Scan barcode
butteredtoastinbed's review
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
The main reason that I decided to read this book is because it was said to be a good read if you enjoyed Tomorrow When The War Began by John Marsden (one of my all time favourite reads), and it did live up to that claim in some ways. Thematically they were quite similar, but this novel was distinct enough for me to easily separate the two and see them as completely different stories.
Additionally, I found myself excited to read more throughout the entire book, and I really enjoyed getting to know & root for some of the characters. The voice in which the book was written was easy to read, gave the main character a lot of personality, and it also made the story seem a lot more real.
Some of the actions from some of the characters hit me as very unrealistic considering their situation, which did pull me out of the story a little (but not significantly by any means). I also didn’t enjoy the love triangle as much as most other aspects of the novel, but this is heavily a personal preference and I think it was written well from an objective point of view. I also somewhat feel like the first two thirds of the book is setup (maybe for the other books in the series) and establishing the environment, and I found that section a bit slow. I understand this is important (and I did appreciate the worldbuilding!), but it seemed to leave the action squeezed into the end of the story. At the time of reading, this didn’t bother me too much however, and didn’t make me slow down or stop enjoying the story.
I haven’t decided if I will read the next books in the series, but I am glad that I read this one and I would definitely recommend it if you like survival/YA novels!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic