Dread Nation

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Dread Nation (Dread Nation, Book 1) by Justina Ireland

A zombie apocalypse set during the civil war? I’m in!

And then it doesn’t take long to realize that the only reason it’s set during the civil war is just so the author can write about racism and a protagonist overcoming discrimination.

That’s great! No problem with that last part. But the issue is very much forced in there, and seems less impactful as a result. Maybe if it wasn’t so heavily focused on from the beginning, and the issue came about more naturally as the story progressed.

Perhaps the same protagonist has chosen to live outside society, away from all the racism and senseless hate, surviving the zombie apocalypse on her own. Then as events unfold, and the zombies grow in numbers and become more aggressive, she must return to the world she hates in order to save what humans remain. Only for them to be surprised at her ethnicity, a situation she wanted to avoid but was ultimately unavoidable. Hate and discrimination come at her like never before, in spite of her heroism. Then comes the moral dilemma of her saving the very people who would enslave her, and her new found goal to free her fellow minority. Save the world even though they’ll hate you, or live alone in the zombie apocalypse?

I don’t know, I’m just spitballing possibilities here, but I do feel that the racial aspects of this story should have been brought about more organically. Because right now, this just feels like another YA book cashing in on social relevance.