Brunswick County Library Teen Reviews

Hearts Still Beating

Brooke Archer

Review by: Brunswick County Library

Genre: Dystopian

What is it about?

"Hearts Still Beating" by Brooke Archer depicts a future world in which a zombie virus nicknamed “The Tick” has ravaged the globe, leaving behind scattered pockets of survivors to rebuild society. Several years after the initial infection, scientists discover a treatment for the virus that allows the infected to retake control of their bodies. Now referred to as “The Altered,” the infected are slowly being reintegrated into society—but not all of the survivors are thrilled with this idea. “Hearts Still Beating” follows the story of one of the Altered as she attempts to rejoin the world in the face of opposition from both the living and the undead.

Who are the main characters? Tell us about them.

The main characters are Mara Knight and Rory Blake. Mara is an Altered, an infected person who was brought back from being a mindless zombie. Before she was infected, she was described as intelligent and musically gifted; now, she is struggling to reconcile who she used to be with her new undead self. She is reintegrating into society through the Blake family. Rory Blake is the oldest child of the Blake family. Against the odds, her family survived the initial outbreak and joined an island society that banded together against the zombie hordes. Rory is brave and strong-willed, but her abrasive attitude often gets her into difficult situations.

Does this remind you of anything else you have read, watched, or listened to?

The zombie infection reminds me of the infection in the TV series The Walking Dead.

What originally made you interested in this media?

I read the synopsis for this book on GoodReads, and the zombie virus element intrigued me. I also appreciated the LGBTQ representation, as it is sometimes difficult to find within the dystopian YA genre.

Did you like this media? Would you recommend it to others? Why or why not?

I enjoyed this book a lot and would recommend it to other people! The science behind the virus was interesting, and the plot kept my attention. The only reason I would deduct a star from this novel is that the narration can be confusing—it is told from both Rory and Mara’s perspectives, but oftentimes, their point-of-views sound too similar to differentiate.

What type of person might you recommend this to?

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a zombie plot, such as fans of The Walking Dead and The Last of Us.

Do you have any final thoughts you would like to include?

As a final thought, I appreciated the message that people don't have to be infected with a monster virus to do monstrous things--in the face of hardships, we sometimes forget our humanity without the help of a virus like the Tick eating at our brains!