Review: This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers

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, everyone’s motivations to survive begin to 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?

My Thoughts:

Courtney Summers is one of my favorite contemporary novelists and my favorite kind of books are about zombies so when I heard about This is Not a Test, I was ecstatic. The main character Sloane is a depressed abused teenager who wants to die after her sister leaves. The zombie apocalypse then comes and she is stuck with five others who actually want to live, trapped inside their high school with zombies pounding on the doors…

I loved how the author didn’t change her style of writing just because this was a different genre. The book had a contemporary tone to it while still being a book about zombies and trying to stay alive. It actually wasn’t just about zombies. Sloane was dealing with being depressed and the others had their own side stories too like Grace and Trace; twins who had just lost their parents to the undead.

As in most young adult zombie books, when boys and girls are put in a situation when they might die there is romance. I loved how real the relationships and friendships were in this book. There wasn’t any immediate love or obsession. The big part of the story was loss and I felt real emotions when reading.

Anyone would enjoy this book and you should definitely read Courtney Summers’ other books if you like raw readings. This is Not a Test is a must read.

*Received this book from St.Martins, does not influence my thoughts or feelings of this book-Thanks St. Martins Griffin!