Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews. Here's what is all about:

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

This is my first Stacking the Shelves post and I'm really excited to be a part of this fantastic meme. These are the books I've received/bought over the last 2 weeks:

Review: Death of a Saint by Lily Herne

Death of a Saint (Mall Rats Trilogy #2)
by Lily Herne
Publication Date: 1 April 2012

Publisher: Puffin
Format: Paperback; Review Copy
Rating: 4/5

Buy the book: |Exclusive Books|*For now these books are only available in SA. But they will be published in the UK in 2013.*

Secrets. Everyone has them. But what if your secret is something so unthinkable that you can’t even admit it to yourself? Lily Herne returns with Death of a Saint , the next instalment in the Mall Rats series. Exiled from the city enclave for crimes against the Resurrectionist State, teen rebels Lele, Ginger, Ash and Saint — aka the Mall Rats — are hiding out in the Deadlands, a once-prosperous area now swarming with the living dead. With the sinister Guardians breathing down their necks, the Mall Rats face a stark choice: return to the enclave and try to evade capture or leave Cape Town in search of other survivors. But what if the rest of South Africa is nothing but a zombie-infested wasteland? Will they be able to survive on the road if all they have is each other, or will their secrets tear them apart? After all, only Lele knows the shocking truth as to why the dead leave the Mall Rats unscathed — knowledge that she can’t bring herself to share. And she’s not the only Mall Rat harbouring a dangerous secret….|Goodreads|

Death of a Saint follows on from where the first book, Deadlands, left off. Co-written by mother and daughter team, Sarah and Savanah Lotz, under the pen name Lilly Herne, Death of a Saint offers a refreshingly new take on the normally clichéd ‘zombie apocalypse’. The action packed storyline combined with an interesting array of characters makes Death of a Saint a fantastic addition to the South African literary shelves. 

The story alternates between the POV’s of Lele, the main character from Deadlands, and Saint, the fierce zombie butt-kicking member of the elusive ‘Mall Rats’. In the latest edition of the trilogy the group find themselves leaving the Cape Town area and venturing further north in search of fellow survivors who are also immune to the creepy zombies that haunt the towns and cities. As they make their way further north they encounter some friendly, but also not so friendly, survivors and they find themselves battling the humans rather than the zombies. Their journey leads them to discover that the zombies are the last things they should be worrying about, as the infestation has turned their fellow humans into ruthless and cold hearted beings, almost on par with the undead. They soon realise that they didn’t have it all that bad down in Cape Town.

I read Deadlands shortly after it was released and I really enjoyed it. I thought it added fantastic flare to local fiction and I loved that SA had its own YA author talent as well. Death of a Saint was just as exciting as Deadlands and I especially enjoyed reading from Saint’s POV. I love her character and I found her much more enjoyable than Lele, the original main character. Saint, being the tough zombie fighter, made Lele seem rather boring, and she overshadowed her in my opinion. I loved Ash in Deadlands and I loved him in Death of a Saint. He’s dark and mysterious and I hope to discover a bit more of his back story in the next instalment. Ginger adds humour throughout the story and he is a lovable character all around. I enjoyed being introduced to his love interest, Ember and I really hope that she features in the next book. The ending was an almighty cliffhanger, which I was really annoyed about, but in a good way. I hope it’s not too long a wait for The Army of the Left because I’m dying to know what happens next. 

The writing style was good although I did find the pace slightly slow-moving in some parts. But the story does pick up and by the end I was definitely sitting on the edge of my seat. 

All in all Death of a Saint was a good read and a great sequel to Deadlands. The fact that it takes place in my hometown, and features a shopping mall that I often frequent, made it even more entertaining for me. It adds an intriguing side to the multifaceted zombie genre and I eagerly await the last installment in the trilogy.

From The Review Pile

From the Review Pile is a meme hosted by Stepping Out of the Page every Thursday.

The aim of this meme is to showcase books that you've received for review (or any book that you own and really want to read/review) but haven't yet got around to reading, in order to give the book some extra publicity.

This is my first 'From the Review Pile' post and I so excited that a meme like this has come around because it's so very true. We can't always get to those wonderful books for review, but that doesn't mean we can't share them on our blogs. So here we go:

Starters (Starters #1)
by Lissa Price
Publication Date: 13 March 2012
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Format: Paperback (UK Version)

HER WORLD IS CHANGED FOREVER
Callie lost her parents when the Spore Wars wiped out everyone between the ages of twenty and sixty. She and her little brother, Tyler, go on the run, living as squatters with their friend Michael and fighting off renegades who would kill them for a cookie. Callie's only hope is Prime Destinations, a disturbing place in Beverly Hills run by a mysterious figure known as the Old Man. He hires teens to rent their bodies to Enders—seniors who want to be young again. Callie, desperate for the money that will keep her, Tyler, and Michael alive, agrees to be a donor. But the neurochip they place in Callie's head malfunctions and she wakes up in the life of her renter, living in her mansion, driving her cars, and going out with a senator's grandson. It feels almost like a fairy tale, until Callie discovers that her renter intends to do more than party—and that Prime Destinations' plans are more evil than Callie could ever have imagined. . . |Goodreads|

Wonder
by R.J. Palacio
Publication Date: 14 February 2012
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Format: Paperback

I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse. August (Auggie) Pullman was born with a facial deformity that prevented him from going to a mainstream school—until now. He's about to start 5th grade at Beecher Prep, and if you've ever been the new kid then you know how hard that can be. The thing is Auggie's just an ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face. But can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, despite appearances?R. J. Palacio has written a spare, warm, uplifting story that will have readers laughing one minute and wiping away tears the next. With wonderfully realistic family interactions (flawed, but loving), lively school scenes, and short chapters, Wonder is accessible to readers of all levels.|Goodreads|

That's all from my review pile this week. Thanks for stopping by and, if you're a new follower (which I would appreciate very much), welcome to the blog!