Title: Wisteria (Wisteria #1)
Author: Bisi Leyton
Release Date: August 15th 2012
Publisher: Self-published
Goodreads | Lulu | Amazon | Smashwords
Author: Bisi Leyton
Release Date: August 15th 2012
Publisher: Self-published
Goodreads | Lulu | Amazon | Smashwords
Sixteen year old Wisteria Kuti has two options—track the infected around the Isle of Smythe or leave the only known safe haven and face a world infested with flesh eating biters. But even with well-armed trackers, things go wrong and Wisteria ends up alone facing certain death, until she is rescued by the mysterious Bach. Uninfected, Bach is able to survive among the hordes of living dead.
Eighteen year old Bach, from a race known as The Family, has no interest in human affairs. He was sent here to complete his Great Walk and return home as a man—as a Sen Son. The Family regard humans as Dirt People, but Bach is drawn to this Terran girl, whom he has never seen before, but somehow knows.
It might have been another case of my skim-through-the-blurb disease, but I honestly did not know what I was getting myself into when I opened Wisteria. Now, I can say that I am pleasantly surprised.Hunted by flesh eaters, cannibals, and the mysterious blood thirsty group called Red Phoenix, Wisteria and Bach make their way back to the Isle of Smythe, a community built on secrets and lies.
Right off the bat, we learn about the danger of Wisteria's world that is crawling with flesh eaters, but she chose to be useful to her community instead of keeping herself safe inside the Isle of Smythe, and I really admired her for that. Because of her job as a tracker, she was deadly with a gun—she had a sword, too, but she kept it as a last resort—making her a badass. But even with the undead, she also had to face the usual teenage problems: unrequited love, mean girls, and insecurities. These just served to endear her even more.
The pace is quite slow at first, but it picks up when Wisteria gets into danger and is saved by Bach, a gorgeous boy who feels an eerie sense of familiarity to Wisteria the moment he sees her. Coming from a race that is somehow immune to the flesh eaters and looks down on humans, he tries to keep Wisteria at a distance, but his concern for her often gets past his cold exterior.
There are many layers to this story, from the flesh eaters to cannibals, secrets and betrayals, surprises and revelations, all happening in an excellently fleshed-out (no pun intended) post-apocalyptic world. I never found it hard to imagine or understand what was going on where and when, so there was no hindrance to the action and suspense that filled the story.
Although Wisteria's intermittent naivete and Bach's indecision irritated me, I think it just added to their roundedness as characters, making them as real as possible. And right after that big reveal as to their history, I just stormed through the pages until I got to that satisfying last one. Still, a lot of issues are left unsolved for the next book, which goes straight to my TBR list!
MY FAVORITE PART was, well, the ending XD
RATING:
Bisi Leyton's Top Ten Best Weapons Against the Living Dead
10. Crossbow, but my aim is rubbish, so I’ll have to work on it. Another downside is I will need to top up my supply of arrows and at the same time carry a lot of arrows around. The good thing about crossbows are they’re quiet and can be used to take down zombies while the shooter remains in hiding.
9. & 8. A Mace and an Ax because it sharp, silent and don’t require reloading. The challenge with these I might end up hurting myself.
7. Barbed wire. Good for keep zombie and human scavengers out of my stronghold.
6. & 5. A Golf club and Baseball bat, great of smashing things and people and when I’m totally bored play some sport.
4. A bicycle, the greatest offense is a good defense and having bike means I can get out trouble a lot quicker in a world were fuels running out and where zombies are attracted to noise. So while a bike a long won’t save the day, having it means I might be able to escape to live and fight another day.
3. A good pair of shoes, because no matter what I got to be able to run.
2. Machete.
1. A crowbar. Although it isn’t sexy, it words as a weapon to attack and defend myself. A crowbar can also serve as a key to break into buildings for supplies.
About the author:
Bisi Leyton was born in East London in 1978. She grew up in
London, Nigeria and the States, listening to the stories life and love from
aunts, cousins and big sisters.
She lives in London, but has worked around Europe
including France, Germany, Ireland, Belgium and the Czech Republic. She has a
fondness for reading graphic novels.
