Review: Alice in Deadland by Mainak Dhar

Alice in Deadland by Mainak Dhar
published:November 2011
Formats: Kindle, Nook,Paperback




Goodreads Summary:


Civilization as we know it ended more than fifteen years ago, leaving as it's legacy barren wastelands called the Deadland and a new terror for the humans who survived — hordes of undead Biters. 

Fifteen year-old Alice has spent her entire life in the Deadland, her education consisting of how best to use guns and knives in the ongoing war for survival against the Biters. One day, Alice spots a Biter disappearing into a hole in the ground and follows it, in search of fabled underground Biter bases. 

What Alice discovers there propels her into an action-packed adventure that changes her life and that of all humans in the Deadland forever. An adventure where she learns the terrible conspiracy behind the ruin of humanity, the truth behind the origin of the Biters, and the prophecy the mysterious Biter Queen believes Alice is destined to fulfill. 

A prophecy based on the charred remains of the last book in the Deadland — a book called Alice in Wonderland.




My Ramblings:


I love zombie movies but never tried to read a "zombie" book before, so I was pretty stoked and bought this for Kindle.  The concept is an interesting twist and there is some similarities in this story compared to Alice in Wonderland.  
At the beginning of the book, we meet Alice, a 15 year old girl,who is on a hill looking through her gun scope, watching a "Biter" jump down a hole.  And get this: the Biter is wearing bunny ears.  
Okay, that was funny.  But was I the only person asking myself why is the zombie like person wearing Bunny ears?  
It is a dystopian novel with some serious political undertones, especially pointing out that China is the super power that wants every for their slaves, basically.  
There is some good parts to this novel.  I like that the Queen in this story is much nicer than the Queen from the old fairy tale.  
I also had a hard time understanding that the so called Biters were zombies.  From their descriptions and the way they had somewhat of a structured society, I thought they might be vampires.  Alice points out that they are afraid of light, want blood, and one bite turns you into one.  
I really could not stand the repetition the author puts in the story.  Yes, I get that Alice didn't get to live life like most little girls would in a regular world, but you only need to tell me this one time.  
However, the author drilled this idea into our head every few paragraphs, explaining to the reader that Alice learned combat instead of learning to read.  I guess this just really pushed my buttons and not in a good way.  
I also noticed that the main character in the Resident Evil videogames is called...Alice.  And this Alice can fight really bad ass too.  I wonder if that is a coincidence, probably not.  I was just going to give this novel two hearts but after the ending, that really bumped it up to three hearts.  

I don't want to give anything away but the ending is so ironic that I still grin at the way it was written.  






















If you would like to pick up your copy of Alice in Deadland click below: