(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

After surviving a deadly plague outbreak, sixteen-year-old Savannah thought she had lived through the very worst of human history. There was no way to know that the miracle vaccine would put everyone at risk for a fate worse than un-death.

Now, two very different kinds of infected walk the Earth, intent on nothing but feeding and destroying what little remains of civilization. When the inoculated are bitten, infection means watching on in silent horror as self-control disappears and the idea of feasting on loved ones becomes increasingly hard to ignore.

Starving and forced to live inside of the abandoned high school, all Savannah wants is the chance to fight back. When a strange boy arrives with a plan to set everything right, she gets her chance. Meeting Cole changes everything. Mere survival will never be enough.

[Full disclosure: I received a free copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]

At first I thought this was going to be a mushy, lovey-dovey romance just set against the background of a zombie apocalypse.  While there’s romance, that’s certainly not the case because the blurb is a bit misleading.

First off, Savannah is an awesome character.  She can kick butt and kill zombies like it’s nothing, but at the same time she’s trained for a long time to be able to do so.  She’s definitely not one of these heroines that just magically gains killing powers out of nowhere.  Secondly, Zarah, the other girl whose point of view we see is an interesting contrast to Savannah.  She can’t kick butt and she has to use her wits to survive the first and second outbreaks with her new boyfriend Liam.  So how do these two stories converge?  Well, it’s definitely not how you would expect them to, thank goodness.  I’m just hoping that Kellie Sheridan does not go with one of my hated clichés in the next book, although from the ending it almost looks like that.  (Cringe.)

The plot was fast-paced and despite the point of view changes, Mortality never really got to a point where it lagged.  The zombies, or Zs as they’re mostly called here, are an omnipresent threat throughout the novel.  Although in contrast to many zombie apocalypse novels they’re not necessarily the main focus 100% of the time.  They’re prominent to be sure, but the romance between Savannah and the mysterious Cole does steal the attention away sometimes.  Although I really hated Cole as a love interest (what a selfish, brainless jerk!) I guess I can forgive Kellie Sheridan for that.  Cole is just really not my type of guy.

What I liked about Mortality is that when there are clichés, Kellie Sheridan did her best to put her own spin on them.  Cole is out searching for his uncle who was part of the cure and possibly the initial outbreak, but there’s quite a twist on that old trope.  I can’t say much on how she negates old tropes without giving the major plot points away, but trust me on this: there are very few clichés throughout the novel.  And while it’s not in the same category of awesome as Feed or The Return Man, I really can’t complain too much about Mortality.  It was pretty good and I’m looking forward to reading the next book, Duality.

I give this book 4/5 stars.

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