marryallthepeople's review
4.0
Man, this unknown book captivated me! I picked up this paperbook just before heading to bed ... I had daydreams/nightmarse about this situation and was amazed how a "young adult" book could captivate me and make me think grand thoughts about the future and the role of children/education/government etc.
Surprising find!
Surprising find!
secre's review
4.0
What do you do when the worst happens? When two boys storm into your detention, shoot your teacher in the head and get the rest of the class to file out to their potential deaths? What do you do when your decisions led to a child being shot because your chances of survival were better without her? What do you do when you have a nasty suspicion that your own brother is in that room full of children and that he’s holding a gun? Most importantly, what do you do when nothing makes sense? When something simply doesn’t add up and there seem to be reasons behind the reasons?
Siege is gritty and violet, it’s powerful and unrelenting, grabbing hold of you by the gut, refusing to let go until the last page has been turned. It’s 2020 UK and the right wing nut jobs are in control, austerity measures have segregated society. Free healthcare is a thing of the past and Leah’s mother is mire deep in depression with no available help, leaving Leah to run the family. Parents with no money have no choice but to send their children to the most basic of schools, and perhaps even that slim chance of education is now at risk from the Volunteer Programs. By Volunteer Programs, read enforced slave labour at the expense of an education because really, what are these kids good for?
From the moment the first shots are fired to the bitter end this is a devastating roller coaster ride as you travel with Leah through the air ducts, trying to stay alive but also desperately trying to get out and even more importantly perhaps, find answers. No punches are pulled. The Lock Down system that is meant to be so good at stopping people from getting in is now what I trapping Leah in and despite contact with the outside world, nobody looks to be shutting it down. The Eternal Knights have gained control of the CCTV and therefore the corridors and Leah finds out early that mistakes will be costly. From the air vents to the corridors, your world narrows down to this one day and this single girl’s fear and bravery.
But what is perhaps most effective of all at drawing you in, is that this isn’t just a school shooting story; so well known by now in America at least. It is of course a school shooting story and has all of the intense drama and nail biting tension of a fight for your life against your own school peers. But it isn’t just that, it’s far deeper. And where Sarah Mussi really succeeds here is in creating a political scene outside of the school walls, despite all of the action taking place within one day and never leaving those walls. Because right from the very start, Leah starts asking some difficult questions; where did those boys get the money for the guns? Where did they get the brains to plan this? Something isn’t sitting right. Someone has an ulterior motive.
Narrated from a first person perspective, you are stuck inside Leah Jacksons head from beginning to end and it is therefore a remarkably good job that Leah Jackson isn’t overly annoying. Her character is well done although perhaps at times a trifle inconsistent as sometimes her vocabulary and thought processes seem to belong to a young teenager rather than sixteen years old. Other times her thought processes and conclusions are far more adult and with more apparent life experience behind them than she actually has. Her vocabulary is rather limited as well, although that’s to be expected in a world where we don’t bother to educate the poor kids. Overall, she is a realistic teenager and you easily get behind her and into her head as she crawls and scurries, trying to survive but also trying to save.
There is one thing to really remember before picking this book up though and that is that it truly doesn’t pull its punches. People die. Children die. Children as young as six are executed against the bookcase for being scared and in the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s a fast paced and dramatic book that doesn’t let you think, doesn’t let you breathe as it propels you through the worst day in Leah’s life and you are in her thoughts, in her head constantly. There is no respite. It’s a stunningly powerful and immersive book but don’t get me wrong, it is disturbing and it is terrifying. Not least because it could happen. Give the Tory’s another ten years in power and it could happen. The events are not all that far away from reality. And that is perhaps more scary than the violence.
===Do I Recommend?===
Yes. This is the second of Sarah Mussi’s books that I have read with the first being _Riot_. That I found to be overly simplistic with a soppy romance arc ruining it and an unrealistic main character who also happened to be extremely annoying. I’m glad that I didn’t let it stop me from reading this. Because this is disturbing and powerful, gutsy and gripping and was read in one sitting from beginning to end. It isn’t a book for young children for obvious reasons but it’s one of the more powerful teenage dystopian fiction books I have read in a long while.
Siege is gritty and violet, it’s powerful and unrelenting, grabbing hold of you by the gut, refusing to let go until the last page has been turned. It’s 2020 UK and the right wing nut jobs are in control, austerity measures have segregated society. Free healthcare is a thing of the past and Leah’s mother is mire deep in depression with no available help, leaving Leah to run the family. Parents with no money have no choice but to send their children to the most basic of schools, and perhaps even that slim chance of education is now at risk from the Volunteer Programs. By Volunteer Programs, read enforced slave labour at the expense of an education because really, what are these kids good for?
From the moment the first shots are fired to the bitter end this is a devastating roller coaster ride as you travel with Leah through the air ducts, trying to stay alive but also desperately trying to get out and even more importantly perhaps, find answers. No punches are pulled. The Lock Down system that is meant to be so good at stopping people from getting in is now what I trapping Leah in and despite contact with the outside world, nobody looks to be shutting it down. The Eternal Knights have gained control of the CCTV and therefore the corridors and Leah finds out early that mistakes will be costly. From the air vents to the corridors, your world narrows down to this one day and this single girl’s fear and bravery.
But what is perhaps most effective of all at drawing you in, is that this isn’t just a school shooting story; so well known by now in America at least. It is of course a school shooting story and has all of the intense drama and nail biting tension of a fight for your life against your own school peers. But it isn’t just that, it’s far deeper. And where Sarah Mussi really succeeds here is in creating a political scene outside of the school walls, despite all of the action taking place within one day and never leaving those walls. Because right from the very start, Leah starts asking some difficult questions; where did those boys get the money for the guns? Where did they get the brains to plan this? Something isn’t sitting right. Someone has an ulterior motive.
Narrated from a first person perspective, you are stuck inside Leah Jacksons head from beginning to end and it is therefore a remarkably good job that Leah Jackson isn’t overly annoying. Her character is well done although perhaps at times a trifle inconsistent as sometimes her vocabulary and thought processes seem to belong to a young teenager rather than sixteen years old. Other times her thought processes and conclusions are far more adult and with more apparent life experience behind them than she actually has. Her vocabulary is rather limited as well, although that’s to be expected in a world where we don’t bother to educate the poor kids. Overall, she is a realistic teenager and you easily get behind her and into her head as she crawls and scurries, trying to survive but also trying to save.
There is one thing to really remember before picking this book up though and that is that it truly doesn’t pull its punches. People die. Children die. Children as young as six are executed against the bookcase for being scared and in the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s a fast paced and dramatic book that doesn’t let you think, doesn’t let you breathe as it propels you through the worst day in Leah’s life and you are in her thoughts, in her head constantly. There is no respite. It’s a stunningly powerful and immersive book but don’t get me wrong, it is disturbing and it is terrifying. Not least because it could happen. Give the Tory’s another ten years in power and it could happen. The events are not all that far away from reality. And that is perhaps more scary than the violence.
===Do I Recommend?===
Yes. This is the second of Sarah Mussi’s books that I have read with the first being _Riot_. That I found to be overly simplistic with a soppy romance arc ruining it and an unrealistic main character who also happened to be extremely annoying. I’m glad that I didn’t let it stop me from reading this. Because this is disturbing and powerful, gutsy and gripping and was read in one sitting from beginning to end. It isn’t a book for young children for obvious reasons but it’s one of the more powerful teenage dystopian fiction books I have read in a long while.
chaz_reads's review
5.0
I now look at this book, just sitting on my bed, minding it's own business, and all I can think of is how she ended it. Fantastically, in my opinion. Devastating, yes, but fantastic. Goddammit.
I also love that it's a dystopian that's not all about being a dystopian. It's just a little detail thrown in to help the story and to help you understand it. It's not based on the fact that it's in the future and that the world is going to hell, and to be honest, I didn't even know it WAS a dystopian until i was at least a quarter of the way through it.
I also love that it's a dystopian that's not all about being a dystopian. It's just a little detail thrown in to help the story and to help you understand it. It's not based on the fact that it's in the future and that the world is going to hell, and to be honest, I didn't even know it WAS a dystopian until i was at least a quarter of the way through it.
exlibrary_gabbie's review
3.0
I read this book in one sitting. I enjoyed reading it. Loved the ending because it so how real life is a bit as in real life situations there aren't always happy endings.
ellabowkett's review
Brilliant! Read this aged 11 and found it to be the most exciting book I’d ever read. The beginning and flash-backs about the morning before school were pretty boring as they drew away from the intense, speedy action of the main plot. But the rest of the book was great, I cringed slightly at the attempts by the author to write as a teenager but it wasn’t a major issue. Overall, I enjoyed it massively.
missusb21's review
Hard to read, harder to review, difficult to rate.
Confronting, disturbing, depressing and ultimately heart- breaking.
Leah's determination to save everyone is courageous. Not a book for everyone.
Confronting, disturbing, depressing and ultimately heart- breaking.
Leah's determination to save everyone is courageous. Not a book for everyone.
shadow_spines's review
4.0
Also published on my blog here
I was intrigued by this GORGEOUS book as soon as I heard about it. School shootings fall into that ‘issues’ category of things that don’t get talked about very often but really should. I like to go for books that almost guarantee an emotional read, and Siege certainly didn’t disappoint!
The first two-thirds of the book were entirely gripping, and brought up a lot of emotions about what it may be like to experience a shooting, and the choices you make. We follow Leah from the beginning, where she manages to hide from the initial horror, and then later as she tries to figure out how to help others. Should she leave her hiding place to help others that have been shot? Or try to get out and help? Or even, try to take down the shooters?
I can’t imagine what it would be like to experience that kind of event. Living in England, I have not seen the ‘gun culture’ that is more apparent in the US, but it is getting worse here. The level of shock and fear that people feel must be overwhelming, and that raw emotion definitely comes across in the book. There are points in the book where I just felt… horrified? That this could actually be a true story was at the forefront of my mind, and it made the story very intense.
I do have to say that the last third of the book did irritate me a bit. Trying to tie up the story and the motivation behind the shooting, the story just went in a way that I didn’t expect and couldn’t really believe. It did make the plot different and reveal a kind of ‘hidden agenda’, but I just felt it was unnecessary. To me, the book was powerful enough without it, and it kind of detracted from the original message.
Siege was a book that took my breath away. I was hooked from the start and could not put the book down. Although I didn’t agree with the ending, I think that it covers a very important topic, and I would implore teenagers to read about the impact shootings can have. 4 sofas!
I was intrigued by this GORGEOUS book as soon as I heard about it. School shootings fall into that ‘issues’ category of things that don’t get talked about very often but really should. I like to go for books that almost guarantee an emotional read, and Siege certainly didn’t disappoint!
The first two-thirds of the book were entirely gripping, and brought up a lot of emotions about what it may be like to experience a shooting, and the choices you make. We follow Leah from the beginning, where she manages to hide from the initial horror, and then later as she tries to figure out how to help others. Should she leave her hiding place to help others that have been shot? Or try to get out and help? Or even, try to take down the shooters?
I can’t imagine what it would be like to experience that kind of event. Living in England, I have not seen the ‘gun culture’ that is more apparent in the US, but it is getting worse here. The level of shock and fear that people feel must be overwhelming, and that raw emotion definitely comes across in the book. There are points in the book where I just felt… horrified? That this could actually be a true story was at the forefront of my mind, and it made the story very intense.
I do have to say that the last third of the book did irritate me a bit. Trying to tie up the story and the motivation behind the shooting, the story just went in a way that I didn’t expect and couldn’t really believe. It did make the plot different and reveal a kind of ‘hidden agenda’, but I just felt it was unnecessary. To me, the book was powerful enough without it, and it kind of detracted from the original message.
Siege was a book that took my breath away. I was hooked from the start and could not put the book down. Although I didn’t agree with the ending, I think that it covers a very important topic, and I would implore teenagers to read about the impact shootings can have. 4 sofas!
believedcrazy's review
3.0
I wanted to like this a lot more than I did, and while it did stay with me for quite a while after I finished it, it just didn't grip me the way I wanted it to.
For a start this book seemed unrealistic to me, I'm not talking about the plot but more like the characters reactions to things and how they behaved. I didn't like the main character Leah at all. Her relationship with her brother didn't make sense and wasn't believable, and her constantly mentioning him was irritating. She kept saying how much she hated him and didn't want anything to do with him, yet all she wanted to do was talk about him.
I think the issues and the messages in this book are important, school shootings are an issue right now and it's terrifying, it's just a shame they weren't delivered better.
For a start this book seemed unrealistic to me, I'm not talking about the plot
Spoiler
scarily enough the government stuff was actually believable to meI think the issues and the messages in this book are important, school shootings are an issue right now and it's terrifying, it's just a shame they weren't delivered better.
bethkemp's review
4.0
Shocking, raw and powerful - a fab YA thriller
I know that some people have found this to be too violent. It is certainly not suitable for the younger end of the YA spectrum. However, the violence is not gratuitous and the novel is thought-provoking and challenging enough to justify its shock value (think Clockwork Orange, perhaps).
Written in a strong first person, present tense voice, and set in 2020, Siege introduces us to Leah Jackson at the precise moment a group of boys open fire in assembly. But since she was late to school and is in detention, she doesn't immediately realise what is happening. The novel then follows her as she works to avoid being shot, to escape and raise the alarm, travelling through air vents and crawling across ceiling tiles. Twists and turns abound as Leah runs into difficulty after difficulty in this tightly-plotted thriller that will have you holding your breath. Die Hard in a school is an appropriate description of this book, with the themes of containment and against-the-odds battle to protect the innocent and stop the guilty.
Her escape is hampered by the nature of her school. In this version of the near future, society has fractured even further and the schools are more obviously streamed by social class. Leah's school is built to contain and restrain, founded on the assumption that lower-class kids are Trouble. This means that once the school goes into Lock Down, escape is not a simple matter.
I loved the character of Leah. Loved her speech patterns ("That don't sound right."), her bravery and her resourcefulness. She's been used to looking after the family, and I found it easy to sympathise with her and her nagging worry that her brother, Connor, may be one of the boys at the centre of all this. Could she have prevented it? Should she have done more to help him? This additional personal layer of sickening guilt is just enough to rack up the tension even higher.
I found this to be an excellent read, right on the money for our times. Sarah Mussi has something to say about social deprivation, violence and responsibility and she conveys it in terms that are both accessible and enjoyable to read. Yes, there is violence and some scenes are graphic, but many kids are seeing worse on games consoles and tv screens every day - and in a purely 'entertaining' way without the subtle social analysis that is present here.
I know that some people have found this to be too violent. It is certainly not suitable for the younger end of the YA spectrum. However, the violence is not gratuitous and the novel is thought-provoking and challenging enough to justify its shock value (think Clockwork Orange, perhaps).
Written in a strong first person, present tense voice, and set in 2020, Siege introduces us to Leah Jackson at the precise moment a group of boys open fire in assembly. But since she was late to school and is in detention, she doesn't immediately realise what is happening. The novel then follows her as she works to avoid being shot, to escape and raise the alarm, travelling through air vents and crawling across ceiling tiles. Twists and turns abound as Leah runs into difficulty after difficulty in this tightly-plotted thriller that will have you holding your breath. Die Hard in a school is an appropriate description of this book, with the themes of containment and against-the-odds battle to protect the innocent and stop the guilty.
Her escape is hampered by the nature of her school. In this version of the near future, society has fractured even further and the schools are more obviously streamed by social class. Leah's school is built to contain and restrain, founded on the assumption that lower-class kids are Trouble. This means that once the school goes into Lock Down, escape is not a simple matter.
I loved the character of Leah. Loved her speech patterns ("That don't sound right."), her bravery and her resourcefulness. She's been used to looking after the family, and I found it easy to sympathise with her and her nagging worry that her brother, Connor, may be one of the boys at the centre of all this. Could she have prevented it? Should she have done more to help him? This additional personal layer of sickening guilt is just enough to rack up the tension even higher.
I found this to be an excellent read, right on the money for our times. Sarah Mussi has something to say about social deprivation, violence and responsibility and she conveys it in terms that are both accessible and enjoyable to read. Yes, there is violence and some scenes are graphic, but many kids are seeing worse on games consoles and tv screens every day - and in a purely 'entertaining' way without the subtle social analysis that is present here.
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