Savage Drift by Emmy Laybourne

Series: Monument 14 (bk. 3)

Genera(s): Dystopian Sci-fi

Subjects: apocalyptic, near future, survival

Setting: Canada, Missouri, various other states

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, rotating between Dean (past tense, serif type) and Josie (present tense, san-serif type)

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 305 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: MacMillan: Feiwel & Friends

Summary/ product description: “The stunningly fierce conclusion to Emmy Laybourne's Monument 14 trilogy.

The survivors of the Monument 14 have finally made it to the safety of a Canadian refugee camp. Dean and Alex are cautiously starting to hope that a happy ending might be possible.

But for Josie, separated from the group and trapped in a brutal prison camp for exposed Type Os, things have gone from bad to worse. Traumatized by her experiences, she has given up all hope of rescue or safety.

Meanwhile, scared by the government's unusual interest in her pregnancy, Astrid (with her two protectors, Dean and Jake in tow) joins Niko on his desperate quest to be reunited with his lost love Josie.

Author Emmy Laybourne reaches new heights of tension and romance in this action-packed conclusion to the Monument 14 trilogy.”

My Review:  In this epic finale to the Monument 14 trilogy, we get to read the story from Dean and Josie’s perspectives. Dean is in a refugee camp in Canada. Josie is in a camp in Missouri for people with the blood type O that have been exposed to the compounds. Astrid, Alex, Sahlia and the rest of the kids that came with them are also in Canada.

Astrid, who’s pregnant, is having cramps. The government is taking pregnant women from the camp to study them and how exposure affects their pregnancy. Dean, Astrid, Jake and Niko leave the camp. They also heard about where Josie was, so Niko is going after her. The story becomes a fast paced journey filled with action and gruesome events. It’s exhilarating and everything you’d want the final book to be.

I was so surprised that we have Josie’s perspective this time. Her personality may have been affected by her killing someone, but she still deeply care for people. Mario is in the camp with her, though he’s a AB blood type. He insisted to be her sponsor. The camp is such a horrify places with gangs, sexual assaults and fighting. It’s s prison. I really hated how that guard treated Josie. He was such an a-hole.

There’s a touch of romance, and heart-warming scenes. There’s also times where Dean feels a sense of normalcy, like when the visit Denny’s. There’s fun and adventure. Hitchhiking, fighting, babies. There’s aso these things called Drift, which are moving clouds of the gas compound that affects different blood types. There’s a lot of sad parts too. Deaths and heart-stopping moments. This is a killer ending to the series. If only all dystopian series had endings this good.

If you love Ashfall by Mike Mullin, Quarantine: The Loners by Lex Thomas, No Safety in Numbers by Dayna Lorentz, Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick, or Blackout by Robison Wells, be sure to read the Monument 14 series. Now that all the books are out, try a series binge. They’re short and fast easy reads. Also check out the novellas/short stories: Jake and the other Girl, Dress Your Marines in White, and What Mario Scietto Says.

Did anyone with a hardcover copy notice the map in the back end paper of the cover? The map of the USA? Notice that Monument, Colorado is not where’s it’s supposed to be. It’s placed in Wyoming. Someone goofed up and didn’t know their states. Colorado and Wymoning look alike. Both are rectangles of the same size, but the Four Corner region Wyoming is not.

Cover Art Review:  This cover reflect the previous books' covers well. Looks like a prison camp.

Three by Kristen Simmons

Series: Article 5 (bk. 3)

Genera(s): Dystopian Sci-fi/Romance

Subjects: resistance to government, fugitives, survival, totalitarian dictatorships, near future

Setting: The east coast

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, past tense, Ember Miller

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 380 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: MacMillan: Tor

Summary/ product description: “Ember Miller and Chase Jennings are ready to stop running. After weeks spent in hiding as two of the Bureau of Reformation’s most wanted criminals, they have finally arrived at the safe house, where they hope to live a safe and quiet existence.

And all that’s left is smoking ruins.

Devastated by the demolition of their last hope, Ember and Chase follow the only thing left to them—tracks leading away from the wreckage. The only sign that there may have been survivors.

With their high profile, they know they can’t stay out in the open for long. They take shelter in the wilderness and amidst the ruins of abandoned cities as they follow the tracks down the coast, eventually finding refugees from the destroyed safe house. Among them is someone from Chase’s past—someone he never thought he’d see again.

Banding together, they search for a place to hide, aiming for a settlement a few of them have heard about…a settlement that is rumored to house the nebulous organization known as Three. The very group that has provided Ember with a tiny ray of hope ever since she was first forced on the run.

Three is responsible for the huge network of underground safe houses and resistance groups across the country. And they may offer Ember her only chance at telling the world her story.

At fighting back.”

My Review:  Three is the final book in the Article 5 trilogy. The second book was Breaking Point. This series is near-future dystopian, set after a war caused our government to switch to a totalitarian dictatorship. There are strict laws about marriage and having children. Article 5 is specifically about any child born out of wedlock. Since Ember had a single mom, Ember is considered an Article 5 violation. Her mother was killed in the previous book for this and this set Ember out on her journey.

This series also has some hot romance. I loved Chase, Ember’s love interest. He reminds me of Tobias/Four from Divergent. He’s tough, protective and care so much about Ember. He treats her right and respects her. He used to be a solider, but he’s a fugitive like Ember. In this book they take their relationship further. No love triangles, no break-ups & make-ups.

I like some of the side characters too. Sean was really funny. He liked to joke around. He and Rebecca were together. I liked Tucker, despite his issues. In the previous book I liked him too. I think he really redeemed himself in the end.

This book had its bad points too. I got bored a lot because it was moving kind of slow. It didn’t really speed up till around page 150. There was action and adventure. They went to different state in the eastern US. They went in disguise. They met new people. They stayed in a town called Endurance. That part was pretty interesting. I just had a hard time ready everything. Some pages I skimmed. I feel like I’ve been in such a reading slump. Maybe I should have refreshed myself on what happened in the previous book first.

I recommend this series to fans of Divergent, Shatter Me, Delirium, Eve, and other dystopian series. This series in much more realistic and believable that other dystopian books. It has very little sci-fi, no advanced tech or paranormal stuff. No environmental changes. It’s just war stuff.

Cover Art Review: Looks like a window and Ember and Chase are looking at what’s going on outside. It fits with the previous covers. Also, Nekro is an awesome cover illustrator.  

Sky On Fire by Emmy Laybourne

Series: Monument 14 (bk. 2)

Genera: Dystopian Sci-Fi

Subjects: survival, post-apocalyptic, stores, Colorado

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 215 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: Macmillan: Feiwel & Friends

Summary/ product description: “Trapped in a superstore by a series of escalating disasters, including a monster hailstorm and terrifying chemical weapons spill, brothers Dean and Alex learned how to survive and worked together with twelve other kids to build a refuge from the chaos. But then strangers appeared, destroying their fragile peace, and bringing both fresh disaster and a glimmer of hope.
Knowing that the chemical weapons saturating the air outside will turn him into a bloodthirsty rage monster, Dean decides to stay in the safety of the store with Astrid and some of the younger kids. But their sanctuary has already been breached once. . . .
Meanwhile, Alex, determined to find their parents, heads out into the darkness and devastation with Niko and some others in a recently repaired school bus. If they can get to Denver International Airport, they might be evacuated to safety. But the outside world is even worse than they expected. . . .”

 

My Review: I enjoyed this short, fast paced sequel and I wasn’t entirely sure if there was a 3^rd book, because the ending seemed to wrap things up. But there is a 3^rd book, called Savage Drift. I will of course read it next year when it comes out. Still, I enjoyed the 1^st book more because a lot more survival stuff happened, it being the 1^st book and all.

I liked how the story switched between Dean and Alex’s 1^st person perspectives. They have such distinct voices because Dean is 16 and Alex is 13. Dean was the only narrator of the 1^st book. Alex’s perspective was in a condensed san-serif typeface that wasn’t really the best type to use for body copy. I still enjoyed it.

The pacing of this story was great. Maybe a bit too fast. I feel like the book could have been longer, but sometimes short is good. I read the 2 short stories before this, which were only about 30 pages each. I didn’t like them because they were in 3^rd person, but they gave good background info on the chemical and what Jake was doing.

Some people think the characters are one-dimensional or something. They seemed well developed to me. They have their own personalities. Emmy really knows how to make characters that act their age. And they are pretty funny sometimes. You got to watch and listen to little kids to know how they behave. They story seems well researched.

I loved the way she chose to make the chemical affect different blood-types differently. That was very creative. Better than making everyone raging zombies (Only the type Os). This made if an effective and realistic survival story. Also, there’s a rubber eating fungus, which was cool and kind of gross.

I like the setting because I’ve been to Colorado. The Denver/Aurora area to be specific. I could picture the dark and decimated world. And the fact that it’s 10 years in the future only makes it more relatable.

Overall, great story. Similar to Quarantine by Lex Thomas and No Safety in Numbers by Dayna Lorentz and Ashfall by Mike Mullin. If you like survival stories or post-apocalyptic stories, you’ll enjoy this series.

Cover Art Review: Perfect cover. The bus that many of the kids are on and the white tire-eating fungus and the dark sky. It’s a well done post-apocalyptic illustration.

 

 

Article 5 by Kristen Simmons

Publisher: Tor Teen

Series: Article 5 (bk. 1)

Genera: Sci-fi Dystopian

Subjects: Resistance to Government, dictatorships

Length: 362 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

Summary/ product description: “New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC have been abandoned.

The Bill of Rights has been revoked, and replaced with the Moral Statutes.

There are no more police — instead, there are soldiers. There are no more fines for bad behavior — instead, there are arrests, trials, and maybe worse. People who get arrested don’t usually come back.

17-year-old Ember Miller is old enough to remember that things weren’t always this way. Living with her rebellious single mother, it’s hard to forget that people weren’t always arrested for reading the wrong books or staying out after dark. That life in the United States used to be different.

In the three years since the war ended, Ember has perfected the art of keeping a low profile. She knows how to get the things she needs, like food stamps and hand-me-down clothes, and how to pass the random home inspections by the Federal Bureau of Reformation. Her life is as close to peaceful as circumstances allow. That is, until her mother is arrested for noncompliance with Article 5 of the Moral Statutes. And what’s worse, one of the arresting officers is none other than Chase Jennings… the only boy Ember has ever loved.”

My Rating: ê ê ê ê

My Review: This book was a fast-paced, action-packed, gripping read. Totally not what I expected from a book I just found out about. It had adventure too. Ember and Chase did a lot of traveling. I love it when the characters are on the road. You never know what to expect. There’s always a twist and turn where ever the go. A lot happened in this book, and I wanted to savor it, so it took a few days. The chapters are kind of long, but the pages fly by once you get into it. And Chase…he is just an amazing complex character! He is like Alex from Angelburn or Alex from Delirium (haha Alexes). I can’t explain it, so read it!

Cover Art Review: I really thing the photoshopping here is excellent. I does look like a bombed out city. A the reversed-out title is pretty cool.


~Haley G