Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Series: Dread Nation #1
Format: e-Book
Source: Library
ADD TO GOODREADS
Amazon
Jane McKeene was born two days before the dead began to walk the battlefields of Gettysburg and Chancellorsville—derailing the War Between the States and changing America forever. In this new nation, safety for all depends on the work of a few, and laws like the Native and Negro Reeducation Act require certain children attend combat schools to learn to put down the dead. But there are also opportunities—and Jane is studying to become an Attendant, trained in both weaponry and etiquette to protect the well-to-do. It’s a chance for a better life for Negro girls like Jane. After all, not even being the daughter of a wealthy white Southern woman could save her from society’s expectations.
But that’s not a life Jane wants. Almost finished with her education at Miss Preston’s School of Combat in Baltimore, Jane is set on returning to her Kentucky home and doesn’t pay much mind to the politics of the eastern cities, with their talk of returning America to the glory of its days before the dead rose. But when families around Baltimore County begin to go missing, Jane is caught in the middle of a conspiracy, one that finds her in a desperate fight for her life against some powerful enemies. And the restless dead, it would seem, are the least of her problems.
Okay, I'll be completely honest here. I was not expecting to love this one as much as I did.I do not like zombies at all, and never thought that I would read a book about them, but this one was done so well that I found myself constantly craving more.
Alternate historical books can be either good or bad depending on the content, and Dread Nation was definitely the former. While the first part of the book was a bit slow for my taste, it definitely picked up once Jane became involved in a disappearance mystery.
My favorite part of the entire story was Jane and Katherine's friendship. They started off strongly disliking each other due mostly to the fact of Katherine's skin color. Jane was fiercely jealous of Katherine's beauty and the fact that she could pass as a white woman. Katherine didn't really dislike Jane, she just disliked how she acted because she thought that Jane should act more proper and follow the rules. Jane was not about any rules though. She did her own thing and did not apologize for it. But once the story progressed, their relationship began to blossom and Jane finally figured out that Katherine was not just a pretty face, and that even beautiful people have issues.
As far as themes in the book, there are some tough ones. Racism is the main focus since the book is centered around the time that the Civil War was taking place. The whites thought that all black and Native American people should be the ones killing off the zombies, so schools were set up just for this purpose. In real history, Native Americans were taken from their families and forced to go to these "boarding" schools to become more American. Their hair was cut, they were forced to speak English, and could not wear their native clothing. It was terrible. Also in the book, scientists somehow thought that black people had a natural immunity to the shamblers (zombies), which was not true. Also, even though the rising of the dead halted the Civil War and slavery became fully illegal, obviously there are many people who are not content with that.
Was the book hard to read because of the content? Absolutely. Just because it was a fictional story doesn't mean that the racism didn't happen in real life. Anyone who wasn't white was treated horribly, and it wasn't limited to just those two aforementioned races. There is also mention of not wanting any Chinese people in the utopia city.
Speaking of book two, I am impatiently waiting for it because the ending was just that good!
No comments:
Post a Comment