Dead Zone by Robison Wells

Series: Blackout (bk. 2, Final Book)

Genera: Near-Future Dystopian Sci-fi/Thriller

Subjects: terrorists, viruses, superpowers, abilities, war, military

Setting: Washington and Oregon, the Cascade Mountains

POV/Tense: 3^rd person POV, past tense: Jack and Aubrey, mainly, but also: Krezi, Tabitha, Alec and others

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 373 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen

Summary/ product description: “Homeland meets Marie Lu’s Legend in the explosive sequel to Blackout, which #1 New York Times bestselling author Ally Condie called “a thrilling combination of Wells’s trademark twists and terror. Fantastic!”

America is at war—and five teens are caught in the crossfire.

It began with a virus. Then a series of attacks erupted across the nation. Now the true invasion has begun, and a handful of teenagers with impossible powers are America’s only defense.

Robison Wells blew readers away with his first novel, Variant, which Publishers Weekly called “a chilling and masterful debut” in a starred review. In Dead Zone, he delivers his most nail-bitingly tense read yet—and an electrifying conclusion to a two-book series that’s perfect for fans of The Maze Runner and I Am Number Four.

Praise for Blackout

“Wells knows how to snare readers’ attention and hold them spellbound.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“In a world where terrorism is an increasing threat, this fast-paced book brings it home.”—Kirkus Reviews

“This eerie look at an all-too-possible future is tense and gripping.”—Michael Grant, New York Times bestselling author of the Gone series”

My Review:  Dead Zone is an awesome sequel, but still not as good as Blackout. I’m fine with that because I really enjoyed both. This 2 book series is filled with action, danger and super-powered teens. It’s a real thrill ride and great for fans of X-Men and the Gone series by Michael Grant. These teens are called Lambda’s by the military. They got their powers from a virus.

I really enjoyed the characters. Aubrey is my favorite. She’s got the ability so go unnoticed by those within a certain radius. It isn’t true invisibility, but it makes her a good spy and assassin, and that’s why the military wants to use her. She’s in love with Jack, who has enhances senses. They have a good romance together. He uses his super hearing to relay what Aubrey is saying when she’s on a mission. There’s Krenzi, who can heat things up and make them explode or light on fire. Rich can understand how any machine work and use it with expertise. Tabitha has telepathy and can talk to people in their minds, but they can’t talk back (she can’t read minds). Alec can implant memories.

I didn’t enjoy this as much as Black Out because the first book introduced us to what was happening and the characters, and this book centers around Russia’s invasion into the US and tracking down a specific Lambda. It’s still an interesting plotline. I really like how the team has to work together and use their skills. Some may not like what they are doing and what they are ordered to do. Teens should not have to kill people. It’s questions the ethics of war and right vs. wrong. The deeper message of this book is do what you think is right. Help save your country, and keep people alive. Don’t let people use you for their own gain.

Dead Zone is the 2^nd and final book in this duology. I hope Robison Wells has something just as awesome for use to read in the future. His other series includes Variant and Feedback. His brother is Dan Wells, author of the Partials series. I recommend this series to fans of: X-Men, The Gone series by Michael Grant, Shatter Me series by Tahereh Mafi, Reboot by Amy Tintera, The Darkest Minds series by Alexandra Braken, and other sci-fi series that include teens with abilities or that are soldiers and spies.

Cover Art Review: Nice explosion image. The red makes it look scary.

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.

No Dawn Without Darkness by Dayna Lorentz

Series: No Safety in Numbers (bk. 3)

Genera(s): Dystopian/Sci-fi Thriller

Subjects: viruses, quarantine, shopping malls, survival

Setting: Upstate New York, a mall called Shops at Stonecliff

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, Present tense, rotating between Ginger, Ryan, Shay, and Marco. Plus The Senator.

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 232 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover 

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: Penguin: Kathy Dawson Books

Summary/ product description: “Perfect for fans of Life As We Knew It and Michael Grant's Gone--this conclusion to the No Safety in Numbers trilogy will make your heart race, your palms sweat, and will leave you wondering exactly what you'd be willing to sacrifice in order to survive.

First--a bomb released a deadly flu virus and the entire mall was quarantined.

Next--the medical teams evacuated and the windows were boarded up just before the virus mutated.

Now--the power is out and the mall is thrown into darkness. Shay, Marco, Lexi, Ryan, and Ginger aren't the same people they were two weeks ago. Just like the virus, they've had to change in order to survive. And not all for the better. When no one can see your face, you can be anyone you want to be, and, when the doors finally open, they may not like what they've become.

If you think it's silly to be afraid of the dark, you're wrong.

Very wrong.”

My Review:  A definite improvement over the second book, No Easy Ways Out, which was excruciatingly long. No Dawn Without Darkness is a quick read, only 232 pages long. It’s a thrilling conclusion to an interesting dystopian series set inside a mega-mall.

What also made it a great finale was that the author wrote in 1^st person this time. The first two books were written in 3^rd person, which I’m not a fan of most of the time. This is such a major change. I don’t know why the author made this change. Maybe she read my review or other reviews and decided to improve her style. This made me wish that all the books were in 1^st person. You get such a deeper perspective into the emotions and thoughts of a character through 1^st person narration. We got to see Ginger, Ryan, Shay and Marco’s POVs. No Lexi 1^st person POV. We also got voice recordings from the Senator, and interviews of the quarantine survivors.

Most of the book does take place in the mall, but a major chunk of it is after-the-fact. How does experiencing quarantine affect a person once they leave? How does one go about living their life? Can you ever feel normal again? We got to see how the character coped. I feel like the climax happened a bit early on, and that maybe the rest of it could have been shorter. Maybe part the previous book could have been the beginning of this book.

If you didn’t enjoy the previous book you shouldn’t feel intimidated with reading this last book. It’s a good ending. It’s not boring. It wraps things up and gives you closure. Maybe it’s not worth buying, but check it out or borrow it. You won’t be disappointed.

If you haven’t read No Easy Way Out, then you may like it if you enjoy thrilling dystopia books. If you liked Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne, or the Quarantine series by Lex Thomas, thins book share some similarities. This series is very realistic and the quarantine was caused by a terrorist attack. There are no zombies. Just a virus. If you saw the movie Contagion, it’s like that, but in a mall setting. The mall is in upstate New York, but similar to the Mall of America in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which I’ve been too. It’s a suffocating kind of dystopian setting, and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.

Cover Art Review: Simple, fits with the previous book’s covers. I like the blue, but still it’s not the kind of cover I’d buy a book based off of. Show me a mall with people and wreckage.