Authors: Emmy Laybourne
Publication Date: May 28th 2013
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Pages: 215
Link to Goodreads: Here
Part of a Series: Book 2 of Monument 14
Plot: 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. . .
Reading period: May 6, 2017 - May 8, 2017
Review
Here it is. The second book of my challenge of the week: read a trilogy!
The second book picks up right after the first one finishes so SPOILERS if you haven’t read Monument 14.
Since the fourteen kids separated into two groups (Dean, Astrid, Chloe and the twins stayed in the store while Miko, Alex, Batiste, Max, Ulysses, Sahalia and Josie went to Denver with the bus) we have two different point of view. One from Dean, like in the first book, and the second one from his brother Alex, sort like a diary since he’s describing the actions to his brother.
After reading the prequel (Dress your marines in white) I understood more the use of the chemical gas and the effect it has on different blood types. If at first I wasn’t happy with this story line, in this second book it really paid off. I loved the dynamic with the characters and how they grow furthermore in this book, especially Sahalia. I didn’t really like her in the first book, but in this one she wasn’t too bad.
The triangle Dean, Astrid, Jake is a bit of a cliché but given the circumstances it’s easy to forget that they are just teenagers.
It was interesting to see how the world was outside of the safety of the store. Of course, being a post-apocalyptic world, people are panicking and not exactly behaving like saints. We have a group of teenagers that make life difficult to both groups, but also good people like Mario Scietto, who quickly became one of my favourite characters.
The book is as fast pacing as the first one, especially in the last chapters as the change between Alex’s and Dean’s point of view is very fast.
It’s going to be an emotional roller coaster and then we end with a beautiful epilogue and I think: “this is a lovely conclusion but isn’t there a third book?” And bam… another cliffhanger!
RATING
No comments:
Post a Comment