Deadlands

Deadlands (Mall Rats #1)

3.74 of 5 stars 3.74  ·  rating details  ·  66 ratings  ·  29 reviews
Ten years after Cape Town was destroyed in the War with the living dead, zombies ramble free in Cape Town's suburbs (known as the Deadlands), and the remaining living are either in fenced in on farms or in urban shantytowns.

The living are watched over by the mysteriously robed Guardians, a race of humanoid figures who appeared at the end of the War and who keep the living...more
Paperback, 293 pages
Published February 2011 by Penguin
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Mara
Ten years after hosting the 2010 World Cup, Cape Town is nothing but the Deadlands, ravaged by a zombie apocalypse of unknown origin and subsequent war that left humans living in fenced-in enclaves that are visited daily by powerful, shadowy figures called the Guardians. New to the enclave (and living there against her will) is Lele, who abhors the Resurrectionist humans who rule the enclave and believe the Guardians are their path to eternal life...as walking dead Rotters. When Lele is "acciden...more
Tammy
Side note: A shortened version of this review orginally appears on the women24 website, which you can find here.

Young Adult satirical zombie fiction has a new home. And it's right here in South Africa. And yes, you should get a copy.

17-year old Lele and her brother are stuck and living with her parents in the city enclave.

It's one of the few safe places following both the war and the appearance of the Zombie menace that has been ravaging the Deadlands (the area designated as unsafe and outside o...more
Murphy's Library
Deadlands’ scenario is Cape Town, South Africa. It’s filled with political references to South Africa’s past and present. And, of course, there are the zombies.

This book takes place in a world after a War, where people leave confined inside the enclave. The Guardians protect people from the zombies: those who have passed are taking outside the enclave, to the Deadlands, and they become zombies. I couldn’t really figure out why there are zombies outside, besides the fact that they’re turned into...more
Lainy
Time Taken To Read - 4 days

Blurb From Goodreads

Ten years after Cape Town was destroyed in the War with the living dead, zombies ramble free in Cape Town's suburbs (known as the Deadlands), and the remaining living are either in fenced in on farms or in urban shantytowns.

The living are watched over by the mysteriously robed Guardians, a race of humanoid figures who appeared at the end of the War and who keep the living dead at bay, albeit for a steep price. Every year the Guardians stage a human...more
Christa (More Than Just Magic)
I am a sucker for zombie novels. I can't quite put my finger on why but I absolutely love them. So when I was offered a chance to review Lily Herne's Deadlands (a novel with the tagline - Everything's better with Zombies - Not) I jumped at the chance.

Deadlands starts out on a strong note. As the reader we're immediately introduced to Lele, a zombie apocalypse survivor living in South Africa. I think I can count the amount of books I've read that were set in South Africa on one hand. It's not a s...more
Stephanie (Stepping out of the Page)
Deadlands is not a book I had heard about and I hadn't heard of the author, Lily Herne, before I picked this book up, but I'm always willing to read books that are new to me, and it's even better when they're unexpectedly fantastic like this one! I am so glad that the publishers put Deadlands on my radar and I'm glad to be able to share it with you, too.

Deadlands is the beginning of a new young adult series set in Cape Town, South Africa. I have only read one other book set in South Africa, so t...more
Monique
Deadlands is the first of its kind- a South African zombie novel. While the SA slang and expressions are pretty abundant, it is nothing a decent glossary can't fix and this book can easily be enjoyed by readers worldwide.

The plot and characters are well-thought out with twists that left me thinking "ahhh, that totally makes sense". Lele is spunky and brave. She outshines plenty of YA heroines.

My only peeve is that the last sentence of each chapter could have been done away with. It was usually a...more
Celine
Forget all the comparisons that cover Deadlands - it is more than capable enough to stand on its own.

One day during the World Soccer Cup in 2010 the Rotters came. Humanity would be lost, if it wasn't for the mysterious robed Guardians. They're the only thing that stands between humans and Rotters, but their protection comes with a price. More and more teenagers are handed over to the Guardians for unknown purposes. The public doesn't seem to mind, they even worship them. Lele isn't a Ressurectio...more
Nerine Dorman
Finally! A South African publisher brings out genre fiction for YA with a South African setting. This is a fun, easy read that not only offers some zombie arse-kicking action, but also takes a look at a post zombiepocalyptic setting in a way that takes not so subtle stabs at current South African society.

This book is very much geared toward being a quick read and offers plenty of pop culture references with a nod toward Max Brooks' World War Z and The Zombie Survival Guide, as well as George A...more
Cat Hellisen
Deadlands is Cape Town after the zombicalypse. Or at least, that’s the premise, but there’s more to it than a rehash of The Forest and Hands of Teeth for the South African market. And while it has the same feel as its YA contemporaries like Suzanne Collins’s Hunger Games and Carrie Ryan’s The Forest of Hands and Teeth, it has a pervasive political wit that shimmies along underneath, poking fun at giants and wanna-be giants alike.

It is gritty and ugly – the Cape Town it paints is not the Cape Tow...more
Lu (Sugar & Snark)
Rating 7/10

At first I thought that I might not like this book as zombies does sound like a terrifying subject, but the author made it work! With just the right amount of horror, mystery and post-apocalyptic feel, you get drawn straight into the story and you will be delighted at the twists and turns.

You can easily visualize everything in this book and I think that it would make a terrific movie or TV series. I must say I liked all the references to movies, books etc. in this novel (the main char...more
Book Angel Emma
Review by Matthew (Year 9)

Told in first person narrative from the perspective of Lele, throughout the story she faces difficult emotional challenges that push her to her very limits. Lele is a complex character complete with a short temper, however with the events within the story it is easy to understand why she has such a temper. The journey she undertakes in the Deadlands is mirrored by her journey of self-discovery; she makes friends along the way and unlocks suppressed memories within herse...more
Craig Smith
Lele is your typical teenager, she hates school and she has a crush on the cool guy, but there's one very large twist to her story. Everything isn't normal. When people die they don't stay dead. Yes, you've got it. She's living in the time of Zombies. Zombies that have destroyed the world and pushed humans down a notch in the food chain.

And if that wasn't bad enough a group of people known as the Resurrectionists have taken control of the enclave. The only safe spot in Cape Town. A safe spot cre...more
Lauren Smith
Apr 11, 2011 Lauren Smith rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: YA and zombie fiction fans
It's been a decade since the zombie apocalypse destroyed Cape Town in the middle of the World Cup. The survivors have established a new but distressingly familiar kind of order in heavily walled enclaves while outside, in the Deadlands, the zombie hordes still lurch. But no one is trying to wipe them out; instead, they're worshipped.

It's a brillint, unique twist on the zombie novel - zombies are the new religion, revered for 'cleansing' Cape Town of its violence and corruption so there could be...more
Jan
An interesting addition to the already extensive zombie lore and a refreshing take on what would happen during and after the zombie apocalypse.

The author(s) struggle to make some of the characters believable, with the writing falling particularly flat during conversations on some instances.

However, the pretty unique back-story and interesting setting make it worth overlooking a few weakly defined characters.

Potential spoiler warning

If a look into the lives of the survivors of a South African zom...more
For Books' Sake
"When writing in such an crowded arena, an author can’t get away with a whimper of acknowledgement: they need to wrench open the doors and embrace the zombie hoards. It’s not enough to just write another zombie book: the mother-daughter writing team behind the pen-name of Lily Herne needed to give us something new, to recreate the zombie novel for a younger audience." Excerpt from full review at For Books' Sake.)
Constable & Robinson
I am an absolute YA fantasy geek and I LOVED Deadlands. It ticked all the boxes: Slightly awkward teenage heroine? CHECK. Some kind of conspiracy going on? CHECK. She's torn between two love interests, one of whom has dreads and the other is a mysterious zombie-fighter? CHECK and CHECK, my friend. It's The Hunger Games meets Zombieland, what more could you possibly want?

In a nutshell, Deadlands is about a badass teenager, Lele, standing up to The Man in the post-apocalyptic version of South Afri...more
Shelagh (The Word Fiend)
Review from my blog: The Word Fiend

Lily Herne is the pen name of mother and daughter team Sarah and Savannah Lotz. This is their first book together and makes for an entertaining debut.

The cover of Deadlands is what first caught my attention with its mysterious hooded figure and fog shrouded landscape. It sets the scene for this apocalyptic zombie story and the feelings of dread and uneasiness it inspires followed me into the book. I was also very excited to see a book of this kind from a South...more
Lobke Minter
Not having encountered Lily Herne before, I was enthusiastic to read this novel, as it was highly recommended to me.

The plot and characters are definitely written for an audience between the ages of 12 - 14. It seems incredibly difficult to write a story that focuses on both the love interests of an adolescent girl and being chased by zombies. When making a decision on where to focus the narrative the author makes sure that the potential love connection wins out every time.
S.A. Partridge
Utterly fantastic. Deadlands is set in post zombie apocalypse Cape Town where humans live in fear of the dead lurking outside the enclave walls.
The protagonist, feisty and angsty Lele, is absolutely believable as a young girl willing to do anything to survive in this world turned upside down.
The book is set into three parts so just when you think it can't get any worse, or exciting for that matter, a zombie jumps out of nowhere and tells you different.
Crusader
A young adult zombie novel with a uniquely South African setting. An enjoyable and captivating read with some minor flaws. Full review here
Shaina
I really enjoyed Deadlands - for all you zombie lovers out there go buy it! NOW!
I liked the way it was more sci-fi slash social commentary on South Africa than "Errmahgerd we're all going to die! Get the shotgun Doris!"
Diane V-R
Deadlands is a very clever book. I loved the satire, the heart-pumping action and even the Zombies, who don't play as large a role in the story as you'd think.
Samantha Pettiquin
I really liked it, liked the way it was written and the story line.
It was interesting and relatable. 3.75 Stars.
Magnus
The story is like a mix of "the Hunger games" and some kind of variant of "the village".

It starts pretty good but then it losses focus and gets off track, to bad.
Chandre
This book was a chilling read but it shows what happens when you worship people
Martha van Zyl
What an awesome book! Very refreshing approach to the cause and transfer of zombie-ism. More twists than a 60s Hits Billboard. Excellent and easy read with relatable characters.
Gerrit Vermeulen
An interesting and refreshing take on zombies and the zombie apocalypse. Some characters do, however, have some unbelievable characteristics and some scenes do fall a little flat.

Nevertheless, it's a good read with an above average story-arc, some tense scenes and a few chuckle-worthy moments.
Ella
As a South African I was very excited to read this book, I really liked it and it kept me turning page after page. The storyline was interesting and exciting.
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Deadlands (Deadlands, #1)
Deadlands (Paperback)
Deadlands (Paperback)
Death of a Saint (Mall Rats, #2)

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“Everything's better with zombies - NOT” 5 people liked it
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