My wife is a HS librarian and "assigns" me books .... basically my summer reading list. I made it 3 pages into this book and saw "when the dead rose up and started to walk" in the prologue and realized that she didn't know anything about the book. She hates fantasy/horror/scifi and this appeared to be historical fiction to her. Typically, I get diverse books to read for HS students.

Now, all that said, this book delivered. This is an alternative history book in the vein of The Man in the High Castle. IF zombies had risen at Gettysburg, PA back in '63, then the war MIGHT have ended with a sort of concession and with combat schools for "Natives and Negros" to learn to fight off shamblers. But stick with it, it lands on a lot of the racial issues that the followed the Civil War, particularly share-cropping and organizations that were designed to "help" the newly freed slaves.

All that said, I won't suggest a book that merely does that. Jane is a self-starter and approaches EVERY situation as a half-black (her father)/ half-white (her mother) "Attendant-in-Training" who attends a Combat School that teaches her how to kill shamblers and also how to present herself to the Queen. I love hearing her take on situations that spring up. And she's a bad@$$, which I truly like.

From other ratings, I think what I liked, proper southern jargon and references to slightly changed historical events, was what they didn't. Ah well, I would continue to suggest this for 8th -12th grade students or adults that enjoy US history.