Synposis
There are three kinds of people in the world: those who are alive, those who are undead, and those who can see the undead. Honor Rochester found out she’s one of the three, and it’s not the one she would prefer to be. She can accept her fate and live as is decided for her. Or not live at all.
Review
What an amazing world Lindy Zart creates in the first book in the Anything But… series, Ordinary. While reading, I was transported to a familiar, small town life following Honor Rochester as she finishes up high school. However, her world is rocked and nothing is as it seems. Nothing could have prepared her for the insane truth about what she has been living with, every day. The world seems normal, as you and I know it to be, and yet there are different people walking around. Different meaning undead. Not exactly zombies, actually closer to super heroes. Men and women who have had their DNA altered by a virus in such a way that they no longer are human. However, they aren’t technically dead either.
Through some heart wrenching series of events, Honor discovers that she is a UDK, or an undead keeper. Meaning she can see the people that are undead, and she is meant to keep them in line; watch over them.
Honor is a natural fighter. She is strong, strong willed, she stands up for those that can’t take care of themselves, she pushes aside her emotions to assess situations for the better. She is an extraordinary person. She is eighteen, yet she seems wise beyond her years. She has a strong moral compass that is tested regularly. The people that she encounters naturally see her as good, as strong, and as almost angelic. She is beautiful, small, yet fierce.
She is such a beautiful heroine.
Ryder Delegrave has been assigned to keep an eye on Honor. He has known her for two years and has used that time to slowly get under her skin. He likes to taunt her with his good looks and never ending charm. He holds many secrets and you can tell that Honor actually, truly does mean something to him, even if he doesn’t admit as much. According to Honor, he lives to torment her. She can’t get a read on him and this frustrates her.
Christian Turner is a boy that Honor has known practically her whole life. He is strong, and fit, and a little on the quiet side. He is a writer for the newspaper and seems to know exactly what he wants to do after high school; become a journalist. Honor isn’t very close to him, but has been in close proximity to him for forever. One day, she notices that there is something very wrong with him. This event, leads her to discovering the whole world of UDs and UDKs.
Isaac Nealon is an agent for the organization that helps capture UDs and the UDKs for treatment and training. He is one of the men that takes Christian and subsequently Honor. He is older, late twenties, and knows all too well the ramifications of being a UDK or UD. His life has been torn apart by it. He is basically a robotic agent, doing the Superiors bidding, rounding up the individuals deemed to have the virus go into affect, and yet when he meets Honor, that slowly slips away. Her natural charisma and pull rip open the hard shield he has built around his heart. His eyes are opened. He realizes that she is special and he doesn’t approve of everything that he has been doing thus far.
I simply LOVED Ordinary. Lindy is such an amazing writer. I haven’t read anything of hers yet that I haven’t devoured in little to no time, completely ignoring everything around me. Her prose are just so all consuming! She paints such a beautiful picture, such an amazing world. The subtext in Ordinary is a lesson that never gets old, and needs to be reviewed often. It was such a pleasure to be reminded that people are people, no matter what life circumstances they have been handed. No one has the right to discriminate against another.
I highly recommend Ordinary and can’t wait for more in this series.
5 SMOOCHES
~Nicole
**Congratulations to Lindy for having this series, the Anything But series, picked up by a publisher! On that note, Ordinary is not available at this time for e-book purchase. As soon as it is, we will load a link so you can buy.
