The Altered

By: Maria DeVivo

Narrated by: Zane Boyer

Griffin King is an ordinary high school senior dealing with typical teenage issues—a bratty little sister, overbearing parents, an obnoxious best friend, and the unrequited love of his long-time crush. But when a virus suddenly infects a large portion of the population, Griffin soon finds himself on the opposite side of the proverbial horror story.

After months of roaming the broken landscape of the city as an infected person, a cure is found and a mass injection of antiserum is administered to the diseased, causing Griffin to become one of the Altered, a small group of "ex-infecteds" who have been cured, but changed. Now he must learn how to start his life anew—suppressing his need to consume human flesh, and living among an angry post-apocalyptic society where race, gender, and religion don’t matter anymore. Welcome to the new world. A world where people like him—people altered like him—are the minority.

©2020 Maria DeVivo (P)2024 Maria DeVivo

I love me a twist on zombie stories

This reminds me a little of some of the newer zombie takes where the actual zombies are turned back to human or "cured" but this take kind of reminds me of Warm Bodies (the book not the movie) but minus the romance; where you're actually in the zombie's head. Its an interesting perspective. You go from a teen boys' typical angst, to a teen boy thrust into a zombie apocalypse in survival mode, to becoming a zombie, to a cured former zombie and the PTSD he has to cope with and becoming a lab rat. I really liked it and was actually looking for a book 2.

Teenage Zombie Angst

Griff is in for a tough time; as a teenager, a zombie, and an "altered." The zombie cure killed most but not all, including our protagonist. The altereds are in for even worse treatment than the zombies, and this is a sad tale. Told from the POV of Griff, you'll need to remember what it was like to be an angsty teen to really enjoy it.

We enjoyed this so much!

This was such an easy & enjoyable read. The author’s words paint a world you can see, feel and hear. Every event and conversation contributes to the journey. Dialogue is realistic, internal conflict is relatable, and it’s easy to connect with the characters through a fresh take on a ‘what if’ crisis.

I was supposed to read this at the same pace as my early teenage daughter, but I didn’t put it down once I started. She’s now rushing to catch up and it’s been fun almost gossiping about it together - “can you believe__?”, “Did you get to ___ part yet?”, “I wish so & so made it.”

(Bonus was when I found out there is a book 2 because I’m not ready to leave the story!)