Courtney Summers

Barricaded in Cortege High with five other teens while zombies try to get in, Sloane Price observes her fellow captives become more unpredictable and violent as time passes although they each have much more reason to live than she has.

This Is Not a Test

Nessa Luna

Read this review, and many more on my blog October Tune!

I was surprised by this book. I had read some reviews that said that this book had zombies in them, which made me a bit reluctant to read them, but the reviews also said the story wasn’t about zombies. Sure enough, they were there, banging on the doors of the school the six kids were hiding in; attacking the two kids that dared to go outside, etc, but the zombies weren’t really the biggest problem (okay maybe a bit). The biggest problem had to do with the six kids that were trapped inside their old school.

I haven’t made a lot of notes with this book, because I was just so into it (I really liked it), so I don’t really have any reasons why I liked this book so much. It might have been because the characters all had problems of their own, Sloane was dealing with the fact that she actually wanted to die, Trace and Grace (twins, hence the names) were dealing with the fact that they had no idea whether their parents were still alive, and so on.

Of course, with a zombie apocalypse (with any apocalypse actually), people die, but one death in particular made me really really sad. I just wasn’t expecting it to happen like that, and I just wanted that person to be happy for the rest of their life, not die like this.

The thing I didn’t like so much, was the open ending. I really want to know what happened to the characters, if they made it to the place they were planning on going, what happened to the person that lead the zombies away from the other people, I just didn’t want the book to end like that. That’s why it got the score it has, because I hate open endings.

Emmalie Stearns

the ending, beautifully written, saved the book for me.

laura

Avery Baumel

5/5 for the summers magic i don't know how she does it, but she rips my heart apart every time. this is probably her worst, which is still endlessly amazing

Lee Yi Hsean

'This is Not A Test' had an amazing plot, and so much could have been done with it. Honestly, I just hate the characters so much, and that really put me off the book.

Alaia

3.8 stars?? Maybe a 4.

Deep, emotional and heavily narrative books are not really my style, but when I read zombie apocalypse my interest was piqued. 

The apocalypse provides a very fitting environment for the psychological thriller aspect of the book, as we watch a group of high schoolers dance the line of right and wrong, sane and insane, through the eyes of our main character, Sloane Price. The story makes you wonder—what would you do in a situation like this? Would you kill or be killed, even if who you killed was someone you loved? 

Sloane Price is a depressed and suicidal high school girl with an abusive father and ( in my opinion, a pretty shitty ) sister, and reading her struggle between choosing life and death in a world where death comes so easy and everybody fights in vain for survival...whoa.

I was impressed with how thoroughly fleshed out the characters were, too. The vast majority of the book takes place in the high school they take refuge in, so there is minimal action and more social drama. There are quite a few characters but all of them have pretty well written motivations and personalities, and I even remember all of their names! 

A good and fluid read!

Karleigh McCarville

I had to set aside everything that I had on my to-be-read list when I found this book. I'll be honest, I love zombies, everything about zombies. As long as you do the zombies right that is, they must be dumb, slow moving, fleshing eating zombies. The walking dead type of zombies. Well Courtney Summers captured this perfectly. I loved everything about this book, if it could just continue on for, forever I would be a very happy camper. Read more at my BLOG

Jacklyn O’Brien 

Sloane is a teenager ready to commit suicide to escape her abusive father after being after being abandoned by her sister, but the world has other plans. The zombie apocalypse begins, and now she is forced to survive. I loved that, while a post apocalyptic novel, it focuses a lot on mental health. The dry writing, which at first I found annoying, really fit well with the character's lack of emotions. Near the end of the book the action picks up. I finished this in one weekend, and wished there was more!

This book satisfied a couple firsts for me: first book by this author, and first zombie book. I was impressed on both counts. So much suspense. Really enjoyed this.

Jessica Nottingham

This Is Not A Test soared to the top of my reading list as soon as I found out that it was a zombie book, and done by Courtney Summers. I'm sincerely convinced that she can do no wrong. I wanted to see what her take on the zombie apocalypse would be! I can say, without a doubt, that I was pleasantly surprised at what I found between the pages! Hold on tight, let's get this review started.

When the book opens the world goes from normal, straight to all out crazy. I'm not entirely certain how the zombie apocalypse actually comes about but it definitely hits hard. What I loved more than anything was the survival aspect of This Is Not A Test. This isn't just a book about zombies. This is a story about six teens that are just trying to make it as far as they can. Six people who are trying to keep their sanity in an otherwise insane world. I really enjoyed watching them find their inner strength, and eventually learn what was most important to them.

The one wrench in my otherwise total enjoyment of this book was Sloane's character. I liked her, but I found it a little hard to believe that there was literally nothing that she wanted to live for. The back story to Sloane's character makes sense. I won't spoil, but you can definitely see why she is hurting so much. Still, it became a little over dramatic after a while. I thought she had so much more potential.

If you've read Courtney Summers, you know how amazing this book is. It's her type of book, just with the addition of a zombie spin. I'm extremely happy to say that This Is Not A Test takes its rightful place on my shelf of re-reads! I only wish that there was more of the story, because at the end I just couldn't let go.

Kate

This was absolutely fantastic. I was pulled in from the first page and was utterly gripped until the last. The fast paced, short chapters made for an incredibly immersive and suspense read and I thought the approach to and portrayal of depression, in a time of such peril, was absolutely brilliant. 

I enjoyed the cast of characters and thought the relationship dynamics and the exploration of the different ways they dealt with each other, the state of the world and the situation they found themselves in, was so interesting. 

I honestly couldn’t put this book down. 

TW: parental physical abuse, depression, suicidal mindset.

This Is Not a Test

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