Take All of Us
Natalie Lief
Holiday House
Published June 4, 2024

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About Take All of Us

A YA unbury-your-gays horror in which an undead teen must find the boy he loves before he loses his mind and body.

Five years ago, a parasite poisoned the water of Ian’s West Virginia hometown, turning dozens of locals into dark-eyed, oil-dripping shells of their former selves. With chronic migraines and seizures limiting his physical abilities, Ian relies on his best friend and secret crush Eric to mercy-kill any infected people they come across.

Until a new health report about the contamination triggers a mandatory government evacuation, and Ian cracks his head in the rush. Used to hospitals and health scares, Ian always thought he’d die young… but he wasn’t planning on coming back. Much less facing the slow, painful realization that Eric left him behind to die.

Desperate to confront Eric before the parasite takes over, Ian joins two others left behind—his childhood rival Monica and the jaded prepper Angel—on a journey across town. What they don’t know is that Eric is also looking for Ian, and he’s determined to mercy-kill him.

My Review

I can’t say I’ve ever read a zombie book from the perspective of a zombie. Ha! The book doesn’t refer to the undead as zombies, and the main character remains pretty self-aware, which keeps the story anchored and moving. I like Ian as a character. He has epilepsy, which is why his family moved to rural West Virginia, a place with fewer seizure triggers.

Ian teams up with two girls who agree to help him find his best friend and secret love, even after it appears Eric left him behind on purpose. First, he meets Angel, a neurodivergent girl who helps him figure out how to adjust to his new undead status. Then, Monica, a girl he’s known from hospital wards since childhood, agrees to help. The three first try to track down loved ones and ultimately decide it’s up to them to stop the spread of the parasite that’s causing the outbreak of undead-ness.

The pacing of the story was great. It maintains intensity and creepiness (there’s a little cannibalism, which I found extra creepy) throughout the book. The last few chapters take a little bit of a strange turn. Ian drifts into some possible hallucinations, or things get super weird. It’s unclear. Which makes sense since he wouldn’t know he was hallucinating.

The characters decide on a method of resolving the outbreak that required some willing suspension of disbelief. I wanted there to be more research or evidence or something indicating that this path would be successful or supporting the desired outcome.

Despite that, I enjoyed the characters and the unusual take on a post-apocalyptic, undead story. If you’re looking for a really different zombie book, check out Take All of Us.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Ian and another character are gay. Ian also has epilepsy. Monica uses a mobility aid. (We don’t know her specific diagnosis. The book mentions that she had several surgeries and takes pain medication.) Angel is neurodivergent.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
A few F-bombs. Some mild profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between two boys.

Spiritual Content
A contaminant in the water has caused an outbreak of an undead condition. I don’t think the book uses the word “zombie” to describe the problem. Some are more aware of their surroundings than others. The longer someone has this condition, the more of themselves they lose.

Violent Content
In one scene, a boy shoves an undead man into a lake, killing him. A boy suffers a fatal head injury while underwater. A girl stabs an undead boy through the abdomen with a pole.

Undead last longer if they eat dead humans. One undead person eats eyes off of a corpse. Later, someone eats/drinks from a cup which we understand is filled with human parts or blood.

Drug Content
One character mentions wishing she had opiates (for a medical condition.)

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