Review Detail

I really, really wanted to love The Other Life. The cover was good, the reviews were good, the blurb was good, the book was…not.

What’s it about? The world as we know it has ended – for the West coast of the US, at least – and for the last three years, Sherry has been living in a small bunker with her family. When the food finally runs out, Sherry and her father take a brave and uncertain plunge into the outside world, but they are shocked to find that the rabies virus which originally led them underground has turned much of the remaining population into weepy eyed, flesh eating, canine-like creatures. When the weepers take off with her dad, Sherry must rally with other survivors and fight to keep her family safe. But what is the terrifying truth behind the mutant-making virus?

Sydney says… I hate being negative, but I just had such huge hope for this novel. I’d been considering it for ages before I read it. I heard about it long before it was released, but I wasn’t in a position to request an arc at that stage, so I waited, and last week I finally decided to purchase it. I love dystopian/apocalyptic/zombie lit, but there was zero uniqueness in this text. The writing was lack-lustre, the story line only vaguely present, and while I didn’t mind the character of Sherry, Bobby seemed unnecessarily indignant, mum was weak, and of course a romance had to develop between Joshua and Sherry, even though Joshua seemed like a complete butt hole and the couple had absolutely no chemistry.
I got to the end and wondered what had even happened. Where were the exciting twists and turns? Probably nestled on a beanbag reading a better book…

The Other Life is definitely more suited to a younger reader (12+), and for people who are not well versed in the genre of ‘Zombie Apocalypse’.