Ella, The Slayer Review

Next up for a review is Ella, The Slayer by: A.W. Exley.

The Great War has left many scarred and boys are just starting to find their way home in the year 1919. Ella’s father is among one of those that the war ravished. He mostly sits and drools, but Ella still hopes for his return to his faculties. In his incapacitated state, Ella’s step-mother rules the house and exiled Ella to being a common servant. The war isn’t the only thing that has left the world broken. A mysterious disease killed many, but they didn’t stay dead and they hunger for the living…

I totally just stumbled upon this book while I was trying to figure out what I wanted to read next. The premise sounded interesting. I really love retellings of fairy tales, so that is initially what drew me to this book. I don’t really know how I feel about zombies in books, but I thought it was a really interesting twist to this retelling and it was handled really well.

I really liked Ella. I loved how she cared for her dad and friend that both came back from the war scared (emotionally and physically). I thought it was interesting how she couldn’t stand up to her step-mother (which could have been explored just a tad bit more) and she would be fearless when slaying the vermin (zombies). It shows that she did what she had to do in a world that didn’t make sense and this made her character feel more real.

The slayer aspect was really interesting as well. I really liked how A.W. Exley really added depth to Ella through this occupation of hers. The people didn’t want to damn their souls with killing the vermin, just in case there would be consequences in the hereafter, so they let Ella do it because she was the first one to kill the undead. Since she was already damned, what would it hurt for her to keep dispatching the vermin? I really felt for her throughout all of this.

I really liked the one chapter that was in Seth’s perspective and I would have loved to read more from him. It’s kind of odd that he only got one chapter in the whole book. I really liked his distinct voice that came through in this section.

At the end of the book, A.W. Exley asks the reader if she should write a sequel. I think this book does a good job standing alone, but a sequel could expand more on the war with the zombies. She definitely left it open for a sequel, but I don’t think it is hugely necessary. My other worry about having a sequel is that Ella & Seth’s relationship will be stepped up to the next level and I personally just don’t enjoy reading explicit stuff in relationships. There definitely is the potential for that if there is a sequel, but I honestly don’t know if A.W. Exley would write it like that. I haven’t read anything else from her to give me a better idea if she would do that or not. (I definitely want to try out some of her other books, though.)

Lastly, I have to mention how beautiful the cover is! That and I was kind of bothered by the line spacing in the eBook. This is totally a formatting issue and nothing at all against the writing. I’m just not a fan of reading the book when it’s double-spaced, but the writing and story were so good that I tried my best to ignore it.