Zombie Queen of Newbury High is an example of YA for the pop culturally genre savvy reader - not only are works such as
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and
Supernatural mentioned, but there are more subtle nods in there as well. Main character Mia is also genre-savvy, able to draw on her extensive pop-culture knowledge to help (try to) solve issues - although she is unfortunately not quite able to remember that love spells
always go awry. Fortunately Mia is flanked by two great supporting characters: obsessive (but incredibly helpful in the long-run) Candice and the genre-is-real savvy Chase. Together the three are a great combo and despite the book's short length (only 199 pages covering a few days) they are developed and down-to-earth - well, save Candice, occasionally (regarding the "down-to-earth" thing, I mean).
A fun, quick read based around a lot of zombie hijinks,
Zombie Queen of Newbury High is not a deep read, but to think that would be to miss the point. It is not really graphic (for the most part) and instead Ashbury focuses on comedy - something she does very well indeed in
Zombie Queen of Newbury High - to the point where that alone makes me want to read more of Ashbury's work. If humour can be found in a moment, Ashbury finds and it uses it in the best possible way. It's a simple set-up, but all the little quirks to the rules and the characters really make
Zombie Queen of Newbury High an enjoyable and funny read right to the end.
If you are a fan of zombie comedy, or just the earlier seasons, with the more "monster of the week" theme, of
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and
Supernatural, then I think you'll enjoy Zombie Queen of Ashbury High.