Piggy

July 1, 2023
The virus that started turning nearly everyone into zombielike monsters in Infected (2023) rages on. This novel is based on a video game, and a video game has rules. The main characters, all anthropomorphic animals except for protagonist Ben, must fight monsters wherever they go--in a school, in a grocery store, in a laboratory--as if they're progressing from level to level. They even use the same weapons almost every time: a Taser, a barbell, a glowing rod filled with chemicals. The monsters are enormous animals who look like football mascots. The characters are such skilled fighters that the battles are almost comforting--readers can sit back and wait for the giant boars to be knocked out. Even the black-and-white illustrations are predictable: Animal heads are circles; buildings have perfectly straight lines. Just as the tale is at its most repetitive, though, the rules suddenly change. Readers may know that the narrative can't continue if the author kills off the main characters, but they may start to wonder if the author knows that. Crawford, it turns out, is not a cruel writer, and the book has the happiest ending a zombie story will allow. There are even a few plot contrivances to make sure every character is completely safe. Ben is drawn with thick black curly hair and skin the white of the page. A perfect book for readers who don't like their dystopian stories too dystopian. (Fiction. 8-12)

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