Thursday, December 30, 2010

Audio Book Review: Zombies Vs Unicorns by Justine Larbalestier and Holly Black



My track record with audio books is not very good. I fell asleep while listening to Hamlet in the car in my college years (bad because I was driving) and I fell asleep in the bathtub while listening to All The Pretty Horses (despite Brad Pitt’s narration – or maybe because of it?). In any case, I did want to give audio another try, and short stories seemed like just the thing. And it did work out well. I listened to some in the car and others while cleaning or doing menial tasks.

Justine and Holly are fun to listen to as they make their cases for their respective teams. And though I didn’t expect to side with team unicorn, standout unicorn stories from Diana Peterfreund (The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Unicorn), Meg Cabot (Princess Prettypants) and Garth Nix (The Highest Justice) slightly edged out the count of standout zombie stories from Alaya Dawn Johnson (Love Will Tear Us Apart) and Carrie Ryan (Bougainvillea). I’ll consider it my first audio book success!


Find out more about Zombies Vs Unicorns on the official website!

11 comments:

Melissa (i swim for oceans) said...

I'm like you...audio books = sleep for me haha I'll have to give this a go if you managed to enjoy it though! Thanks, Lenore! :)

Zibilee said...

This sounds like fun, and I would totally go for the zombies...unless, of course, the unicorns were too awesome to deny!!

Beth S. said...

I have yet to understand the draw of this book. How did zombies and unicorns even get lumped together in the first place? I've never been fond of either so I've been hesitant to pick this one up.

Sandy Nawrot said...

I'm an audio addict, so this caught my eye! I think you've got the key to audios though. You have to be doing something. The moment you just sit down in a chair to listen you will fall asleep. It makes cleaning the house a much anticipated event each week for me!

Trisha said...

I like the idea of short stories on audio. I'm not an audio fan at all since I read so much faster than people speak, but I can see listening to a short story while cooking or something.

Shweta said...

Yeah for the audiobook success. I have had my share of success with audiobooks and then quiet a few were total disasters.

Zombie vs Unicorn on audio must have been really good. Will try to get this one.

Melissa said...

I can't get into audio books usually either. The issue is that I've been so trained to be an active listener in school that I really can't do anything else while listening to a book. I miss so much and am constantly having to to move back to an earlier part of the chapter.

I commend anyone who is able to read and enjoy them. :)

LM Preston said...

Since I know longer have a long commute I don't do audio books anymore. When I did do them, I didn't fall asleep (which is cute by the way. I wonder if that worked when you were a kid - being read to put you to sleep.) I think though it's cool to have a chapter or two audible of a new book to try out while shopping.

Staci said...

My son and I both want to read this one!!

Jeanne said...

Go Team Unicorn! I think readers will tend to prefer the unicorn stories because they play off of previous literary conventions.

Unknown said...

Gosh, I LOVE audio books! My husband and I drive back and forth between MI and MD pretty often and audio books are our saving grace. I have the print version of Zombies vs. Unicorns on hold at the library, but now you've got me interested in the audio version!