Dread Nation

Reviewed by: Brooke Faulkner - McArthur Public Library, Biddeford, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: August 6, 2018

Review

An alternative history that re-imagines that the dead began rising from the grounds of the battle of Gettysburg, changing the course of U.S. history and giving rise to compulsory schools that train African American and Native American young people to become bodyguards for wealthy whites, defending them from the undead hordes, called shamblers. Tough, clever Jane McKeene is close to finishing her training to become an attendant at Miss Preston's School of Combat for Negro Girls when she becomes mired in a sinister plot that takes her from her school in Baltimore to a colony in the west. Action-packed sequences propel this novel forward and careful plotting keeps readers on tenterhooks as they puzzle out the many pieces. Well-constructed characters and incisive analysis of the politics of ethnicity and agency establish this as a standout.

Overall Book Score: excellent