The Burnouts by Lex Thomas

Series: Quarantine (bk. 3)

Genera: Dystopian Sci-fi

Subjects: survival, gangs, cliques, high school, quarantines, viruses, diseases

Setting: Pale Ridge, Colorado, inside a high school building

POV/Tense: 3^rd person POV: David, Lucy and Will

Age/Grade Level: Teens 15+

Length: 264 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: Egmont

Summary/ product description: “Lord of the Flies in a 21st-century high school setting.Welcome to Quarantine 3: The Burnouts , where readers of The Maze Runner, Gone, and Divergent go when they're hungry for more dark, compelling survival stories.

When an explosion rocks David and Will's suburban high school one morning, a deadly virus is unleashed on the school. After a year of quarantine, with no adults around, the students have created their own society. All of the social cliques have developed into gangs-The Nerds, The Geeks, The Freaks, The Sluts, The Skaters, The Burnouts, The Pretty Ones, and The Varsity-and each gang provides a service with which they can barter for provisions. Without a gang, it's almost impossible to secure food, water, territory, or supplies. In the final installment in the Quarantine trilogy, the brothers are reunited on the Outside and it appears as if, for once everything is going right. But inside the school, Lucy is alone with no gang and no hope, until the Burnouts welcome her into their filthy arms.”

My Review:  The finale book in the Quarantine trilogy, The Burnouts makes for a thrilling dramatic and sometimes horrifying conclusion to this dystopia series. I enjoyed it even when I was disgusted by it. It’s been a gruesome and gritty ride and I doubt I’ll even read another series quite like it. It’s so fast paced/page tuner. It’s realistic and horribly so.

At the end of the previous book, we find out the David is still alive. Will has graduated and the virus has left his body. Lucy is still stuck inside the school, still infected. She used to be part of the Loners, and then part of the Sluts, and now she’s nothing. She feels so alone that she ends up joining the Burnout and getting high on gasoline. Will and David heard there’s a cure to the virus, but decided to go back into McKinley to get Lucy out of there. They’ve got gas masks on and the virus can kill them.

I don’t want to spoil how this final book ends, so I won’t give away the plot. We do get to see what’s going on out side the school and how the country is handling it. I will say that it’s everything you’d expect and want in a conclusion from the series. There are twist and death and character that act psycho. There’s disgusting descriptions that’s make you puke a little if you actually try to picture what’s being described. It’s the kind of situation that you wouldn’t want to be it, but yet sound cool. The different gangs/cliques are almost like factions.

If you haven’t read this series yet, you might like this series if you enjoyed: No Safety in Numbers by Dayna Lorentz, Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne (Also set in Colorado like this book), Variant and Feedback by Robison Wells, Maze Runner by James Dashner, the Gone series by Michael Grant, Divergent by Veronica Roth, or The Hunger Games series. It’s also like Lord of the Flies or Battle Royale, too. Dystopian fiction in general, you should read this.

Cover Art Review: That pool is so gross. Ew. Fits the series, though.

The Saints by Lex Thomas

Series: Quarantine (bk. 2)

Genera: Dystopian Sci-fi

Subjects: survival, gangs, cliques, high school, quarantines, viruses, diseases

Age/Grade Level: Teens 15+

Length: 384 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: Egmont

Summary/ product description: “A cross between the Gone series and Lord of the Flies, Quarantine #2: The Saints continues this frenetically paced and scary young adult series that illustrates just how deadly high school can be.
Nothing was worse than being locked in—until they opened the door...
McKinley High has been a battle ground for eighteen months since a virus outbreak led to a military quarantine of the school. When the doors finally open, Will and Lucy will think their nightmare is finished. But they are gravely mistaken.
As a new group of teens enters the school and gains popularity, Will and Lucy join new gangs. An epic party on the quad full of real food and drinks, where kids hookup and actually interact with members of other gangs seemed to signal a new, easier existence. Soon after though, the world inside McKinley takes a startling turn for the worse, and Will and Lucy will have to fight harder than ever to survive.
The Saints brings readers back to the dark and deadly halls of McKinley High and the QUARANTINE series.”

My Review: Like many people, I forgot what happened at the end of the Loners, and I forgot who Will and Lucy were, but I remembered pretty quickly because thankfully the author reminds us. David, the main character in the 1^st book, isn’t in this book, but his younger brother Will is. I thought I wouldn’t enjoy this book as much as I did.. I was also suffering from a book-hangover (It took me a few days to decide what to read next! I choose this). Thankfully there was enough action and humor to make me enjoy what I was reading.

There is a lot of gruesome stuff in this book, and a lot of profanities. The 1^st book too. Lot os of swearing, and lots of sex talk, so I would recommend it to teens under 15. There’s a lot of nightmarish stuff in here. It’s all very realistic and horrifying. Very fast paced and interesting. It’s scary good. I love survival stories, and this one was different. In the last book we found out about the different gangs based off of cliques, and they style and dye their hair the same way. Since it’s a quarantine inside a high school with only teens left alive, it’s very appropriate.

It you forgot what the gangs were called, I’ll remind you. The Loners (Will and Lucy were in this gang, white hair), Varsity (jocks, yellow hair), The Pretty Ones (Lucy used to be in this gang, yellow hair), the Sluts (red hair), Freaks (blue hair), Skater (shaved, Mohawks, black hair), Nerds (black hair), Geeks (multi-colored hair), and Burnouts (gray hair? Not sure). This books we welcome a new gang, the Saints, because they come from a private school.

The Saints is led by this guy named Gates, who I think might be bi-polar, ADHD and maybe schizophrenic. He’s pretty manic, but not in the manipulative psychopath way. More in the crazy idea-guy kind of way. Also, he’s a party animal, and used to be a rich kid. (He’s not like Caine from Gone.) He and the Saints live on the bus he crashed into the school. Will helps him out.

I really enjoyed some of the funny parts, especially dialogue. There’s so crazy stuff that Gates did that cracked me up. And Will went along with it. Also, Lucy going through Naked Week. It sounded like a Sorority hazing. Lucy becomes really kick-butt after joining the Sluts. The authors do a really good job of portraying her.

This series is a unique dystopia overall, but similar to others. You might like this series if you enjoyed: No Safety in Numbers by Dayna Lorentz, Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne (Also set in Colorado like this book), Variant and Feedback by Robison Wells, the Gone series by Michael Grant, Divergent by Veronica Roth, or The Hunger Games series. It’s also like Lord of the Flies or Battle Royale, too. Dystopian fiction in general, you should read this.

Cover Art Review: Another book with a bus on the cover! Monument 14’s sequel had a bus on it. The bus is kind of where the Saints gang lives. The cover fits the book well. Very dystopian looking. Cool photograph.

Requiem by Lauren Oliver

Series: Delirium (bk. 3)

Genera: Dystopian Sci-fi/Romance

Subjects: Love, resistance to government, disease, friendship, marriage, Maine

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 391 pgs. Plus 27 pages for the Alex story.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $18.99

Publisher: Harper

Summary/ product description: “They have tried to squeeze us out, to stamp us into the past.
But we are still here.
And there are more of us every day.
Now an active member of the resistance, Lena has been transformed. The nascent rebellion that was under way in Pandemonium has ignited into an all-out revolution in Requiem, and Lena is at the center of the fight.
After rescuing Julian from a death sentence, Lena and her friends fled to the Wilds. But the Wilds are no longer a safe haven—pockets of rebellion have opened throughout the country, and the government cannot deny the existence of Invalids. Regulators now infiltrate the borderlands to stamp out the rebels, and as Lena navigates the increasingly dangerous terrain, her best friend, Hana, lives a safe, loveless life in Portland as the fiancée of the young mayor.
Maybe we are driven crazy by our feelings.
Maybe love is a disease, and we would be better off without it.
But we have chosen a different road.
And in the end, that is the point of escaping the cure: We are free to choose.
We are even free to choose the wrong thing.
Requiem is told from both Lena’s and Hana’s points of view. The two girls live side by side in a world that divides them until, at last, their stories converge.”

My Rating: êêêêê

My Review: OHMYGOD WHY DIDIT HAVE TO END!!!! NOOOOOOOOO!!! That’s it? Thank goodness there’s a TV show coming soon. And that Alex short story was awesome!!! I LOVE ALEX!!! TEAM ALEX!!! (Warning:  Pandemonium and (minor) Requiem spoilers ahead)

I only finished Pandemonium and little more than a week ago. I was glad I waited, and mad that Alex wasn’t in Pandemonium. And was relieved that he was in Requiem, but disappointed about him not being with Lena. I don’t care for Julian. He’s like a sad puppy, not a super-hot, sexy guy like Alex. In Delirium, I was so happy and excited. Alex was making me feel swoony.

What also made this book a million times better is the switching perspectives! I already know that Hana would be the other perspective when Lauren hinted at it only a few months after the release of Delirium at a book signing, and she had mentioned the titles too. Hana is awesome, even if she got cured. She’s pretty much a Sympathizer. And her soon-to-be-husband/mayor is a jerk.

Right now I’m kind of overwhelmed so I don’t know how to review this. I wished I knew how to get GIFs so I could use those. So I’ll just describe the book with a lot of adjectives and nouns: Action, adventure, some romance, a lot of feels, a few deaths, excitement, frustration, sadness, crying, deception, forgiveness, surprises and thrills, and chills, and few really disgusting parts. That about sums it up.

Also some new characters, and old one. And Raven, Tack, Lu, Hunter, Bram.

So everyone, READ THIS WHOLE SERIES BEFORE THE T.V. SHOW PREMIERS.

Cover Art Review: Not sure that I like this one as much as the Pandemonium cover. The girls face is too generic eve if it’s supposed to be Lena. The flowers are nice. I love the stock the jacket is printed on, though. It’s not linen, but it is opalescent.

~Haley G

 

 

The End Is Here for the Delirum Trilogy!!! Read the 1st 2 books and the 3 short novellas: Hana, Annabel and Raven

 

 

 

No Safety In Numbers by Dayna Lorentz

Publisher: Penguin

Series: No Safety in Numbers (bk. 1)

Genera: Dystopian Sci-fi

Subjects: disease, quarantine, survival, malls

Length: 263 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

Summary/ product description: “Life As We Knew It meets Lord of the Flies in a mall that looks just like yours
A biological bomb has just been discovered in the air ducts of a busy suburban mall. At first nobody knows if it's even life threatening, but then the entire complex is quarantined, people start getting sick, supplies start running low, and there's no way out. Among the hundreds of trapped shoppers are four teens.
These four different narrators, each with their own stories, must cope in unique, surprising styles, changing in ways they wouldn't have predicted, trying to find solace, safety, and escape at a time when the adults are behaving badly.
This is a gripping look at people and how they can--and must--change under the most dire of circumstances.
And not always for the better.”

My Rating: êêêê

My Review: Despite the awful cover, and the fact that it’s more of a thriller than a sci-fi, I really enjoyed this book. Similar to Monument 14, except set in our time rather than a few decades in the future, this book creates a strange quarantined society of mall workers and walker, taking place over a week. It’s the first book in a series, surprisingly. I was sure it was going to be a stand-alone, but the “End of Book One” said otherwise. The biological bomb that made people sick was scary realistic, and I just hope that real terrorist never get the idea to do this for real. This book felt like some thriller/horror movies I’ve seen. Contagion, Quarantine, but no zombies.

The four characters that the story revolves around (or 5, if you count the Senator) the author doesn’t get too deep into. I felt like the story could have easily been from Shay perspective only, but since it was all in 3^rd person limited anyways, it doesn’t matter. I felt we learned the most about Shay. She’s Indian and has henna tattoos, a little sister and a grandma in the mall with her. Lexi is a gamer/computer genius and the senator’s daughter. Ryan plays football and like to rock climb. Marco works as a busboy and is part Latino.

The setting is awesome. Of all the places to be trapped, the mall has to be the coolest. People don’t stop buying stuff. If they don’t pay, they’re shop-lifting. It would be better if they got stuff for free. It would have been more interesting if it really was like Lord of the Flies or the Gone novels and only kids and teens were trapped in the mall, but since it’s a quarantine, I guess it’s okay. But all those stores you get to stay in? Wow. I’d hang out in Barnes & Noble (not in this book) or the movie theater.

Cover Art Review: Not very thrilling. Looks like crumpled paper. Not the kind of book I would buy based off the cover. Maybe guys would like it. The inner cover’s okay.

~Haley G

The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch

Publisher: Scholastic

Genera: Dystopian Sci-fi

Subjects: Survival, viruses, futuristic

Length: 278 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

Summary/ product description: “With its crumbling Starbucks and rusting theme parks, The Eleventh Plague hits disturbingly close to home, vividly depicting a world that has nose-dived into a futuristic nightmare. Fifteen-year-old Stephen Quinn struggles to define his rules of survival in Jeff Hirsch’s excellent, taut debut novel.” — Suzanne Collins, author of The Hunger Games
In an America devastated by war and plague, the only way to survive is to keep moving. In the aftermath of a war, America’s landscape has been ravaged and two thirds of the population left dead from a vicious strain of influenza. Fifteen-year-old Stephen Quinn and his family were among the few that survived and became salvagers, roaming the country in search of material to trade for food and other items essential for survival. But when Stephen’s grandfather dies and his father falls into a coma after an accident, Stephen finds his way to Settler’s Landing, a community that seems too good to be true, where there are real houses, barbecues, a school, and even baseball games. Then Stephen meets strong, defiant, mischievous Jenny, who refuses to accept things as they are. And when they play a prank that goes horribly wrong, chaos erupts, and they find themselves in the midst of a battle that will change Settler’s Landing forever.”

My Rating: ê ê ê 1/2

My Review: The beginning of this book was very good. It pulled me in right away, despite the san-serif type face that usually annoys me in books. This book was an easy read. The characters were well done and interesting. There was humor. The descriptions of places and surroundings were interesting. The only problem was that I was a bit disappointed about the whole small town thing. I think it would have been more interesting if the was more mystery and a sinister feeling to the town. The town was just too normal. It was almost like how a town would have been a hundred years ago, with a one room school house and farming. I always want more, but really, this book was good. It’s just that the insides did not match the cover after part 1. The character that had the best personality was Jenny. She was crazy outgoing and a bit of a pyro. A very strong female character. Oh, and she’s Chinese. Apparently the U.S. went to war with China, and China created the 11^th plague, or super flu.

So, if there is a sequel, I will read it. I recommend this book to people who like dystopian books.

Cover Art Review: I love the photography/photo manipulation one this cover. It’s so “life after people.” Barren, scary, yet cool. And it’s metallic on top of all the awesomeness! I wonder if they had to set all the rusted car and the stones up to take the photo, or if the photo manipulated (photo shopped) them together. It’s very convincing. (but the Ferris wheel appears to be going under ground. Bad placement possibly?)

~Haley G