"So f*ck no, I'm not ready. For any of this, but I know I have to do it." Me going into this book because I'm so sad that this story is over, I really just want to go back to the first book and read it all again.This is the conclusion to R's story, but it's also a story about saving the world, finding yourself and how fucked up society really is.I really love how Marion started the book by saying that this was never supposed to be a political book and that he'd finished the story long before the "So f*ck no, I'm not ready. For any of this, but I know I have to do it." Me going into this book because I'm so sad that this story is over, I really just want to go back to the first book and read it all again.This is the conclusion to R's story, but it's also a story about saving the world, finding yourself and how fucked up society really is.I really love how Marion started the book by saying that this was never supposed to be a political book and that he'd finished the story long before the world went down the path it has now and how in this case life imitates art, and not in a good way. Whether or not he wanted it to be political, it is a brilliant piece of societal criticism, the entire trilogy and the prequel are. Marion weaves in this fantastical element of zombie-ism to get to what's really wrong with society and it works so damn well.I was not the biggest fan of the second book, that's no a secret. I thought the plot revolved too much around personal issues, the characters changed on way I didn't want and understand and some of the additional cast was just not for me. However, Marion's writing always makes up for everything. The guy could write up a report of the most boring stuff on earth and I'd still be captivated. He just has that kind of poetic writing.Anyway, pretty much all of the issues I had with the second book were resolved in this one. The plot was a lot less convoluted, the characters were still growing but in ways I could understand and appreciate and even though the situations sometimes resolved a little too smoothly, the pacing was really good. There was never a moment when I was bored or wondered why a scene was in the book. There are also a lot more POVs than in the other books because we switched between R and this collective of humanity (which was then used to change to the POV of another character).Like is said, the writing is smooth and beautiful and poetic to the point where you just comfortably slide into the story and never want to leave.Okay, that's not true. This book includes a lot of sexist language, simply because the big evil (aka Axiom) is sexist and insane and hateful. The language was upsetting but it was there for a reason and it really put the focus on just how deranged these people really are.We also got a lot more insight into R's past and the church he helped build."How wonderful, to be an angel. To be created perfect, not broken, not designed to crave evil and set on loose on a path to Hell. To be born good, a child of innate worth who does not have to hate himself to be loved."This is from a new character we got to follow- the new head of the church R built, his former best friend and an overall awful human being."No matter how many wars erupted, you kept provoking more, kept raising armies and smashing them together like toys, kept hating and hurting and devouring each other until you finally broke the universe. You reached the very bottom and you drilled right through, and a new kind of death bubbled up to meet you."(see what I mean about the writing?) This is from one of R's sermons. I really loved to see the contrast between his old self- ready to spew his (bs) thoughts into the world and his nowaday self- reluctant to talk unless it's to change the world."But life isn't a story that the world is telling me. It's a conversation, and I've been listening long enough. It's time for me to speak."But with all those truths and memories coming to R, his relationship with Julie is still being tested. "Time rounded my memories like beach pebbles until they seemed too smooth to hurt anyone, but now that I'm hurling them at Julie I can feel their jagged edges."I'm not at all a fan of relationship drama in books, but all the problems Julie and R faced and all the talks they had about them just seemed so realistic and understandable that I couldn't even really bring myself to be annoyed. They were necessary for their relationship and character growth.Which brings us to the other characters. Marion writes strong female characters. He writes realistic, relatable, hurt, broken, badass, brave, desperate, powerful, strong female characters with all their flaws and weaknesses and strengths. I love Julie and Nora, their friendship is amazing and the two as individuals are also amazing. They're different characters who handle things differently, who talk openly about their pasts, who aren't afraid of their scars (both visible and invisible) and no matter what, they push through. This book does what other YA books fail to do: it shows how people break and put themselves back together and how they're traumatized, how they cope in unhealthy ways, how they sometimes can't find their way back alone. These characters have been through hell and you can always tell and not just because you know it's a dystopian setting, but because these characters how you and tell you.Julie will always be one of my favorite characters because she somehow managed to pull back from being a broken, suicidal, not good human being to a kind, hopeful, strong woman who can somehow always find the strength to keep going.Marcus is also just a great character. I'm really sad we only got so "little" Marcus/Nora time because I just love their dynamic. Also M is hilarious "You skinny bitches can't hold your lead." and "Bullet sponge coming through".Addis and the other kids were really nice kids to have around in a book, no whining, no annoying, just quiet, well-behaved, freaking brilliant kids.Tomsen was a little too weird for me personally but she was also obviously brilliant and I like her in small doses, I just know I could never go on a road trip with someone like that.Abram is still my least favorite character, even though I finally understood why he was around. He worked really well in this book and since we were mostly focusing on his thoughts and his struggles, he wasn't as insufferable as in The Burning World.Overall I can just say that the characters are always well-rounded, believable people and even when you don't like them you can appreciate them for what they're bringing into the story.Also the married gay couple who randomly adopted a dead kid and called him Rover and kept "arguing" were just precious. "History was a long time ago, love" and then they proceed to discuss utopia with the ragtag bunch of people they meet at maybe the last diner on earth and are just like "well okay then" (I wish they'd gone with them).But the main reason I'll always love these books is the grip Marion has on society and what's wrong with it and how it sometimes even goes against human nature. It's how you come out of these books where so many humans do such awful things and you still somehow believe that humans are good at heart. It's how he manages to write 4 books about zombies without falling into any clichés, without making his story anything remotely like a zombie story. These books are not about the horror, the action, the fight scenes, the blood and gore and angst, it's honestly simply about these characters who are only ever trying to save themselves and each other and once they've kind of managed that, decide that maybe they can kind of save the world too.I still cannot believe that the publisher dropped this beautiful series, that so many people stopped after Warm Bodies because these books and Marion are brilliant. Not just his writing, not just his characters but his honest and still somehow hopeful look on the world.I really hope he keeps writing because this man deserves so much recognition and love and all of the book deals in the world.I will be buying a copy of this book, probably next month because I can't not own this (stupid expensive shipping). Also thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this book as my first ever requested book (did I join Netgalley simply for this book because I saw that it was on there when I Googled the book? You bet.). So this was really exciting for me, not just because this is one of my favorite series ever and because I've waited for this book for what felt like forever and because I was really worried that it might not get released."Do you really think your bumbling human errors- no matter how colorful- disqualify you from life? Or even happiness? Look around you!" Right back at you, Mr. Marion, right back at you.(I also now really hope that somewhere there's this human collective and this beautiful library and we'll get to live there once we're dead. I don't believe in God but I'll hope for something like that because maybe someday that'll save us all.)Merged review:So f*ck no, I'm not ready. For any of this, but I know I have to do it." Me going into this book because I'm so sad that this story is over, I really just want to go back to the first book and read it all again.This is the conclusion to R's story, but it's also a story about saving the world, finding yourself and how fucked up society really is.I really love how Marion started the book by saying that this was never supposed to be a political book and that he'd finished the story long before the world went down the path it has now and how in this case life imitates art in a bad way. Whether or not he wanted it to be political, it is a brilliant piece of societal criticism, the entire series is. Marion weaves this fantastical element of zombie-ism into a YA setting to get to what's really wrong with society and it works so damn well.I was not the biggest fan of the second book, that's not a secret. I thought the plot revolved too much around personal issues, the characters changed in ways I didn't want and understand and some of the additional cast was just not for me. However, Marion's writing always makes up for everything. The guy could write up a report of the most boring stuff on earth and I'd still be captivated. He just has that kind of poetic writing.Anyway, pretty much all of the issues I had with the second book were resolved in this one. The plot was a lot less convoluted, the characters were still growing but in ways I could understand and appreciate and even though the situations sometimes resolved a little too smoothly, the pacing was really good. There was never a moment when I was bored or wondered why a certain scene had been included. There are also a lot more POVs than in the other books because we switched between R and this collective of humanity (which was then used to change to the POV of another character). That gives the reader a lot more insight into the workings of the story and just tied it all up beautifully. Like is said, the writing is smooth and beautiful and poetic to the point where you just comfortably slide into the story and never want to leave.Okay, that's not true. This book includes a lot of sexist language, simply because the big evil (aka Axiom) is sexist and insane and hateful. The language was upsetting but it was there for a reason and it really put the focus on just how deranged these people really are.We also got a lot more insight into R's past and the church he helped build."How wonderful, to be an angel. To be created perfect, not broken, not designed to crave evil and set on loose on a path to Hell. To be born good, a child of innate worth who does not have to hate himself to be loved."This is from a new character we got to follow- the head of the church R built, R's former best friend and an overall awful human being."No matter how many wars erupted, you kept provoking more, kept raising armies and smashing them together like toys, kept hating and hurting and devouring each other until you finally broke the universe. You reached the very bottom and you drilled right through, and a new kind of death bubbled up to meet you."(see what I mean about the writing?) This is from one of R's sermons. I really loved to see the contrast between his old self- ready to spew his (bs) thoughts into the world and his nowaday self- reluctant to talk unless it's to change the world."But life isn't a story that the world is telling me. It's a conversation, and I've been listening long enough. It's time for me to speak."But with all those truths and memories returning to R, his relationship with Julie is still being tested. "Time rounded my memories like beach pebbles until they seemed too smooth to hurt anyone, but now that I'm hurling them at Julie I can feel their jagged edges."I'm not at all a fan of relationship drama in books, but all the problems Julie and R faced and all the talks they had about them just seemed so realistic and understandable that I couldn't even really bring myself to be annoyed. They were necessary for their relationship and character growth.Which brings us to the other characters. Marion writes strong female characters. He writes realistic, relatable, hurt, broken, badass, brave, desperate, powerful, strong female characters with all their flaws and weaknesses and strengths. I love Julie and Nora, their friendship is amazing and the two as individuals are also simply great. They're different characters who handle things differently, who talk openly about their pasts, who aren't afraid of their scars (both visible and invisible) and no matter what, they push through. This book does what other YA books fail to do: it shows how people break and put themselves back together and how they're traumatized, how they cope in unhealthy ways, how they sometimes can't find their way back alone. These characters have been through hell and you can always tell and not just because you know it's a dystopian setting, but because these characters show and tell you.Julie will always be one of my favorite characters because she somehow managed to pull back from being a broken, suicidal, not good human being to a kind, hopeful, strong woman who can somehow always find the strength to keep going.Marcus is also just a great character. I'm really sad we only got so "little" Marcus/Nora time because I just love their dynamic. Also M is hilarious "You skinny bitches can't hold your lead." and "Bullet sponge coming through".Addis and the other kids were really nice kids to have around in a book, no whining, no annoying, just quiet, well-behaved, freaking brilliant kids.Tomsen was a little too weird for me personally but she was also obviously brilliant and I like her in small doses, I just know I could never go on a road trip with someone like that.Abram is still my least favorite character, even though I finally understood why he was around. He fit really well into this book and since we were mostly focusing on his thoughts and his struggles, he wasn't as insufferable as in The Burning World.Overall I can just say that the characters are always well-rounded, believable people and even when you don't like them you can appreciate them for what they're bringing into the story.Also the married gay couple who randomly adopted a dead kid and called him Rover and kept "arguing" were just precious. "History was a long time ago, love" and then they proceed to discuss utopia with the ragtag bunch of people they meet at maybe the last diner on earth and are just like "well okay then" (I wish they'd gone with them).But the main reason I'll always love these books is the grip Marion has on society and what's wrong with it and how it sometimes even goes against human nature. It's how you come out of these books where so many humans do such awful things and you still somehow believe that humans are good at heart. It's how he manages to write 4 books about zombies without falling into any clichés, without making his story anything remotely like a zombie story. These books are not about the horror, the action, the fight scenes, the blood and gore and angst, it's honestly simply about these characters who are only ever trying to save themselves and each other and once they've kind of managed that, decide that maybe they can kind of save the world too.I still cannot believe that the publisher dropped this beautiful series, that so many people stopped after Warm Bodies because these books and Marion are brilliant. Not just his writing, not just his characters but his honest and still somehow hopeful look on the world.I really hope he keeps writing because this man deserves so much recognition and love and all of the book deals in the world.I will be buying a copy of this book, probably next month (stupid expensive shipping from the US) because I can't not own this book. Also thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this book as my first ever requested book (did I join Netgalley simply for this book because I saw that it was on there when I googled the book? You bet.). So this was really exciting for me, not just because this is one of my favorite series ever and because I've waited for this book for what felt like forever and because I was really worried that it might not get released but also because I got to read this book in an entirely new setting. "Do you really think your bumbling human errors- no matter how colorful- disqualify you from life? Or even happiness? Look around you!" Right back at you, Mr. Marion, right back at you.(I also now really hope that somewhere there's this human collective and this beautiful library and we'll get to live there once we're dead. I don't believe in God but I'll hope for something like that because maybe someday that'll save us all.)
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