The Kiss of Life

Title: The Kiss of Life

Author: Daniel Waters

I.S.B.N.: 978-1-84738-397-6

The Kiss of Life is the sequel to Generation Dead by Daniel Waters. I read the first book back in November and totally loved it, so when I heard there was a sequel in the works needless to say I was ecstatic. Unfortunately for me I only got my hands on the book today (i.e. July 3^rd) because I live in Ireland and had to wait for it to reach bookshops here, because being only sixteen, I have no credit card of my own to order it off the web. I was delighted to find all teen books at my local bookshop were 20% off so got the book for €6.39 when it was finally released here. I loved the cover of the book and thought that the black cover suited the theme (i.e. death and returning to life), plus the purple flower was really cool! (BTW, for American readers, this is the European cover!)

Chapter one opens inside Adam’s head. At first I found the format Adam’s chapters are written in hard to follow but it just makes you understand the character’s patterns of thought all the better. Adam has not come back as fully as Tommy or Karen and finds it difficult to function but, luckily for him, Phoebe sticks with him. I was pleasantly surprised by how the STD, a.k.a. Adam’s stepfather Joe, treated Adam. I thought for sure he would be given the boot, but everyone in his family is much more accepting of him now that he is DB (differently biotic!) with the exception of his step-brother Jimmy.

Phoebe has realised how deeply in love Adam is/was with her, he jumped in front of a bullet to save her, where as her zombie boyfriend Tommy Williams did not. Bad news for all the Phoebe and Tommy shippers out there, but that ship seems to have crashed and burnt, with Phoebe lashing out at everyone’s favourite undead blogger. I myself wasn’t left in a sobbing fit by this, but I know a lot people who will be! One thing that annoyed me about Phoebe with this book was the fact that she mothered Adam a bit too much, so much that he had to tell her to back off a bit.

Tommy is not around much for this book, (I’m not going to totally spoil the book for all those who haven’t read it!) but he still plays a large role. Some of the other smaller characters are embellished such as Collette and Tak. Karen also really comes into her own in this book, though Karen was one of the main zombies in the last book, this book she becomes one of the main characters. She appears to be a major role model for all the zombie kids out there, even getting a job at the local mall where her employers don’t even know that she is dead (undead?), the book ended on a bit of a cliff hanger in regards to her!

I was not disappointed in the Kiss of Life though it did have an awful lot to live up to! But I know some people may be disappointed with this book because it wasn’t as action packed as the first in my opinion. This suited me fine seeing as I’m a hopeless romantic and thoroughly enjoyed the more romantic angle, but I know it may not appeal to everyone. All in all one of the better books I’ve read this year.

Rating: 9/10