Fatal (The Dead Of Asher, #1)
by T.A. Brock
Genre: Young Adult Paranormal
Published: February 14th 2013
Source: copy from author for tour
GoodReads / Author's website

Zombies eat brains: wrong. Zombies are mindless and unthinking: nope. Zombies are rotting bags of flesh: not necessarily. Zombies kill humans: never... well, there is that one exception. 

Grayson Patch hasn’t been human since he was seventeen years old… and that was nineteen years ago. When he rose from the dead that night, a Zombie, he had no memory of his former life, a craving for raw flesh, and only one purpose: to find a cure. He wishes only to be human again and he is promised that it is possible. But first he must find the human that can help him before he begins to decompose… and trade her life for his. As he learns more about her, he just doesn't know if he can do it. Can he? When the cost of being human again is to become a monster?

Fatal took a different approach toward zombies. The main character of Fatal, Grayson, doesn't eat human brains and lists raw beef as his favorite snack instead. Gallons of water keep his dead body from falling apart and he won't infect anyone until he reaches the age of restoration, which is still years away for him, but he still  hates himself. He hates the fact that he is a zombie and can't wait til the day he meets his Save- the one person who can cure him of his 'disease'. When that day finally came, he was underwhelmed and enraged. The girl who was meant to save him from the hell he was living, Cori Abbott, turned out to be a short, weak, and spineless shrimp of a girl. How the hell could she save him?

Grayson soon found out the answer to that question. Yes, Cori was weak in a physical sense, but she was brave and definitely not spineless. She was good and pure and made him feel somehow alive. I was unsurprised when the two ended up reluctantly falling for each other. Fatal had a diverse set of characters. Grayson is the loner type and keeps to himself mostly because of his hatred towards what he is, and Cori is used to faking smiles but she sees the kindness in everyone. Sometimes her reactions toward things felt too childish and her niceness was a bit overplayed at times to the point where it seemed unrealistic and it got on my nerves. Cori finds friendship in Peg, a regular girl who won't take crap from anyone, and a cute geek named Rex who reads people easily and is a realist. I would say that I would act like Rex when faced with the same situations.

Fatal had pretty solid world building and T.A. Brock brought a lot of fixtures in Grayson's world that I easily ate up. Grayson lives with a zombie tribe that consists of Leiv, the brother figure in Grayson's life, and Raina- a zombie who enjoys average girly activites like shopping and not-so average girly activities like sparring with her 'brothers'. Aside from zombies, the book also introduces us to wise oracles who guide the zombies towards their Save and brave Reapers like Aiken. Reapers are noble zombies who keep zombies from hurting humans. T.A. Brock gave me a lot of reasons to believe and enjoy this world filled with zombies who were different from what I was used to.

This was your classic young adult paranormal story that balances romance and high school life with the paranormal aspects, but I felt like it tipped in favor of the romance more. The story focused mainly on Grayson and Cori's love story, and the paranormal aspects were kept on the sidelines. I enjoyed the world that T.A. Brock created, but I felt like the dialogue was inconsistent- it was interesting at times but suddenly became dry and forced the next. The pacing was choppy and I had a rough time transitioning between chapters and events. T.A. Brock's writing was easy and didn't dwell too much on fancy words, and I was perfectly okay with that.

Fatal had likable characters, impressive world building, and a twist that I didn't see coming. It also easily set the stage for the upcoming second book. If you're looking for a young adult paranormal story with a heavy does of romance, Fatal is the book for you.



T.A. Brock lives in Oklahoma, where Zombies do not thrive. When not immersed in the world of fantasy writing, she enjoys spending time with her big girl, baby boy, and hubs. Some of her favorite things are coffee (specifically with cream, sugar, and chocolate), music (especially something with a good beat), books (especially paranormal), and Tennis. She despises raw meat and therefore is exceedingly glad she’s human.