Review: Ninja Versus Pirate Featuring Zombies by James Marshall

SUMMARY FROM NETGALLEY.COM:

In a world where ZOMBIES control banks and governments, only one young man sees the way things are and emerges from the CHAOS and destruction: GUY BOY MAN. While he tries to end human suffering worldwide and in his high school, Guy Boy Man meets a cute PINK-HAIRED girl named BABY DOLL15 who has a UNICORN that follows her everywhere. An EPIC ROMANCE begins, but forces BEYOND THEIR CONTROL are intent on keeping the young couple apart. One of those FORCES may—or may not be!—Guy Boy Man’s closest friend, a handsome African-American NINJA named SWEETIE HONEY; another could be four EXOTICALLY BEAUTIFUL, genetically engineered and behaviourally modified EASTERN EUROPEAN girls; yet another, the principal of their HIGH SCHOOL . . . not to mention an impending standardized test known as the ZOMBIE ACCEPTANCE TEST! Will Guy Boy Man find a way to be with Baby Doll15 in a WORLD WHERE EVERYONE IS DOOMED to become either zombies or zombie food??!!

Ninja Versus Pirate Featuring Zombies is part Napoleon Dynamite, part The Matrix, and ALL AWESOME. It’s the first book in the How To End Human Suffering series.

MY TAKE:

In any ninja versus ____ scenario, I always root for the ninja. As such, I was very intrigued by the idea of this novel.

Ninja Versus Pirate Featuring Zombies by James Marshall is about Guy Boy Man, a self-proclaimed savior who takes it upon himself to save the world from zombies.

When I started reading the prologue, my first thought was "What the heck?!" The prologue is one very long run-on sentence. I thought about abandoning the book but since I try to finish NetGalley books, I decided to give it a few more chapters.

It's a good thing that the main chapters use proper punctuation. There are some paragraphs that read like a teenager's hyperactive mind, but for the most part, this book is quite readable. It's actually very humorous once you get into it. This book's strength is its dark humor and sarcastic take on everything. There were quite a few moments when I couldn't help but laugh out loud. It did get a little tired near the end, though. Less astute people might get outraged by the tongue-in-cheek statements found in the book.

Thanks to NetGalley and ChiZine Publications for the e-ARC. Publication date of Ninja Versus Pirate Featuring Zombies is on May 15, 2012.

THE GOOD:

1. It's laugh-out-loud funny.
2. It's sarcastic and doesn't take itself too seriously.
3. It has ninjas, pirates and zombies!

THE BAD:

1. The run-on, rambling sentences can be very distracting.

FAVORITE QUOTE/S:

Strangely, when the window breaks, it doesn't make a sound! Ninjas must be trained to jump through windows silently! And, on the way down, tehy probably grab the broken pieces of glass before they hit the ground! ninjas are so awesome!

READ IT IF:

1. You like ninjas, pirates and zombies.
2. You like dark humor.
3. You're not easily bothered by tongue-in-cheek statements.

RATING:

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