Review: Zombies vs. Unicorns

Zombies vs. Unicorns-Edited by Holly Black & Justine Larbalestier
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
Publication Date: 9/21/10
Source: ALA
Book Website

It's a question as old as time itself: which is better, the zombie or the unicorn? In this anthology, edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier (unicorn and zombie, respectively), strong arguments are made for both sides in the form of short stories. Half of the stories portray the strengths--for good and evil--of unicorns and half show the good (and really, really bad-ass) side of zombies. Contributors include many bestselling teen authors, including Cassandra Clare, Libba Bray, Maureen Johnson, Meg Cabot, Scott Westerfeld, and Margo Lanagan. This anthology will have everyone asking: Team Zombie or Team Unicorn?
(Amazon)


I believe I first heard of this anthology from author Carrie Ryan's blog, and as soon as I saw the title, I was all over it. Zombies? Unicorns? Yes please. Obviously, I'm Team Zombie. Maybe when I was seven and collecting Lisa Frank stickers, I was Team Unicorn, but that was a long time ago.

Yes, that slight bit of snark against Team Unicorn is evident of what you'll find in this book. Before every story Holly and Justine discuss it, and often banter about why their particular team is the one to root for. I wouldn't say I'm anti-unicorn per se, but I guess it's easier to believe in zombies than it is unicorns.

This is a big book, most of the stories are pretty long, and I'm happy to say the majority are enjoyable. There was only one Zombie story I wasn't that crazy about, Alaya Dawn Johnson's “Love Will Tear Us Apart”. I enjoyed the musical references (the title is that of my favorite Joy Division song) but ultimately I couldn't really relate to the characters. I gave up on the Unicorn tales “The Highest Justice” by Garth Nix & “A Thousand Flowers” by Margo Lanagan because they just weren't my style.

Now to talk about the stories I did enjoy. My favorites were Maureen Johnson's “Children of the Revolution”, which is about a girl minding the children of an eccentric celebrity, Scott Westerfield's “Inoculata”, which takes place on a southern farm surrounded by zombies, Libba Bray's “Prom Night”, about kids trying to have a prom night in the after math of a zombie apocalypse, and Diana Peterfreund's “The Care and Feeding of Your Killer Baby Unicorn.” See? I didn't just enjoy the zombie stories. Meg Cabot's “Princess Prettypants” was pretty bad-ass too.

I'm not a big anthology reader because there usually are those stories that just don't hold my interest. This is the case (for me at least) with Zombies vs. Unicorns-but the other stories make up for it. It's also piqued my interest to read further works of some of the authors, most notably Diana Peterfreund. Her books hadn't really interested me previously, because of the well, unicorn factor, but after reading up on them, I think I'll have to give them a go.

This anthology has it all, gripping emotion, hilarious moments and of course, brains.  Definitely pick it up when it hits shelves next month!