A review by kittyg
Under Ground by S.L. Grey
2.0
*This is a book I was sent for free from the publisher but this does not affect my opinions*
So I actually didn't request this book, it just turned up one day at my house and I thought it looked interesting, but maybe not like my cup of tea. Once I read the accompanying information sheet and found out that this is a duo of writers, Sarah Lotz and Louis Greenberg, I was more interested as I had heard good things about Sarah, but I still didn't know if it would be my thing.
I'm happy to say that although I had my quibbles with this book I read it right through in one sitting which is something I've not been able to do for quite a while and, I think becuase it's a thriller, it really gripped me and made me want to find out what would happen next.
In this book we're following a world where a big virus has broken out and the world seems destined for disaster. People are dying in various parts of the world and when the virus is close to hitting America, a couple of families from all over are prepared. These families have invested a lot of money into a project called The Sanctum, 'a luxurious, self-sustaining survival condominium situated underground.' When each of these (very different) families arrive at the Sanctum they are there in the hopes of it being a safe place for them to hide away from the Virus, but of course, things go wrong...
What I did like about this book is that we play a lot with stereotypes here. The families all have different ethnic origins and different views on how to behave within the confined space. I liked the mystery element too, as the book went on I found myself more pulled in by the story and wanting to know who was behind some of the grisly-goings-on.
When thinking about what I didn't like about the book it's mostly the racism and the ending. I guess the author's wanted to include some very different characters and put them all together in a place trapped away from the outside world and see how they would react, but there is a lot of racism rampant in the book and this is never really solved.
The ending of the book also felt a bit unsatisfactory to me becuase whilst I was reading I was on the look out for clues and excitement, but this book never gave them to me and I was left at the end with a giant info-dump and a *rolls-eyes* moment becuase the justification for the events was not (in my opinion) very realistic or well-thought-out.
On the whole if you want a dystopian thriller that will keep you reading then this seems to be one, but beware that you may not get the resolution you seek and that there is a lot of nasty name-calling and 'bullying' happening within this book too. Overall a 2.5*s
So I actually didn't request this book, it just turned up one day at my house and I thought it looked interesting, but maybe not like my cup of tea. Once I read the accompanying information sheet and found out that this is a duo of writers, Sarah Lotz and Louis Greenberg, I was more interested as I had heard good things about Sarah, but I still didn't know if it would be my thing.
I'm happy to say that although I had my quibbles with this book I read it right through in one sitting which is something I've not been able to do for quite a while and, I think becuase it's a thriller, it really gripped me and made me want to find out what would happen next.
In this book we're following a world where a big virus has broken out and the world seems destined for disaster. People are dying in various parts of the world and when the virus is close to hitting America, a couple of families from all over are prepared. These families have invested a lot of money into a project called The Sanctum, 'a luxurious, self-sustaining survival condominium situated underground.' When each of these (very different) families arrive at the Sanctum they are there in the hopes of it being a safe place for them to hide away from the Virus, but of course, things go wrong...
What I did like about this book is that we play a lot with stereotypes here. The families all have different ethnic origins and different views on how to behave within the confined space. I liked the mystery element too, as the book went on I found myself more pulled in by the story and wanting to know who was behind some of the grisly-goings-on.
When thinking about what I didn't like about the book it's mostly the racism and the ending. I guess the author's wanted to include some very different characters and put them all together in a place trapped away from the outside world and see how they would react, but there is a lot of racism rampant in the book and this is never really solved
Spoiler
unless you count by killing off the racist character which I personally felt was a bit of a cop out.The ending of the book also felt a bit unsatisfactory to me becuase whilst I was reading I was on the look out for clues and excitement, but this book never gave them to me and I was left at the end with a giant info-dump and a *rolls-eyes* moment becuase the justification for the events was not (in my opinion) very realistic or well-thought-out.
On the whole if you want a dystopian thriller that will keep you reading then this seems to be one, but beware that you may not get the resolution you seek and that there is a lot of nasty name-calling and 'bullying' happening within this book too. Overall a 2.5*s