The Enemy by Charlie HigsonMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Time taken to read - 2 days
pages - 407
Publisher - Puffin
Blurb from Goodreads
Charlie Higson's The Enemy is the first in a jaw-dropping zombie horror series for teens. Everyone over the age of fourteen has succumbed to a deadly zombie virus and now the kids must keep themselves alive.
When the sickness came, every parent, police officer, politician - every adult fell ill. The lucky ones died. The others are crazed, confused and hungry.
Only children under fourteen remain, and they're fighting to survive.
Now there are rumours of a safe place to hide. And so a gang of children begin their quest across London, where all through the city - down alleyways, in deserted houses, underground - the grown-ups lie in wait.
But can they make it there - alive?
My Review
A group of survivors, kids, all fighting to stay alive. A disease took over and destroyed life as we know it. The grown ups got sick, erupted boils, puss and became violent cannibals or died, everyone over fourteen years old. Now a stranger arrives, promising the kids a better way of life over in Buckingham palace, but what will they find there and will they survive the journey.
This is only the first book in a series so it is understandable there are a lot of questions left over. Why the age, why does it affect some animals, why are all adults not affected the same? There are a lot of characters, lots of death, violence & gore it is quite a dark tale, no one and nothing is safe. It reminded me of Lord Of The Flies a little bit and if I am honest it took me a bit to get into as the characters are all really young and some of them quite delinquent. However as the book goes on I started to get into it and appreciate the trials the youngsters face. The book is set across London & whilst I have visited there before I hadn't quite appreciated there is so much to see there, outwith an apocalyptic setting! It is nice to see a location through an authors eyes and tweaked to appreciate the characters storyline and the journey they take. 3/5 for me this time, I have the next two books in the series to read and look forward to where the story goes next.
