Book Review: Zom-B Angels by Darren Shan

Title: Zom-B Angels

Author: Darren Shan
Series:  Zom-B, #4
Pages:  239
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Books
Date of Publication: 20th June 2013
Source: Publisher for review*
Synopsis from Goodreads: After spending the last few months wandering around London--a city filled with the dead--B Smith has given up hope for any sign of normal human existence. But then B finds strange signs all over the city--a "Z" plus red arrows. Following them, B finds The Angels-- a group gathered in the hopes of combating the evil dead and the forces that introduced them. But all is not as it seems and it's up to B to find out: what battle are they truly waging?

My Thoughts:
Zom-B Angels is the fourth book of the Zom-B series by Darren Shan. I really like this series, and I look forward to each book dropping through my letterbox every few months (another great thing - it's only every few months, rather than a whole year in between books! Anyway...) because it means I can get to read more of B's addictive story.

One of the best things about these books is that there's a very brief recap of the previous books at the beginning which makes it possible to get the story going super quickly. I know that I've said this before in reviews of this series but seriously it is so great and ALL BOOKS should have them. It makes life so much easier! Anyway. Right from the start we get to learn the truth about what it means to be a zom head, or an Angel, as new character Dr Oystein prefers to call them, which means that the action can start immediately and there's no boring build up, recapping things that we already know.

I liked reading about the sort of safe house that Dr Oystein set up. It was nice to read about B interacting and getting on with other revitaliseds and I especially liked the twins. I really liked how protective and defensive of them B was to the older revitaliseds, and she stuck up for them, which was great because she has seemed rather hard and ruthless in previous books (although it's understandable in her situation) but it still was really good to see her come out of her shell, even if it was just a little bit. I also really liked learning all about the revitaliseds and the extent of their abilities and lifestyles. I may have said before but I've never really read about conscious zombies, so it was great to learn more about them.

What stood out to me most about this book was the really unexpected twist at the end, and the explanation that is given for why this zombie apocalypse has happened. At first I wasn't sure about it and didn't really believe or even like it, but now having reread it a couple times it makes sense and I think it can work. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing where Darren Shan takes it in the next few books! I won't say anything else so I don't spoil anything, but it was definitely unpredictable!

Overall I think that Zom-B Angels was a great addition to the Zom-B series and I'm very much looking forward to reading the next book, Zom-B Baby. I definitely recommend that you start this series if you haven't already and despite their kind of morbid subject - a zombie apocalypse - they are great fun and very quick reads, and if you read them at the rate I devoured them, I'm sure it won't take you too long to catch up.

*Huge thanks to Simon and Schuster for sending me this in exchange for an honest review. In no way has this affected my opinion of the book.