Of Royal Descent

Opening Excerpt:

When I was a kid, I always knew I was different. I could feel something burning down deep inside. I always knew I was different. I could feel some burning down deep inside. I always imagined I would grow up to be a special, maybe become the President, maybe a rocket scientist. What I did not expect to become was a leader of an uprising zombie army.

And yet , here I was...

Description (Amazon):

They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. But sometimes, under extreme circumstances, it's exactly that which kills you that makes you stronger. And faster. And a member to a new, elite race of zombies.

Armed with a current address for his biological grandfather and a slightly unusual, yet loyal best friend, Doyle Hawthorne sets out to discover the truth about his past. But answers don't come easily, and the closer Doyle arrives to his destination, the more confusing things become. Disturbing alterations to his physical appearance as well as to his personality flicker on and off as Doyle searches for a logical explanation.

Despite the increasing severity of these uncontrolled flare-ups, Doyle is determined to keep his first date with Addy - a beautiful, young woman he has met upon his arrival into town. After narrowly subduing his raging impulses, Doyle quickly decides not even death itself can keep him from her. Unfortunately, he is about to test that theory.

Once initiated, nothing can alter the process of shading - the term given to the three distinct phases of becoming a higher classification of zombie, commonly referred to as “royals”. Doyle must learn to control his tendency toward violence as well as his newfound royal powers if there is any chance of protecting those he loves from a mad scientist, the government, the colony of royals, and most importantly... himself.

My thoughts:

I didn't know how well I would like a book where the main character was a zombie, but I liked this, a lot. It wasn't a heavy, life altering read. It was just plain FUN! The writing is solid, there are no major errors in grammar or spelling. This is in the New Adult category, and it reads like it belongs there. This is written from in first person from Doyle's perspective. I said recently that I am not a fan of stories written in first person format, but this worked for me. I didn't get tired of read the word I over and over, or get so annoyed with Doyle that I couldn't stand him by the end of the book. You get insight into the other characters of the story through dialogue and actions, and the characters by the end of the story are well developed and left me feeling like I had gotten to really know them. They are young college aged students, and act like it.

This is a trilogy. There was romance in this, but not as much as I thought there would be. I do expect that part of the story to evolve as the rest of the books. This book focused mostly on the transition Doyle went through as he became a Royal Zombie, and it was an interesting transformation I was expecting something similar to the Twilight series. While I do think readers of that series would enjoy this, it felt a little older. There were scenes that reminded me of The Vampire Diaries, the T.V, series, not the books.

Recommended To:

Fans of Twilight by Stephanie Meyer, The Vampire Diaries by L.J. Smith, The Lux series by Jennifer Armentrout, Dante Walker series by Victoria Scott, etc.

An Excerpt I Enjoyed:

(Jenny is Doyle's adoptive sister)

I closed the door, shutting Jenny out, and stepped into the tub. Vaguely, I realized I hadn't showered since my “bed baths” with Addy. I sniffed my armpit. My entire face puckered instantly. Zombie B.O. was definitely the worst. I set the shower to hot and lathered twice.

When I had finished and was fully dressed once again, I opened the door and Jenny shook her head at me. “You didn't brush your teeth,” she scolded.

Brush my teeth? Was she Kidding? I was pretty sure zombies didn't have dental plans. It wasn't like I was going to get a cavity. But I wasn't able to communicate my thoughts on the subject effectively yet, so I rolled my eyes and reached for the toothbrush on the sink. I squeezed a line of toothpaste on top and after two passes along the front of my teeth, I realized the bristles had all been sheared off. I glared at Jenny.

She covered a smile and said, “Well there's no reason you can't at least do a shot of mouthwash.”

I won this in a giveaway on booklikes.