This is Not a Test vs. Monument 14

I have not read a whole lot of books focusing on zombies or an apocalypse, but This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers is a story that shares many similarities with another book I read a few years ago, Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne. Admittedly, I enjoyed This is Not a Test a whole lot better than Monument 14 for reasons I will explain later on.

Six high school students, two eighth graders, and six younger children have taken refuge in a chain superstore (for example, Walmart). Occurring outside are a series of escalating disasters ranging from a monster hailstorm to a chemical weapons spill, which are tearing the world apart. This is the first of a series, but I only managed to finish the first one because I wasn't very impressed with the characters and the writing. It's safe to say that I will not be continuing the series. Same goes for This is Not a Test, though only because after two apocalyptic stories, I think I've had enough.

Six students have taken cover in their high school after a zombie epidemic breaks out. Sound familiar? Yeah, very similar story lines, but I enjoyed this one a lot more because it had some good character development. The main character is Sloane Price, who lost her will to live after her older sister ran away and left Sloane to live alone with their abusive father. And now the world's falling apart, and people are dying left and right. What does she do? It's interesting to see Sloane trying to figure out a way to end her life without burdening her five companions who are desperately trying to survive.

Now I won't go into detail about the two books (I hardly remember Monument 14 except for the fact that it had really stupid characters and no development). But I will say that both stories have a very similar layout. I don't know if this is the case with most apocalyptic books as I haven't read much in that genre, but that's the thing I noticed while reading This is Not a Test. Both books have a group of characters taking refuge in a sturdy building with enough supplies to last them a while. Both groups of characters aren't originally friends (they only happened to be there and therefore need each other to survive). There are conflicts between the characters themselves, and a lot of tension because of the chaos going on outside the walls. They also both end in a similar fashion.

If you are a die-hard fan of apocalyptic stories, then I'd recommend This is Not a Test because of the two, this one had a lot more character development and it had a decent story. If you aren't, don't waste your time on either of them because I'm sure there are a ton of apocalyptic stories with a much more original and less cliched story line as these.