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100 Days - Books as Christmas Presents - Children and Young Adult

Christmas is a big deal at Crowvus HQ. Those of you who have followed our progress for a while will know that we love Christmas and do it in a big way. With only 100 days to go, it is never too soon to start thinking about preparations for the big day, especially since the delivery services are a nightmare at that time of the year, and there is no guarantee that things will not be held up in the post. So here we go, on a shameless advertising push, but one which is sure to make your bookish family and friends thrilled with their gift! Books make a brilliant present. Why? Because they offer the gift of adventure, of imagination, and of escapism from the crazy madness of the world today. And you don't have to only read a book once. In fact, after reading a book with a twist in it, it can be twice as enjoyable rereading it to see all the clues along the way. Or perhaps it's the language you love, and you could dive into those plush phrases time and time again. Whatever makes a boo...
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"Night of the Victorian Dead" Book Review

Night of the Victorian Dead by Amber Michelle Cook

"Night of the Victorian Dead" Book Cover
"Inspired by beloved works of literature from Charlotte Bronte, Charles Dickens and Jane Austen, and in tribute to the delightful terror of first encountering classic undead creatures comes Night of the Victorian Dead, in which a rich collection of characters - with the endearing manners, gentility and sensibilities of that era - meet the unthinkable horror of an outbreak of the supernatural in the form of Re-risen Dead."


3 Stars
When I got the review request for this novel, the first thing I thought was "Oh no. I hate zombies!" It's not that I have anything against zombies (I'm sure some of them are very decent) but ever since my sister used to chase me around the room in a Hallowe'en mask pretending to be a zombie, I have been really scared of them.

I'm pleased I agreed to review this book, however. It is a really interesting mix between historical fiction and zombie novels, with some spine-chillingly yet amusing encounters with the living dead.

I didn't realise, when I started reading, there was a connection between the book's characters and those in "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte so I was slightly confused at first. After the initial confusion, however, I began to appreciate how well the parallel works. The author looks at the Jane Eyre story through the eyes of other characters, for example the ward, which is an ingenious look at the secondary characters in the classic book.

It is also greatly amusing to see how the much-loved characters deal with the unknown threat of zombies, in their perfectly English way. How they remain so prim and proper beats me, but it works!

Because there were a few different groups of characters in different spaces, the author jumped from one group to another which added to the suspense. At the start of the novel, however, this was slightly confusing as I was just getting used to the characters.

The book would be a great read for someone who is looking for a humourous zombie novel with a bit of a twist.

Find the book here.

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