Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews (Thu Apr 28 00:00:00 CDT 2022)

A genderqueer zombie and a lesbian werewolf resist a corrupt government that wants to incinerate them in this debut novel by Schrieve.Any day now, Z, a white, 14-year-old zombie, might fall apart without the intervention of illegal necromancy to hold them together. Their whole family died in a car crash that should have killed them too. In their anti-monster small town of Salem, Oregon, Z's only allies are their caretaker, Mrs. Dunnigan, an aging, brown-skinned lesbian whose health is failing, and Aysel Tahir, a fat, Turkish-American lesbian who faces life-threatening danger if anyone discovers she's an unregistered werewolf. When a murder and accusations of werewolf terrorism shine a national spotlight on their town, Z and Aysel stand together to survive. Set in 1997, this darkly humored fantasy explores censorship, government surveillance, homelessness, and real-world (not just magical) forms of oppression. Chapters alternate between Aysel's and Z's points of view, winding their individual conflicts together. While classmates bully Aysel for her fatness, she owns her size and it makes her powerful. Schrieve depicts diversity among the queer and trans characters, highlighting how economic and racial privilege make the concerns of middle-aged, rich, white trans women different from those of a young, trans woman of color without access to medical care. Tension burns hot until the explosive conclusion, which begs for a sequel.On fire with magic and revolution. (Fantasy. 14-adult)

ALA Booklist (Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 CST 2019)

Z Chilworth, a genderqueer teen who has cheated death after a car crash killed their whole family, moves in with an old witch and tries to resume a normal life at school. But when a therapist known for his work in illegal werewolf conversion treatment (electroshock therapy) ends up dead and Z continues to decay, people throughout Salem become more suspicious and fearful than ever, causing some to take matters into their own hands. Z has to team up with other misfit monsters, such as Aysel and Elaine, both undocumented werewolves, and Tommy, a young man with magical abilities, to prove their innocence, or if all else fails, to escape from Salem alive. Although a few story threads are left unresolved and some elements of fat-shaming creep in, the narrative serves as an apt metaphor for current real-world debates around immigration and gender- and sexual-identity politics. Schrieve's debut novel serves up a lot of food for thought about otherness, diversity, and even police brutality, against the backdrop of a fast-paced urban fantasy thriller.

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

A genderqueer zombie and a lesbian werewolf resist a corrupt government that wants to incinerate them in this debut novel by Schrieve.Any day now, Z, a white, 14-year-old zombie, might fall apart without the intervention of illegal necromancy to hold them together. Their whole family died in a car crash that should have killed them too. In their anti-monster small town of Salem, Oregon, Z's only allies are their caretaker, Mrs. Dunnigan, an aging, brown-skinned lesbian whose health is failing, and Aysel Tahir, a fat, Turkish-American lesbian who faces life-threatening danger if anyone discovers she's an unregistered werewolf. When a murder and accusations of werewolf terrorism shine a national spotlight on their town, Z and Aysel stand together to survive. Set in 1997, this darkly humored fantasy explores censorship, government surveillance, homelessness, and real-world (not just magical) forms of oppression. Chapters alternate between Aysel's and Z's points of view, winding their individual conflicts together. While classmates bully Aysel for her fatness, she owns her size and it makes her powerful. Schrieve depicts diversity among the queer and trans characters, highlighting how economic and racial privilege make the concerns of middle-aged, rich, white trans women different from those of a young, trans woman of color without access to medical care. Tension burns hot until the explosive conclusion, which begs for a sequel.On fire with magic and revolution. (Fantasy. 14-adult)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Debut author Schrieve stuns with this tale set in a 1997 Salem, Ore., where the authorities control magic and the monsters are emphatically not the LGBTQ zombie and werewolf protagonists. Z, 14, had just begun to acknowledge their genderqueer identity when their entire family is killed in a car accident. Now a zombie without a custodian, Z faces slow degeneration and-until a widowed lesbian bookstore owner offers guardianship-the prospect of incineration. Z-s bullied classmate, Turkish Muslim Aysel Tahir, hasn-t come out as gay and lives secretly as an unregistered werewolf. Anti-monster sentiments across Salem reaches a fever pitch as a mysterious murder is pinned on werewolves; both students, fearing for their safety, must rely on trusted teacher and sorcerer Mr. Weber, a group of conflicted young adult werewolves, and fellow student Tommy, who has secrets of his own. Shrieve conjures intricate magic vital to the plot, pushes the book-s leads to grow amid the book-s ratcheting tension, and provides incisive social commentary via monster-tale tropes. Any reader who has felt it necessary to hide their true identity will find strong characters to connect with in this fun, powerful story. Ages 12-up. (Mar.)

School Library Journal (Mon Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2019)

Gr 9 Up-After the car accident that killed their family, genderqueer 14-year-old Z Chilworth is left a zombie. Becoming undead in the city of Salem, OR, in the 1990s pushes Z into a world of monsters, magic, and prejudice that they had not given much thought to before, despite being a talented witch before their death and rebirth. Among openly hostile classmates and teachers, unreliable guardians, and an abusive police force with deep hatred for monsters, Z wonders how they will spend what is left of their unnaturally extended life, which, by all accounts, won't last much more than a year. But when they become friends with Aysel, an unregistered werewolf, and Tommy, an unregistered shape-shifter, Z starts to feel like there might be people worth fighting forand standing withafter all. In this urban fantasy debut, Schrieve layers magical prejudices and very real hatred to make a powerful statement about sexuality, identity, and discrimination. With gritty humor and an extensive cast of characters, this story weaves together multiple threads to craft a rich, complicated near-past where being different might be a death sentence. Despite the grittiness of Schrieve's world, the message of the novel is still one of hope: at its core, the story is "about loving someone, and seeing them as part of your family." And, as one character tells Z, "some people have the capacity to see different people as part of their family and some don't." VERDICT Purchase where urban fantasy is in high demand. Jen McConnel, Queen's University, Ont.