There are 'Breakfast Club' moments where the teens bond as they linger in the school, hoping for rescue, but the infighting is wearing them down. One of the underlying themes is the loss of family, their coping, and whether or not the survivors create their own. Grace's twin, Trace, blames one of the others for the death of their parents. Grace starts to represent the lost Lily to Sloane, and watching Grace and her brother interact resurrects the ghost of the relationship she had with Lily. Sloane is clearly conflicted between her safe lassitude and the emotions of loss and anger threatening to leak out. Tension starts going LotF direction when another survivor joins the group. I felt the book took a more negative quality turn with the contrivance of the text message. At athat point, it's clear frantic emotion will win out over logic. And I have to say that I felt the ending too ambiguous for my tastes. I don't particular like first person narrative but this? This was the kind that I adore: simple yet eloquent. I could read and read more of this without getting bored. I shouldn’t be. Why should I? They’re just zombies. But the truth is, I was terrified! How did the author manage to do that???

In depicting her vision of the zombie apocalypse, Summers uses restraint to masterful effect. The horror of the undead is rendered more powerful by the suggestion of their presence, like the sound of them hammering against doors in their hunger, as opposed to always placing them in the limelight. Similarly, by barricading six teenagers into a school, it’s the constant fear of a breach that stretches the nerves to breaking point, rather than an endless gore-fest. Which is not to say that This Is Not A Test doesn’t contain disturbing images of violence or pay homage to the genre of zombie horror – it does – but the effectiveness is amplified by the enormous amount of tension that has been wound up in the plot. On the one hand, I just want to praise it, recommend it, tell you it's amazing and give it 5 stars. I had a hard time liking the characters. These were all high school kids, hiding out in a high school, still playing high school games. I kept waiting for them to toughen up, to harden from what has happened to them, but it just didn't happen. Plus? The zombie action was quite minimal for my liking. I was exhausted when I finished This Is Not A Test. I felt mentally, emotionally, physically (because I stayed up so late to read it) wrung out – and the haunting final scene of the book lingered with me days afterwards. the thing no one tells you about surviving, about the mere act of holding out, is how many hours are nothing because nothing happens.they also don't tell you about how you can share your deepest secrets with someone, kiss them, and the next hour it's like there's nothing between you because not everything can mean something all the time or you'd be crushed under the weight of it. they don't tell you how you will float through days. you autopilot, here but not really here, sleepwalking, and then every so often you are awake.This is not a test had the best opening scene that I have ever come across; what a way to get thrown into a book. It opens in a depressing scene of Sloane dealing with her dad after the aftermath of a brutal beating. Out of nowhere they hear someone pounding on their door screaming for help, Sloane’s dad grudgingly goes out to investigate, they discover that their entire street is in uproar, they’re surrounded by the sound of people screaming and rushing by, sirens wailing. A woman covered in blood approaches their house, her dad slams the door in her face but she smashes her way in, trapping them inside... Oh how I enjoyed being thrown into the middle of the chaos from the get go, it was seriously nail biting stuff. I owe a huge thanks to Courtney Summers for giving me a second chance to read and review this after my netgalley rejection. It made my day and I'm so glad This Is Not a Test was all that I'd hoped it would be.

With half a dozen teenagers in a life or death situation, there is no absence of angst. However, it's not aggravating, it's realism. It was written with such authenticity that you never feel annoyance, only distress. These are not just surface characters, either. This is a gang of teenagers who are experiencing the end of the world; who have lost everyone they ever knew and loved; who just want to make it through to the next day without killing each other - or dying at the hands of the zombies. We get to know these characters to the core, exposed. We see them at their most vulnerable. It's all so raw that you get to care deeply for these people. Even when you're not reading, you're constantly worrying about them; it's mentally exhausting, but truly captivating. These personalities who often clash have to learn to work together if they want to come out of this alive. It's sad, it's heartbreaking, and there's a constant sense of doom in the air. One positive vibe throughout, though, is the hope. These kids make the best of what they have, and you always feel like somehow, things will work out. i am caked in mud and my hair is straggly and knotted from the rain. my lips are bruised. there are cuts and scratches on me that i must have gotten since leaving the school but i don't remember how. she won't recognize me when she sees me. i look like someone who has survived. Recommended: Definitely for an engrossing, addictive, original read, This Is Not A Test is the book you’re looking for. Also, if you’re already a Summers’ fan, you’ll like the narration and barren/harsh/hurting Summers-style protag. A bright, innovative board book that will get children thinking ... Perfect for developing kids' imaginations and cultivating a lifelong love of reading."– The Sun THIS BOOK. The title just kept passing through my head - THIS IS NOT A TEST. Too [blank]ing right it's not! She really pulled out all the stops I think. Her best.This isn't a typical zombie book. Let me say that first. Don't write this off because of the zombie-book think, or the dystopia thing. And don't add it because you like zombie books, either. I don't think I'd class this as a dystopia. The premise seemed familiar – the zombie apocalypse began a week ago, leaving a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal six students no choice but to work together in hopes of surviving the danger that potentially lurks around every corner of their former high school where they are holed up . . . I've split this into two sections, one for each strong aspect of the book. Let me know if you prefer this or my normal style!!