Zom-B is an ongoing Teenage Horror series by Irish author Darren Shan. Set in London the series follows the story of the teenage main character "B. Smith" and their struggle through the Zombie Apocalypse. For a children's book the series tackles a number of adult themes including racism, death and human experimentation.
The series currently includes 12 main titles with illustrations by Warren Pleece, these include;
- Zom-B (2012)
- Zom-B Underground (2013)
- Zom-B City (2013)
- Zom-B Angels (2013)
- Zom-B Baby (2013)
- Zom-B Gladiator (2014)
- Zom-B Mission (2014)
- Zom-B Clans (2014)
- Zom-B Family (2014)
- Zom-B Bride (2015)
- Zom-B Fugitive (2015)
- Zom-B Goddess (2016)
Zom-B provides examples of:
- Abusive Dad: B's Dad Todd Smith Falls into this category being both a racist and Domestic abuser(see Domestic Abuse below)
- The Ageless: Pretty much all the revitalizeds, Dr. Oystien himself has been around since WW2. and doesn't look any older than he did when he died.
- All Asians Know Martial Arts: Master Zhang is one of the only Asians in the series (he's Chinese) and is a master of multiple martial arts despite only being in his early twenties at best.
- Beware the Living: B's runs into a large amount of trouble from the living while the dead will leave her in peace once they realise she's not alive
- Brain Food: What Zombies eat, revitalized also need to eat them or they risk going savage.
- Broken Pedestal: Mr Burke to B. after he works with base in the second book It becomes a Rebuilt Pedestal when she finds out he was only doing it to act as The Mole
- Character Development: While B. starts out as a Noble Bigot as the story goes on it becomes Troubled Sympathetic Bigot and tries to keep an open mind and not judge people. B. also picks up an unexpected appreciation for history and culture.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Rage can't seem to go a book without betraying one group or another.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Timothy Jackson the artist B. meets in the second book spends most of the apocalypse painting Zombies
- Children Are Innocent: Subverted, Mr. Burke is taken aback at B's knowledge of realistic sex as B. points out that most Teenagers before the Apocalypse were likely curious and had access to the internet.
- Dark Messiah: Mr.Dowling, literally if Dr. Oystein is correct.
- Domestic Abuse: B's racist dad Todd Smith frequently hits both his wife and B.
- Elaborate Underground Base: The setting of the second book Zom-B underground
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: While Todd Smith is a bully and A Jerk With A Heart Of Jerk he does generally love B. and his wife.
- False Friend: Rage is a frequent abuser of this trope First he betrays the Zom Heads then as soon as he joins B's new group he immediately starts manipulating her new friends as well, with predictable results
- Good Is Not Nice: B. is rude, racist and moody but does care a great deal for others and tries to help.
- I Did What I Had to Do: In the second book B. runs into a crazy Cult leader and ends up trapped with their leader with a bunch of zombies trying to break in even though B. is a revitalized she risks being killed in the feeding frenzy, to avoid this she hast to Mercy Kill her
- I'm Melting!: The result of anyone who takes the vaccine after a few years, unless they are infected and become a revitalized
- I Will Punish Your Friend for Your Failure: In the second book the military take this approach to try and force B into compliance.
- Hidden Depths: B. becomes a great lover of culture and art in the later books despite having a tough exterior.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: B. Smith, racist, bully and violent but also heroic and dependable.
- The Lad-ette: B. Smith she's a rude, likes to fight and hangs around with a male gang. She also falls into Real Women Don't Wear Dresses as she prefers wearing T-Shirts and Jeans.
- Manipulative Bastard: Rage usually figures out who is in charge and sucks up to them. He also tends to make himself de facto leader of various teenage groups.
- Monster Clown: The Evil zombie Mr. Dowling.
- My Greatest Failure: Tylers death as a result of B's actions and the reason B. Took a Level in Kindness became The Atoner.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Timothy Jackson the artist goes out of his way to help the Zombie baby, his reward is being eaten alive after removing a bolt from it head.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: The main character Becky Smith is only ever referred to as B. with rare exceptions.
- Our Zombies Are Different: The Zombies of Zom-B are undead who eat brains but they also grow incredibly sharp teeth and bones out of their fingers(ideal for cracking heads), moss also grows over their injuries to plug damage.
- Samus Is a Girl: we are lead to believe that the main character Becky "B." Smith is male until the last chapter of the first book, this is dropped after the first book.
- Supporting Leader: Dr.Oystein never really seems to leave his lab but acts as both the mentor and mission control for the angels.
- The Social Darwinist: Rage seems to believe this though this may just be one of his Jerk Justifications.
- Troubled Sympathetic Bigot: B. was raised by a racist father recived confermation from an racist Politically Motivated Teacher, despite B's efforts to keep an open mind and having friends from different races, years of indoctrination don't just disappear overnight and B. still holds some racist notions despite knowing it's wrong.
- Undead Child: The Zombie Babies.
- Zombie Apocalypse: The setting of the book series.
