Double Feature: Attack of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies/Bride of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies

by Brent Hartinger

Book Overview

Book 3 in the Russel Middlebrook Series, Winner of the Lambda Book Award

It's a horror-movie extravaganza in this, the second sequel to Brent Hartinger's gay teen classic, Geography Club. Two complete books in one recount the stories of best friends Russel and Min who sign up to be extras on the set of a zombie film and learn that there's nothing scarier than high school romance.

In the first book, Attack of the Soul-Sucking...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1505374073
• ISBN13: 9781505374070
• Release Date: December 2014
• Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 280 Pages
• Weight: 0.67 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.0" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Just gets better and better

Usually I'm not crazy about sequels as it means the author doesn't have any other ideas and ends up repeating themselves. But Hartinger managed to avoid that in The Order of the Poison Oak and he does so again--pretty cleverly--with Split Screen. Not only does he continue to further the stories of Russell, Otto, Kevin, and Min, but he does it by writing two books in one that cover the same period of time from two different points of view--Russell and Min's. Frankly, I've never read anything like it. Both stories draw you in (read Russell's first), but the second makes you realize that not everything you read before was really the way it seemed. Which is a lot like life. I guarantee you won't be disappointed. FYI, I know the author but I mean every word I said!

Great Y.A. series

Hartinger has developed a fine set of young-adult characters which he is carrying from book-to-book. He uses their language nicely!

Courtesy of Teens Read Too

In ATTACK OF THE SOUL-SUCKING BRAIN ZOMBIES, Russel is forced to choose between the guy right at home that he wants, and the guy 500 miles away that he loves. He's also dealing with his parents, who have found out that he's gay and are none too pleased. When you flip the book over and start reading BRIDE OF THE SOUL-SUCKING BRAIN ZOMBIES, it's Min's story that will have you rapidly flipping pages. When Min meets Leah, she has to decide if this girl, the girl she might be in love with, is worth having a hidden relationship, something Min never wants to do again. Gunnar and Kevin are two very interesting characters that appear in both stories, which chronicle very different experiences as extras in a weird monster movie. You have to read both stories to find out the whole of the one story; they are different stories, yes, but together they do make up one whole, very good storyline. Occasionally the writing seemed a little too simple, but the great stories and characters really make up for that. Important issues are addressed admirably in this wonderful book that readers of Hartinger's previous books (especially those featuring this same cast of three-dimensional characters) will love! Reviewed by: Jocelyn Pearce

Great characters and sharp story telling - a warm, mix of laughs and tears

Maybe it was the cheesy cover and campy title, or maybe it was the two-for-one gimmick. But as much as I enjoyed "Geography Club" and "The Order of Poison Oak," I approached this latest Brent Hartinger opus with reduced expectations. I should have known better. It didn't take long to realize my error as reveled in this fresh, beautifully written, funny, and yet emotionally moving story that once and for all turned Russel Middlebrook into one of my two all-time favorite juvenile lit main characters. (My other is Beverly Cleary's Leigh Botts. Okay, I'm a pushover for main characters who are wholesome, thoughtful, nice kids.) The decision to tell the story twice from two points of view proved not a mere gimmick, but a clever way to tell the story most effectively. Hartinger braids three stories together - Min's and Russel's separately, as well as the third story thread of the movie filming, which is common to both of the other two. The redundancies are never annoying and sometimes used for comic effect, such as when Gunnar, who tells the same rather long story in each version, comments "it's the second time in two days that I've told it." I debated whether to read "Attack" first or "Bride." I was glad I decided to start with "Attack." The motivation of one main character is masked at the end of "Attack," but revealed in "Bride," so to me there is more impact in reading "Bride" last. Min has never interested me as much as Russel, so "Bride" got off to a slower start for me, but Min won me over. Hartinger has created a cast of totally believable characters, whom I can deeply care about as a reader. The conflicts he has left dangling at the end leave me eagerly await the promised installment written from Kevin's POV. I originally purchased "Geography Club" because, as a teacher with a strong interest in the YA genre, I had not yet read a gay-themed teen novel. I was quickly hooked on the characters and wanted more. However, there came a point this time around when I decided I was NOT reading a gay-themed novel at all. I was simply reading a great story in which some of the characters were gay. Perhaps that is the highest compliment I can pay this author.

Split Screen shows teens aren't zombies

Brent Hartinger writes great teen novels: they have strong plots with unforeseeable twists; they're filled with clever dialogue and funny one-liners; and most important, they're stocked with good-hearted (though occasionally wrong-headed) characters who remind readers of what they love about their own friends--their brilliance and loyalty, their passion for their beliefs, and their ability to remember one's good points and still catch one's failings. Hartinger delivers on all these strengths once again in his new novel "Split Screen." It's the third in a series, but it's a sequel with an innovative spin: it tells the same story twice from two points of view, demonstrating that even best friends experience things differently, and that life's big questions--like who to love, and when to be brave--don't always have just one right answer. The book follows "The Geography Club" and "The Order of the Poison Oak" to tell the stories of high school student Russell Middleton and his circle of cool but less-than-popular friends. In previous books, Russell and his pals formed a gay-straight alliance to make their school a safer, more open place and then managed to survive summer camp with nothing worse than bruised hearts and itchy rashes. "Split Screen" catches up with them in the fall of their junior year as they sign up to work as extras on the set of a horror movie filming right in their hometown. When read one way, the book tells Russell's story of boyfriend and parent troubles: just as he's anticipating a Thanksgiving visit from his steady guy, his unsteady ex begins trying to win him back, sending Russ into an emotional spin. And to top it off, Russell's parents come unhinged from reason when they (belatedly) find out that he's gay. It's a mess. But flip the book over, and the same events are told in a different version by Russell's good friend Min, a brainier-than-thou girl who tries to live her life according to staunch principles. She aspires not just to honesty but to forthrightness, and that sort of candor is causing her problems. Min's new girlfriend (who's completely awesome and totally sharp) is set on being two different people: one version for Min and another entirely for her friends at school. It's also a mess. Hartinger excels at giving Russell and Min distinct voices and at making their similar struggles unique: Russ is pulled more by his heart whereas Min follows her head--he worries most about being misunderstood or hurting someone; she's terrified at her uncertainty when her clear ideals jam up against life's murkier situations. This novel's greatest strength (from among many) may be that Hartinger gives both his main characters truly perplexing dilemmas. One could see them choosing either way--the old boyfriend or the new, a path of compromise or one of confrontation--and sympathize with the reasons behind the decision. Rather than present his teen readers with simplistic answers, he instead suggests that the act of deciding is