Amazon Burning by Victoria Griffith

Publication Date: October 1, 2014

Series: Standalone

Genera(s): Thriller/Mystery/Romance

Subjects: reporters, rainforests, murder, suspense, adventure, travel, wildlife

Setting: Brazil: The Amazon Rainforest, Rio de Janeiro and Boa Vista

POV/Tense: 3^rd person POV, past tense: Emma

Age/Grade Level: New Adult (17+)

Length: 338 pgs. (in the Paperback ARC copy the gave me)

HC/PB: Ebook & Paperback

List Price: $4.49/$11.05

Publisher: Astor + Blue Editions

Summary/ product description: "ASPIRING JOURNALIST SWEPT INTO HIGH PROFILE MURDER MYSTERY IN THE AMAZON"

"Victoria Griffith’s debut novel is a triumph! Amazon Burning is a spellbinding tale of love, intrigue, and murder set in the imperiled Amazon rainforest. A young woman’s coming of age story is deftly woven into this vast ecological conflict, as indigenous tribes struggle to defend their land against the loggers, ranchers, and miners who are destroying it. A nonstop thrill ride that will leave you wanting more."

--Courtney Farrell, author of Enhanced

 “When 22-year-old aspiring journalist, Emma Cohen, is forced to flee the comforts of her NYU student life, she maneuvers an internship from her father at his newspaper in Rio de Janeiro. There, Emma is immediately swept into a major news story--and a life-threatening situation--when a famous jungle environmentalist, Milton Silva, is mysteriously murdered.

Emma must now enter the Amazon rainforest with her father to investigate; both awed by the enormity and beauty of the Amazon, and appalled by its reckless destruction. Not only will Emma have to brave the primal world of the Amazon, she must fight to survive the kidnappers, villains, corrupt activists, and indigenous tribes that lay in wait along the ever-twisting trail of the murder case. Stretched to the brink, it s up to Emma, her father and the dreamy news photographer, Jimmy, to unravel the mystery and live to tell the tale. 

Amazon Burning by Victoria Griffith is a spectacular debut Young Adult novel. Griffith's powerful rendering of the Amazon rainforest forms the perfect, wildly exotic backdrop for this extraordinary tale of a young urban woman coming of age in the midst of intense conflict.”

My Review:  This book is different from what I usually read. I usually only read paranormal, fantasy and sci-fi books. The only realist thrillers I’ve read recently were murder mysteries or about hackers. In Amazon Burning the main character Emma is an aspiring reporter and is interning with her reporter father in Brazil. I really enjoyed the setting in this book. It was the most appealing thing and the reason why I said I was interested. The different animals and plants that I’ve only seen in picture or in movies like Rio (the animated movie about a blue Macaw). The setting and atmosphere was well written. It was like a mental vacation to a place I may never get to go to.

The plot was interesting enough. I never guess who killed Milton. The book entwined other issues related to the Amazon, including illegal poaching and trafficking of exotic animals as pets or for “magical” properties. Deforestation and burnings for ranchers was also brought up. There were indigenous people described in the book. They had strange ideas and traditions, but are not savages. They are called the Yanomami and they like in the rainforest and hunt and plant small farms to survive. Some have horrible diseases like malaria.

The romance between Emma and Jimmy is supposed to be a big part of the book, but to me it felt minor. I was turned off by the part that mentioned oral sex. As someone who ever only reads YA, NA is still pretty new and I don’t like erotic stuff or thing that I going to disgust me. I basically skipped through those because I did not want the mental image. I like kissing and there’s some of that. I feel like the romance is kind of unrealistic though. Emma’s personality seems all over the place. Is she really so hot for someone when she has more important things going on? I think the author should have taken it slower with the romance. Plus Emma’s having issues with a professor at NYU who sexually harassed her and is trying not to look slutty in case someone’s watching her.

This book did have some entertainment value and it’s worth a read for anyone who’s a fan of thriller movie or like books about travel and social and environmental issue. It’s thoughtful and anthropological. I still feel like there are some things that could have been improved. The characters felt kind of flat and not worked out. Maybe it’s just the 3^rd person POV in this case. It was a change of pace and different from my usual genera.

Cover Art Review: The cover is good for a romantic thriller, but that girl looks nothing like the main character Emma.

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of Amazon Burning, then you can get at at the following online retailers:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Burning-Victoria-Griffith/dp/1938231945

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/amazon-burning-victoria-griffith/1118945099?ean=9781938231940

Astor + Blue Publishing Company: http://www.astorandblue.com

Doomed by Tracy Deebs

Genera: Sci-fi Thriller

Subjects: computer games, technology, hackers, cyber-terrorism, Austin, Texas

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 470 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Summary/ product description: “Pandora’s just your average teen, glued to her cell phone and laptop, surfing Facebook and e-mailing with her friends, until the day her long-lost father sends her a link to a mysterious site featuring twelve photos of her as a child. Unable to contain her curiosity, Pandora enters the site, where she is prompted to play her favorite virtual-reality game, Zero Day. This unleashes a global computer virus that plunges the whole world into panic: suddenly, there is no Internet. No cell phones. No utilities, traffic lights, hospitals, law enforcement. Pandora teams up with handsome stepbrothers Eli and Theo to enter the virtual world of Zero Day. Simultaneously, she continues to follow the photographs from her childhood in an attempt to beat the game and track down her father, her one key to saving the world as we know it. Part The Matrix, part retelling of the Pandora myth, Doomed has something for gaming fans, dystopian fans, and romance fans alike.”

My Rating: êêê

My Review: Reading a long, heavy book can really affect the experience. I loved Tracy Deebs’ mermaid books, and was hoping that this dystopia-like thriller would be just as good. It definitely was not what I expected. There was no virtual reality. It was just a computer game. And the game was really all about saving the world from climate change. Pandora is definitely a madman’s daughter.

My favorite thing about this book was the adventurous thrill ride. Theo must have hotwired like 6 different cars along the way. Also I could decide who I liked better, Eli or Theo. Eli I liked at 1^st, but Theo really showed how much he cared about helping Pandora. They both went along with this cross-country scavenger hunt that was also connected to beating the Pandora’s Box game. They started out in Austin, Texas, and went to New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, and Wyoming. Pandora had to remember the times she spent with her father to find out where to go.

A big part of the Pandora’s Box game was mythology. The creatures and being fought in the game were things like Cyclopes and giants and even gods and titans. The story itself is a retelling of the Pandora’s Box myth. And it was constructed that was by her father.

The issues I had with this book was the over-the-top reactions at the beginning and some of the inaccuracies related to survival and technological stuff. The author may have done her research for the most part, but not everything it correct. (For example: Pandora asks Theo when’s the last time he got a Tetanus shot after he’s bitten by a dog because she’s afraid it may be rabid. Rabies shots are what she should have said. Tetanus is for bacteria found on rust.)

The book was enjoyable for the most part, with some small issues. I recommend it to people who enjoyed Don’t Turn Around by Michelle Gagnon.  This book is pretty unique, so I can’t think of other specific book similar to it.

Cover Art Review: Don’t like this cover other than the colors. I hate the use of a bevel emboss on the title when it’s in really embossed. It looks poorly designed. I liked the original green cover with the girl and 2 guys on it.

 

~Haley G