Review: Unfed (Undead #2) by Kirsty McKay

Unfed (Undead #2) by Kirsty McKay
Publisher: Chicken House
Publication date: August 27th 2013
My rating: 3.5 stars

 

Fresh meat! From a hospital of horrors to a runaway zombie train, it's an all-new onslaught of the slavering undead in the sequel to Kirsty McKay's killer debut!

Just when you think you're out...it's the morning after the night of the return of the living dead. Or something like that. After running/bus-driving/snowboarding for her life alongside rebel Smitty, geeky Pete, and popular Alice, Bobby thought she'd found the antidote to the Carrot Man Veggie Juice that had turned the rest of their classmates into zombies. When Smitty (mmm...nom, nom) got chomped, Bobby pumped a syringe full of it into him herself.

But now Bobby's a prisoner in some hospital of horrors, with no clue how she got there. And Smitty is missing. What if he isn't cured after all? Bobby knows she's got to find him, even if it means facing Scotland's hungry hordes -- plus Alice's buckets of snark -- again. And this time, zombies aren't the only evil stressing her out. The brain-dead are bad enough, but how can Bobby stop the big pharma business behind the epidemic? Especially when her own mom works for the company?

*****Spoilers if you haven’t read Undead*****

Unfed sequel to Undead was an action packed ride! Zombies, gore, witty humor, and a little romance were laced through this fun read.

We pick up six weeks from where Undead left us with Bobby and Smitty on another school bus, escaping zombies and Xanthro pursuers.  Smitty was attacked and bitten, but he received the last antidote so no worries there.  Unfortunately, the bus tumbles and everything fades to black for Bobby.  She wakes up in a hospital and finds out she’s been unconscious for six weeks, and only Pete and Alice have been accounted for.  Smitty, her charming, rebel, sort-of-boyfriend, is MIA, and her mother is believed to be dead.  Also, Scotland has been overrun with zombies.  Of course, right as she is assured all is safe, things go completely to hell and zombies are everywhere! The horror/adventure that has become Bobby’s life begins again. 

 I love a good zombie tale!  It combines my love of survival stories with horror and adrenaline rushes that come from the inevitable chases.  You can find all of that in this series, however, where Undead and Unfed shine is definitely in the humor department.  Clever, snarky humor with campy references to favorite shows and movies such as The Terminator, Aliens, and Buffy throughout this story are sure to make you giggle.

Bobby is her usual take charge self always soldiering on and quick thinking on her feet.  Alice the previous (well, mostly) mean-girl, provides sass and dumb blonde clichés, and Pete is loveable as the nerdy group brain.  Russ is a new addition to the motley crew, handsome, with ninja like skills.  Smitty, my favorite sweet, rebel “bad-boy” was missing in much of this story and his absence left a huge hole for me.  One of the reasons I loved Undead so much is because of the push and pull between Smitty and Bobby which we don’t get until well after the 50% mark.  Overall, I think this is the main reason I didn’t love Unfed as much as Undead.

Even though I didn’t like Unfed quite as much as it’s predecessor, it was a good follow-up, and I enjoyed the ride.  Unfed wraps up somewhat, but as with any good zombie tale there are things left up in the air and the future is far from certain… This leaves me to wonder if there is another book in the works for this series.