Series: Corpus (bk.
3)
Genera(s): Sci-fi
Thriller
Subjects: experiments,
animals, scientists, deserts, mystery, survival, adventure
Setting: The
Kalahari semi-desert in Botswana, Africa
POV/Tense: 1st
person POV, past tense: Sarah
Age/Grade
Level: Teen
Length: 354 pgs.
HC/PB:
Hardcover
List Price:
$17.99
Publisher: Penguin:
Razorbill
Summary/
product description:
“Deep in the Kalahari Desert, a Corpus lab protects a dangerous secret…
But
what happens when that secret takes on a life of its own?
When
an educational safari goes wrong, five teens find themselves stranded in the
Kalahari Desert without a guide. It’s up to Sarah, the daughter of zoologists,
to keep them alive and lead them to safety, calling on survival know-how from
years of growing up in remote and exotic locales. Battling dehydration,
starvation and the pangs of first love, she does her best to hold it together,
even as their circumstances grow increasingly desperate.
But
soon a terrifying encounter makes Sarah question everything she’s ever known
about the natural world. A silver lion, as though made of mercury, makes a
vicious, unprovoked attack on the group. After a narrow escape, they uncover
the chilling truth behind the lion’s silver sheen: a highly contagious and
deadly virus that threatens to ravage the entire area—and eliminate life as
they know it.
In
this breathtaking new novel by the acclaimed author of Origin and Vitro, Sarah
and the others must not only outrun the virus, but its creators, who will stop
at nothing to wipe every trace of it.”
My Review: Kalahari
is the third (and final or not final?) book in the Corpus series, a companion
to Origin and Vitro. I’m not sure if this is happening at the same time or
after those books. There are no shared characters, but Strauss was mentioned
once. Sarah and her father live in the Kalahari. Her father is a zoologist
originally from New Zealand, and is studying the migration of animals. Sarah’s
mother died four month ago in an accident, and she was from North Carolina originally.
Five teens
arrive at their camp for a week of learning about wildlife and the ways of the
Kalahari. All the fun is pushed aside when Sarah’s father and half-bushman Theo
go off to get the location of poacher hunting a white lion. They don’t return
by nightfall and the next morning Sarah takes the teens in search of her
father, who may be dead by now. They come upon a metallic lion and can’t
believe their eyes. Lots of struggles happen. Surviving this semi-desert is not
easy, and thankfully Theo taught Sarah the ways of the Bushmen.
I have never
read a book with a setting like this before! Not many books I’ve read have even
been in Africa, and none in southern Africa. Instantly it reminded me on Zoo,
the TV show based off the James Patterson book of the same name. It also made
me think of Inhuman by Kat Fall, a book I recently read about a virus that turn
people into animal. This virus/infection spreads by touch and turns animals and
people into metal (not normal metal. It’s not like King Midas’s touch). This is
like those adventure movies where there’s something mysterious going on. Movies
like the Mummy or Indiana Jones or the Ruins.
The characters
were pretty interesting. Sarah, our narrator, was kind of awkward and not used
to being around people her age. Sam was helpful and protective, and her love
interest. Miranda and Kase, both from Boston, were together and kind of rich
and spoiled and not used to the wild. They complained a lot. Kase is a
photographer, and he brought Miranda along. Joey is an Asian guy from
California whose always joking around. Avani is half-Indian, half-Kenyan and
Canadian. She very book smart and likes to study and really prepared for this
trip. I like it when there are not so many characters that you get confused.
The adult characters are less developed, but add to the story.
I’d recommend
this book series to fans of Unremembered, Maximum Ride, Altered by Jennifer
Rush, The Rules by Stacy Kade and other books about when science goes wrong.
Also, if you like foreign settings or you just love animal, you’ll enjoy this.
Cover Art
Review: These new cover for this series are not that compelling. Though, this
cover does show an African landscape. But in the book Sarah said there were no
rocks, only sand and here I see boulders or a rocky ridge.
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