THE SPLIT - Gigi Nally

Kota feels fortunate to have a job driving supplies across zombie-infested South Carolina. Everyone contributes to the common good and everyone shares equally.  Not like the chaos on the other side of the wall. That's why 'the Split' - those who care about everyone, like on Kota's side, and those who only look out for themselves, like on the other side. Sharing equally is helpful because has her little sister to look out for.

But once in awhile those searching for food and supplies run into zombies and on occasion they'll run into people from the other side of the Split - even though everyone is supposed to stay in their own zone. This is how Kota comes to be captured and taken to the 'wrong' side. 

These people aren't the self-absorbed villains she was led to believe they were.  Even in captivity she's allowed a lot of freedom. She stays - more as a guest than a prisoner - with the handsome Jasper. She can't help developing feelings for him, and he seems to have feelings for her, despite not trusting her. He's hoping that will discover what's really happening on her side of the wall, but he understands that she needs to discover it for herself.

Kota does discover that her 'idyllic' life on her side of the Split is built on lies, but she can't just turn her back on it - not when her sister is still there.

I quite enjoyed this YA read.  It definitely has all the YA hallmarks of angst and pathos, a teen without parents present, care for a sibling, and a good-looking other person that our main character wants to hate. It's almost perfectly formulaic in this sense.  But author Gigi Nally tosses in the dystopian setting, complete with the undead, and gives us an exciting adventure.

There's a nice setup with Kota being well established and we get to understand our world nicely. Once introduced, Jasper is also well-defined and we sense the tension between the two immediately.

Some of the other characters are less clear. We don't need to have a lot of detail about them, but it would have been nice to get something more for the secondary characters at least.  Kota's sister, around whom everything seems to rotate for Kota, is generally a blank slate until she's needed.

There's a moment, about a third of the way into the book, after our characters and setting are established but before the actual action begins that slows the reading down, but it picks back up and ramps up toward the end.

All in all, a fun read and something that YA readers will devour.

Looking for a good book? The Split by Gigi Nally is a dystopian YA book with romance and zombies. What more could a reader want? 

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

4 stars

* * * * * *

The Split

author: Gigi Nally

publisher: Gill Publishing

ISBN: 9798994092002 

Kindle Edition, 374 pages

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