This Is Not a Test [Paperback]

Courtney Summers (Author)

Book Description

Release date: June 19, 2012

It’s the end of the world. Six students have taken cover in Cortege High but shelter is little comfort when the dead outside won’t stop pounding on the doors. One bite is all it takes to kill a person and bring them back as a monstrous version of their former self. To Sloane Price, that doesn’t sound so bad. Six months ago, her world collapsed and since then, she’s failed to find a reason to keep going. Now seems like the perfect time to give up. As Sloane eagerly waits for the barricades to fall, she’s forced to witness the apocalypse through the eyes of five people who actually want to live. But as the days crawl by, the motivations for survival change in startling ways and soon the group’s fate is determined less and less by what’s happening outside and more and more by the unpredictable and violent bids for life—and death—inside. When everything is gone, what do you hold on to?

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Gr 10 Up-Sloane Price has been raised by an abusive father, and her life is a living nightmare. Her only silver lining is her older sister, her protector and her main source of strength. But Lily runs away, abandoning Sloane and leaving her to deal with the consequences. The past six months of torment have left the teen a shell of her former self and destroyed her will to live. When the zombie apocalypse strikes, she flees one life of horror in exchange for another. Rescued by a group of teenagers, Sloane and company painstakingly make their way across town, finding refuge inside Cortege High School. Huddled behind barricades, the group tries to make sense of the madness outside while grieving for their loved ones-all while hearing the constant thump, thump of the zombies at the doors. This Is Not a Test is a riveting and powerful novel that unfolds through the brutal first-person narrative of Sloane, a broken teen who in many ways is already dead. As the story evolves, the relationships among the characters intensify as they are pushed to the brink of humanity. Summers's brilliant writing has readers confronting their own fears while witnessing what happens to good people when forced to make ruthless decisions in a senseless world. This fascinating and haunting story with sophisticated content and themes will stay with readers long after they finish the last page.-Donna Rosenblum, Floral Park Memorial High School, NYα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Review

"This Is Not a Test is both sexy and desolate, and it will blast a hole through your heart, yet somehow start to stitch it back together again"—Daisy Whitney, author of The Mockingbirds and The Rivals

"Courtney Summers is a ferocious talent in YA fiction. This Is Not a Test brought me to tears, caused me to gasp in shock in public places, and almost put a stop to my heart . . . Summers' voice is raw with emotion, and utterly right for the impending zombie apocalypse."—Nova Ren Suma, author of Imaginary Girls

"[Courtney Summers] blends all the perfection and simplicity that defines her writing so well with this added paranormal element for a snappy, exciting story I just couldn't stop reading, and then I got to the very end and realized that it was about so much more than just making it out alive."—Julie Cross, author of Tempest

"Intriguing.... It takes some artistic guts to set a portrayal of a suicidal teenager amid attacking zombies, but Summers has a history of risky choices.... Unusual and absorbing."—Kirkus

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (June 19, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312656742
• ISBN-13: 978-0312656744
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (166 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #151,530 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Courtney Summers lives and writes in Canada. She is the author of CRACKED UP TO BE, SOME GIRLS ARE, FALL FOR ANYTHING and THIS IS NOT A TEST.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Raw and Emotional June 25, 2012

By Nikki Wang

Format:Paperback

*Complimentary copy provided. This does NOT affect my review in any way.*

What happens when the girl who never wanted to keep going ends up being one of the only to survive?

This book just blew me away. The prose was absolutely wonderful, the book well-written, the plot shocking, and the characters are complex, each with their own ups and downs. I'll admit, I was worried that witht he zombies, I wouldn't like it, much less love it. I've never liked zombies so I was a bit nervous to start this book. And yet, I still dove head-first in this awesome book. This has been said so many times (About a gazillion), but zombies were not a major part of This is Not a Test. I repeat, they were not a major part of Thisis Not a Test. Another worry: They were locked in a school? How was Courtney Summers going to write a 300 page story in the same exact setting? I didn't know, I thought it was impossible. But somehow she did it and not only did she accomplish it, she made it into one of my favorite books of 2012!

Let's talk about the creep factor: I was reading This is Not a Test at night, despite many warnings not to, and had reached a part where the zombies come a-knocking. And....my door creaked open. That was the part where I put the book down and turned out the lights. The writing is intense, to say the least. After all, we have 6 teenagers who are desperate to stay alive after everyone and everything they loved have gone up in smoke (figuratively, of course.) No matter how annoying the characters become, you can't help but forgive them for each stupid thing. They just felt so real, so sad, and so...ugh. Tehre are no words for how amazing these characters are, despite their shortcomings.

Summary: This story was just so raw and I found myself on the edge of tears at times. Sloane had no idea who to follow, who to trust, or what to do. She made her own decisions, but almsot never felt like they were right. This is Not a Test has an ending as captivating as the beginning and a finish line so startling, I desperately hope there's a sequel. This book will leave you wanting more and will stay with you for days after you've finished, if not weeks.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Dark and brooding with a touch of the Lord of the Flies June 19, 2012

By Christina (Ensconced in YA) TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book has been touted as one of the big YA blockbusters of the summer, so I have been waiting eagerly for it to come out.

Good zombie YA fiction is hard to come by. This Is Not a Test by Courtney Summers is an attempt to rectify that fact. We are introduced to Sloane, the protagonist, who has been beaten repeatedly by her father and is completely emotionally dependent on her sister Lily, who has just run away and has left Sloane behind. Sloane is about to commit suicide when the infection takes hold of the rest of the town, converting everyone into zombies, except a select few teenagers who have holed up in their high school. What follows is a combination of a horror movie and Lord of the Flies. The teens have to make hard decisions and try to stay alive.

There are a lot of wonderful things about this book. The tone is dark and depressing, and it should be. I'm still thinking about what happened in the book. There are strong supporting characters and Summers is not afraid to kill off characters. How the future unfolds is not out of the realm of possibility in a zombie apocalypse. And how things deteriorate inside of the school is also very believable.

I wonder at the decision to make Sloane the protagonist. It's an interesting choice, because during the whole book she is trying to find ways to commit suicide, and yet, she still remains alive even though many other people succumb to the virus. She seems to drift through the book like a ghost. I try to imagine if another character had been the main one-- the idea that there is a suicidal person surviving in an end of world situation is interesting, but one that doesn't maintain interest throughout a whole novel. The twist at the end is the likely scenario and not surprising, but the end is chilling and still stays with me.

Overall, a dark, brooding, and suspenseful book and entertaining to read, but a different choice of protagonist may have been a better decision.

Ensconced in YA Blog: cahreviews.blogspot.com

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This is Not a Test May 2, 2012

By Jessie Potts TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I was so-so about This is Not a Test when I read the description in the Vine program. I love zombies, but could do without the suicidal girl dealing with wanting to die, and being around people who want to live. Turns out this was so much more.

Sloane's father beat her and her sister. Methodically and aggressively. Lily (older sister) and Sloane talk about leaving. They save money, they dream of a home without their father, and more importantly... with each other. Sloane's world comes crashing down when she wakes one day to find a note from Lilly 'I'm sorry I can't do this anymore', and Lily gone. She wants to die now but doesn't know how, Lily took her sleeping pills with her and Sloane can't cut herself. It seems though that the apocalypse tears apart broken homes as well as happy ones. Zombies start rising and Slone's world continues to crash.

Fast forward a week later and Sloane is in the company of other teens who are hiding out in their high school. The zombies are relentless and tempers come to a boil. Sloane just wants to die though, maybe heroically, maybe quietly, but she has wanted to die since she read Lily's note. But the other teens are survivors and Sloane finds herself being pulled along, until she starts quietly caring for someone else... another boy Rhys.

Tragedy strikes the group again and again, and the author throws twists at readers mercilessly. Good people who do bad things. Good people who sacrifice one person for the group, wimpy people who die saving others, the list goes on and on, until the readers are left contemplating human nature and the necessity of evil.

The end of the book left me feeling like I did when I finished The Forest of Hands and Teeth... at the end of the journey is this it? Was the cost worth the sacrifices? What's left?