The New Hunger by Isaac Marion Book Review

I was late to the Warm Bodies party and read it only recently, with the movie sparking my interest. After seeing the movie, it got me wondering about how the zombie “R” came to be a zombie. And this prequel novella answers some of my questions! (but not what R stands for…)

The New Hunger by Isaac Marion

The New Hunger is a decent sized novella and packs in a lot of zombie lore and action, filling in some of the blanks from the past. This book takes place 6 years before the events of Warm Bodies and centers around three characters from that world, Julie, Nora, and R, and how their lives intersect. As you may remember, Julie is R’s love interest from Warm Bodies, and Nora is her friend.

I found Nora & Addis’ story the most interesting. The brother and sister pair are on foot in Seattle, seeking food and shelter, and armed with hatchets for zombie encounters. They even visit the top of the Space Needle in their quest. There are not too many humans around anymore, so life is fraught with danger. Their interactions with zombies are exciting and insightful, and yes, gory. And they have a zombie stalker that should be very familiar to Warm Bodies fans.

One thing that’s fascinating about the prequel is that you can hear about characters that aren’t around anymore, such as Julie’s mysterious mother. Julie and her parents are on the road looking for “people.” On their journey you can also see Julie become the badass zombie hunter that we see in Warm Bodies.

And we meet R as a zombie newborn; he’s looking for somewhere to belong and wanting to hold onto his humanity if he can. Still a mysterious character, but we do learn a little more about how his mind works.

It’s cool to learn more about the different stages of zombie, from the beginning where they connect more with humans, to later on when they give in to their cravings. Gross and scary stuff!

If you read Warm Bodies, you probably had questions about the origin of the characters, and The New Hunger satisfies that thirst for more.

The author is working on a sequel to Warm Bodies that takes place in the future, and I can’t wait to see how the events in the prequel affect the future. I’ve gotta believe that some of these events will come back to “bite” them later. And there are still some questions I need answers to!

Find out more about the book and author:

Goodreads | Isaac Marion’s Blog

I received a review copy of The New Hunger from Zola Books. The New Hunger is available now as an e-book from Zola Books, and it’s $4.99 and 140 pages.

Warm Bodies the movie hits theaters February 1st, and I’m looking forward to seeing it again. Check out my book and movie reviews below:

Warm Bodies by Isaac MarionWarm Bodies movie poster

Ornament

8 thoughts on “The New Hunger by Isaac Marion Book Review

  1. bookgoonie says:

    I can’t believe the movie is out this week & I have yet to get Warm Bodies on my shelf much less read. !!!!! The novella definitely sounds worth the read.

    R sounds like a zombie that I want to meet.

  2. BermudaOnion says:

    I didn’t realize Warm Bodies was a book first, but I should have.

  3. Janita says:

    *drool* just kill me now. I’m going to see the movie this weekend (SO EXCITED) and I can’t wait to get my hands on this novella.

  4. Ooo, I somehow missed this whole thing–I just found out about it this morning! I’m glad you think it’s worth reading. (I wonder what “R” is supposed to stand for, too–what the modern equivalent of Romeo would be.)

  5. fishgirl182 says:

    can you believe that i still haven’t read warm bodies? but i saw the movie twice! haha. i do want to read it though and this novella sounds really interesting. after seeing the movie i am definitely curious about the pasts of some of the characters. i am pretty sure i will see the movie again at some point. 🙂

  6. Candice says:

    After seeing all your posts about Warm Bodies I’m seriously determined to read it soon! I do love a good zombie book and the more I see the trailer for this movie the more I want to see it/read the book!

  7. Lauren says:

    I really need to read this! I loved Warm Bodies, and it sounds like I would enjoy this one too. Great review!

  8. I just finished reading this one and I am looking forward to this movie 🙂

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