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Taking on the Dead - Annie Walls You know when you find a book that you just can't put down - a book that causes you to ignore all other things in life; kids, laundry, eating, etc. and you don't do anything but read? Taking on The Dead was one of those books for me. And even weeks after reading it, I catch myself daydreaming about what might happen next. I'm obsessing...truly.Annie Walls throws the reader head first into the downfall of Kansas' great life. The zombie infestation takes away her mother, her smart but paranoid father and the love of her life. Leaving her to survive on her own in a bleak and terrifying world. She uses the skills her father taught her and the knowledge he left behind to build a small sanctuary for herself, where she lives in relative isolation for four years. When a small group of people stumble upon her little haven, Kansas takes pity on them and in return her outlook on life and the world she thinks she knows, crumbles. With her safe house no longer safe she is thrust into a new world of horrors. Not only will she battle zombies but also, rapists, religious zealots, cannibals and people that would use her for things she really does not want to be used for.Kansas is one total bad ass, zombie-slaying chick. It has become so engrained in her that she gets excited by the mere thought of killing the infected. Yet she's lost much in the process of becoming this lean, mean killing machine.While she doesn't shy away from the monsters she encounters, she has an extremely hard time with anything remotely warm and fuzzy.Rudy enters her life by rescuing her from a zombie attack. Like Kansas, Rudy too is socially inept. Yet, the pair finds something kindred in each other and form a strange sort of solidarity. Rudy is, to put it bluntly, f*cking hot! Or as Kansas calls him 'sex on feet'. The sexual tension between the two is an ooey-gooey, sticky, sweet mess. But many things stand in the way of either of them being able to just give in to the attraction. As Kansas grapples with learning to survive in her new situation she finds she is able to trust and care again. She finds friends in a wonderful cast of unique characters. Some you love, some you hate, some you may love to hate, but all are creatively well developed.Kansas is plunged into a raw, gritty world and takes it all head on. She's a 'warrior princess', a battle maven, a little sex starved hottie and underneath it all, just a girl trying to survive.So much takes place in Taking on The Dead, there is hardly time to come up for air. Which I love in a book. Walls never gives you the want to set the book down, you are constantly in need of finding out what sort of horror or bedlam happens next. It is a non-stop ride from start to finish. Taking on The Dead is not just a smash and gash zombie book, it's a journey of learning how to truly live in a world of so much death.I could fangirl over this book for days but instead I think I will assume the position of Annie Walls' new stalker as I wait for details on Controlling The Dead, book two in The Famished Trilogy (head to the blog ginger-read.blogspot for an exclusive excerpt).