Pages: 415
Intended Audience: Mature Teens
Genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy / Short stories
Notes for Parents: Some strong language, violence, sexuality, and other mature themes.
The Inside Cover
Which is better, the zombie or the unicorn?
Justine Larbalestier says that zombies are our own walking deaths. Funny, grim, and terrifying, they cannot be escaped. Unicorns are sparkly and pastel and fart rainbows.
Holly Black says that unicorns are healers, arbiters of justice, and, occasionally, majestic man-killers. Zombies drool and shed and probably carry disease.
Some of today’s finest writers have chosen their side, creating dazzling stories about both creatues. So read on, and decide for yourself: Are you Team Zombie or Team Unicorn?
What the cover doesn’t tell you:
The stories alternate between zombies and unicorns and are prefaced by the compilers’ humorous banter about why zombies are better than unicorns and vice versa.
What’s good?
The stories come from a great mix of well known young adult authors, including Carrie Ryan, Mareen Johnson, Scott Westerfeld, Meg Cabot, Cassandra Clare and Libba Bray. It was fun to flip back and forth between zombie and unicorn stories. I especially liked how each unicorn story portrayed unicorns differently – majestic, violent, sparkly, tormented; and the zombie stories did, but to a lesser extent, the same thing.
Best Part: The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn.
What isn’t good?
My one complaint is that while some of the stories are appropriate for teens and tweens, a couple of stories seemed a little too mature for either. With the array of popular young adult authors involved, it should be safe to assume that each story is appropriate for the average young adult, but I don’t think they are.
Worst part: Love Will Tear Us Apart.
Recommendation þþþþo
I enjoyed the unicorn stories the most, so I guess I’m Team Unicorn, but several of the zombie stories were very well done. Recommended…in fact, highly recommended!
Black, Holly and Justine Larbalestier, comps. Zombies vs. Unicorns. New York
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