Book review: The Enemy by Charlie Higson

Reading level: Young Adult

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion Book CH; 1 edition 
• (May 11, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1423131754
• Buy the book: Amazon
• Visit the site: The Enemy

Grade 7 Up. In this dystopian thriller set in London, everyone over 16 is dead or diseased, and youngsters are in constant danger of being eaten by boil-infested grown-ups who roam the streets like zombies looking for children to kill. Led by teens Arran and Maxie and armed with makeshift weapons, a group of kids sets out from the uncertain safety of an abandoned supermarket to travel to Buckingham Palace, where a young messenger promises that food, medicine, and a haven are available. Along the way, Arran is killed. One youngster selfishly decides to stay behind with a secret stash of food and is there to tell Small Sam, who had been abducted and feared dead, where the others (including his sister) have headed. Sam's quest to find Ella parallels the story of the large group with similar run-ins with marauding adults and mistrustful children who scavenge about the city. The bleak setting is filled with decay, danger, and puss-oozing parents who have turned into butchers. On arriving at Buckingham Palace, Maxie decides that David, the teen leader there, is too tyrannical, and she must regain control of her brood and convince them to leave for a new location. The last chapter squelches any real hope for the future and will leave readers somewhat haunted and chilled about the doomsday scenario. Descriptive and suspenseful, this title is similar to but less imaginative than Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking series.

My review:

This book has been sitting on my bookshelf since last Spring.

I feel like a complete idiot.

I absolutely LOVED this book.

Without a doubt my favorite book of 2011 so far.

Seriously my mind is blown.

This book was crazy.

I have never read a book that has kept me up at because it freaked me out so much.

I usually don't get freaked out easily, but The Enemy was definitely freaky.

Not to mention gross, whatever you do, don't read this book while eating.

I made that mistake and couldn't finish my food.

But I have one problem with this book...

I cannot decide which character I loved more.

There are three characters that I absolutely loved.

I loved Maxie because her character is crazy tough 

and yet it stills shows you that she has her girl moments,

But then she freaking means business when there is crap to be dealt with.

I loved Small Sam because,

1. He was just so darn cute.

2. He is only nine, and he accomplished things that I could never do.

3. The chapters from his point of view were my favorite.

And since he is nine, I always imagined my little brother Adrien as Sam.

Which to me, made it a lot more stressful when Sam was in a tough situation,

with you know, getting away from flesh-eating-diseased-parents.

   And lastly, I loved Blue.

Even though he didn't come in until about half-way through the book,

I fell in love with him. He was just such great guy,

he was really quite, but he kicked some serious zombie butt when needed.

So, if super gory details of kids killing grown-ups doesn't bother you,

then you MUST (seriously must) read The Enemy.

I am actually thinking about reading it again, but I have a pretty large pile in 

my room of books that I need to read already.

But that is the only thing stopping me.

I absolutely cannot wait until the second comes out.

When I finished The Enemy, I closed the book and said,

"You've got to be freaking kidding me. I need the second one RIGHT NOW!"

And since then I have not been able to think about anything but The Enemy.

Just you know what, stop reading this review, and go to the nearest bookstore,

and buy The Enemy. The rest of my review doesn't even matter anymore. 

You got the point that it's amazing, so that's all you need to know. (: