science fiction and I love nothing more than a well thought out zombie story. I tend to be a traditionalist though. Zombies are mindless killing machines, they don't have feelings, silly.
I like unicorns, but I guess I'm a 3 year old at heart when it comes down to what kind of unicorn I like. I like them girly, rainbowy, and sparkley. Like they should be.
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Micheel Hodkin
