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Zombies vs. Unicorns
432 pages
A delightfully chaotic, tongue-in-cheek battle of tropes that pits the sparkly against the rotting.
What it feels like
Reading this anthology feels like sitting in on a wildly entertaining, late-night debate between your favorite authors. The experience is inherently chaotic and brisk, bouncing rapidly between the glittering, sometimes-sinister allure of unicorns and the rotting, relentless march of zombies. Because it is a collection, the emotional texture shifts with every chapter—one moment you are laughing at a wry, satirical take on teenage angst, and the next you are immersed in a surprisingly poignant, dread-soaked horror story. The connective tissue is a sense of playful irreverence and campy fun. It is a perfect, bite-sized feast for readers who love seeing familiar fantasy tropes turned inside out, offering a delightfully weird ride that never takes itself too seriously.
- Mood
- campy
- chaotic
- darkly whimsical
- energetic
- Tone
- playful
- irreverent
- satirical
- macabre
- wry
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- subverting tropes · friendly rivalry · the grotesque vs. the beautiful · monster mythology
- The writing
- Because it is an anthology, the prose shifts from snappy and sarcastic to lyrical and atmospheric, anchored by a shared sense of voice-driven fun.
- The arc
- The reader bounces between laugh-out-loud absurdity and surprising moments of dark poignancy, riding a rollercoaster of shifting genres.
- Who it's for
- Readers who love tongue-in-cheek genre mashups and delight in seeing their favorite YA authors playfully subvert classic monster tropes.
Content notes
- gore
- body horror
- fantasy violence
- death
About the book
It's a question as old as time itself: which is better, the zombie or the unicorn? In this anthology, edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier (unicorn and zombie, respectively), strong arguments are made for both sides in the form of short stories. Half of the stories portray the strengths--for good and evil--of unicorns and half show the good (and really, really bad-ass) side of zombies. Contributors include many bestselling teen authors, including Cassandra Clare, Libba Bray, Maureen Johnson, Meg Cabot, Scott Westerfeld, and Margo Lanagan. This anthology will have everyone asking: Team Zombie or Team Unicorn?
Description from Open Library.
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