✨ jami ✨'s Reviews > The Enemy

“If a wolf attacks his sheep, the shepard kills the wolf, but he eats the sheep when he's hungry.”

The Enemy is one of those books I really, really liked when 14/15. I read all the series that was out at the time, and then I had ..... THE READING SLUMP™ . So I lost track of the series and now four or so years on I was like, hmmm, maybe I should check those books out again

Two things strike me about thse books:

1:THEY ARE SCARY AS FUCK !!! JFC !!

2: They're not /as good/ as I remember. But still pretty good.

Basically, it's about a group of kids living in a supermarket at the end of the world. All the adults have become diseased and ... started ... eating the kids !! and it's hectic.

THINGS I LIKE ABOUT THIS:
→ fucking terrifying. These books are so, so gory and awful. You got kids getting eatin all over the place, you got kids fighting eachother. You got cannibalism, you got psycho monkeys, you got disease and death and blergh just about everything other thing you can think of. I mean these books are brutal, you think your fave is safe because they're a ""main character"" but oooohh no. Charlie Higson definitely understands the concept of "kill your darlings"

&& Aside from the fact it's gory, the actual ""zombies"" themselves are INSANE These are not just lumbering critters who you might run into, ooh no.
These bad boys are INTELLIGENT.
THEY !! LITERALLY !! MAKE !! PLANS !! AND !! AMBUSH !! KIDS !! AND !! THEY !! ARE !! SO !! SCARY !!. Not to mention some of it is told in the POV of a zombie, shudders
They make the Walking Dead zombies look like fluffy little bunnies. Like, these books are scary as all hell I am worried about Past Me

→ Worldbuilding. Because, I know what you're thinking. Another zombie book? Another kids alone without adults book!? yeah, yeah I get you fam but listen these bring something new to the table.

First of all, they're set in London. And along with the setting comes the general annoying propriety that is associated with Brits. You got kids from posh boarding schools, Kings and Queens, and it's full of British slang. It was a new twist to the tired, typical American setting and I liked it. (plus, the "hideouts" of the kids are something else, since this is London, hub of ridiculous and over the top architecture - the hideouts are real neat I mean, they're hiding out in Buckingham Palace its amazing. ( So on a side note, how come Rick & Co from the walking dead haven't tried to shelter from zombies in the white house !?!)

But aside from that, the development of the kids, the different groups and cultures that have sprung up in these groups is good worldbuilding. Each different group of kids has it's own customs, traditions, languages and while they're not /too different/ they all still have their quirks and its just interesting. The expansion of the world just in one book was great.

→ ACTION. So much action, on every page. These are quick books because they're so fast paced and the pace never lets up. Something is going down on every single page and it's great.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE AS MUCH:

→ Yeah, the characters. Just a bit of a letdown. They're not awful, not by any means. These characters pass, but they're nothing special. I don't feel any of them are particularly complex or well developed. They exist to propel the story but I just wanted MORE. I wanted more from them, I wanted more about how the apocalypse if effecting them, how they feel, what they stand for. Don't get me wrong because we do get it, I just wanted much MORE to really develop them.

And on another note with characters, I wanted to mention diversity because I felt, for a book written in 2010 when diversity wasn't so much of a big deal it's pretty good. I would have liked to see more anD I COMPLETELY FORGOT FROM THE FIRST TIME I READ IT THAT AKKIE KISSES JOHN AND I THINK IT WAS A /JOKE/ AND HE WAS JUST ESTABLISHING HIMSELF AND I DON'T REMEMBER IT BEING A THING LATER ON BUT I WISH IT WAS BECAUSE WHEN HE DID THAT I WAS LIKE ?!?! #GiveAchilleusABoyfriend

→ Representation of women. I just, eh eh eh. I don't wanna say too much about it but it was a bit disappointing that there are very very female characters in this and the ones that are there are often given the "mothering" role and while Maxie is the leader of the Waitrose kids by the end, no one really respects her and I just eh eh eh. It was okay, but it was kinda off too.


♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

Anyway, overrall I'd give this a 3.5 I think these books are genuinely terrifying, and a great addition to a genre thats overcrowded, especially in recent years with the rise in popularity of The Walking Dead. Regardless, I'm glad I reread this and while it wasn't as great as I remembered, it was still pretty good.