BOOK REVIEW: Last Girl Standing: A Journey Through the Zombie Apocalypse, by Tom Marshall

Every once in a while, an author reaches out via contact form to request a review. Because I am committed to only writing honest reviews, I try to choose books I think I will enjoy. I don’t like writing bad reviews and I know authors don’t like reading them. So I choose books that interest me. If you offer me a zombie apocalypse story, chances are I’ll snap it right up. I love a good zompoc. Hell, I love a bad zompoc.

The quick synopsis is that this is about a girl and her friends fighting for survival in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. Amazon commonly mistakes books with young characters as being written for young readers. As such, Amazon has deemed this book suitable for ages 12-18. While there isn’t any specifically adult content, I don’t consider this one YA either.

There’s a lot to like about this book. It’s well written. It could use some professional editing, as there were parts that reminded me of my essay writing days when I was trying to meet a specific word count. I don’t hold this against the author. It’s a habit I haven’t dropped myself. Some of the dialog feels a little unnatural, but that could be a me problem. This is a self-published book and I feel like the author has made a really good effort at putting out a finished product. I have read a ton of self published zombie apocalypse books and this is one of the more polished ones I’ve had the pleasure of reading. And hey, even traditionally published books have errors.

The characters are interesting and relatable. As I read about Lily and her friends making their way through a zombie infested world, I thought about my daughter and her friends and the banter between them. My kid is 100% the Marcy of the group, the somehow endearing smartass. I found myself assigning a friend or family member to each character. I particularly enjoy the humor sprinkled throughout. First laugh out loud moment for me what when that Bob Mitchell saved that one guy and then got right back to reading his book. If there’s one thing a zompoc story can use is a little levity. My favorites are the ones that keep my heart racing as though I’m fighting for my own survival but also make me laugh.

Solid read for me. I was on the edge of my seat reading this one. Between Lily and her friends bumbling their way back home while trying not to die and her father making his way back to her from his deployment in Afghanistan, it’s non-stop action.

Big thanks to Tom Marshall for bringing his book to my attention. You can buy Last Girl Standing, by Tom Marshall on Amazon for $0.99 for a limited time (June 5-13), or read it as part of your Kindle Unlimited subscription. Get it!