Emmy Laybourne

Fourteen kids stranded inside a superstore. Inside they have everything they could ever need. There's junk food and clothes, computer games and books, drugs and alcohol ... and without adult supervision they can do whatever they want. Sounds like fun? But outside the world is being ripped apart by violent storms and chemicals leaking into the atmosphere that, depending on blood type, leave victims paranoid, violent or dead. The kids must remain inside, forced to create their own community, unsure if they'll ever be able to leave. Can they stop the world they've created inside from self-destructing too? 'Riveting' New York Times 'A post apocalyptic wild ride' Huffington Post

Monument 14

Your mother hollers that you're going to miss the bus. She can see it coming down the street. You don't stop and hug her and tell her you love her. You don't thank her for being a good, kind, patient mother. Of course not -- you launch yourself down the stairs and make a run for the corner. Only, if it's the last time you'll ever see your mother, you sort of start to wish you'd stopped and did those things. Maybe even missed the bus. But the bus was barreling down our street, so I ran ... Fourteen kids. One superstore. A million things that go wrong. In this novel, six high school kids (some popular, some not), two eighth graders (one a tech genius), and six little kids trapped together in a chain superstore build a refuge for themselves inside. While outside, a series of escalating disasters, beginning with a monster hailstorm and ending with a chemical weapons spill, seems to be tearing the world -- as they know it -- apart.

Marc 

Read this book very quickly, easy read, and pretty enjoyable. Some very obvious tropes and such but still a good read. : )

devin.reads

3.5 stars!

Read my full review here: http://devin-reads-books.blogspot.com...

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.

Sky on fire

Julia Lotz

Inhalt: Nachdem ein Tsunami die Ostküste der USA getroffen und weite Teile des Landes verwüstet hat, stranden vierzehn Jugendliche in einem Einkaufszentrum. Der Strom fällt aus, die Zivilisation bricht zusammen, und aus einer nahen Chemiefabrik entweicht eine gefährliche Giftwolke. Dann dringt das Gerücht durch, dass die Überlebenden von Denver aus ausgeflogen werden. Die Jugendlichen bestimmen eine Gesandtschaft, die sich nach Denver durchschlagen soll. Der Rest von ihnen bleibt zurück, darunter der eher schüchterne Dean, der sich früher immer aus allem herausgehalten hat. Als sie von einem gewalttätigen Einbrecher bedroht werden, muss Dean über sich selbst hinauswachsen … (Quelle: Verlagswebsite)
Vor der Rezi: Das ist eine Rezension zu Band 2 der Monument 14-Trilogie. Wenn ihr den ersten Band noch nicht gelesen habt findet ihr hier eine Menge Spoiler.
Meine Meinung: Nachdem Band 1 und ich einen schlechten Start hatten, der weitere Verlauf der Geschichte aber umso besser war, habe ich mich voller Freude an Monument 14: Die Flucht gewagt. Dieser knüpft nahtlos an den ersten Band an, was ich einfach nur toll finde und persönlich bei Buchreihen auch sehr gerne mag. Wenn das Lesen des ersten Bandes schon länger her ist und man sich nicht mehr so gut an alles erinnert gibt es, als Prolog sozusagen, einen sehr tollen Brief/Tagebucheintrag von Deans Bruder Alex, der sich mit dem Großteil der Monument 14 Kids auf den Weg zum Denver International Airport gemacht hat. Im Einkaufszentrum sind Dean und alle anderen mit Blutgruppe 0 geblieben, da es für sie bzw. für ihre Mitreisenden draußen, zu gefährlich wird. Während die im Einkaufzentrum mit ihren eigenen Problemen kämpfen müssen, versuchen die restlichen Jugendlichen durch die zerstörte Welt bis nach Denver zu kommen. 
Schon direkt war ich wieder voll in der Geschichte drin und nach kurzem zurechtfinden (das eine oder andere Detail vergisst man doch schnell) konnte ich mich nicht mehr vom Buch lösen. Die Flucht ist für mich eine deutliche Steigerung. Im Gegensatz zur Handlung in seinem Vorgänger werden die Jugendlichen deutlich härteren Probleme und größeren Gefahren ausgesetzt und das mit fiebern steigt dementsprechend. Stück für Stück steigert es sich weiter einem Ende entgegen, das eigentlich nicht viel Hoffnung lässt. Und ob das bisschen Hoffnung gerechtfertigt ist oder ob die Lage weiterhin hoffnungslos bleibt, sollt ihr beim Lesen selbst erfahren.
Dean ist und bleibt mir allerdings unsympathisch. Und Astrid irgendwie auch. Das finde ich immer noch sehr schade, da sie eigentlich einen immer und immer größer werdenden Teil der Handlung einnehmen. Wen ich aber gerade in diesem Teil unglaublich ins Herz geschlossen habe ist Deans Bruder Alex, der in Teil 2 auch eine viel größere Rolle und einen viel größeren Teil aus seiner Sicht hatte. Das konnte für mich die Unsympathie gegenüber Dean und Astrid schon wieder wett machen und auch die Kleinen sind mir unglaublich ans Herz gewachsen. 
Das Ende dieses Teils ist ein bisschen ruhiger als das des ersten Bandes. Es erwartet den Leser nicht mit einem fiesen Cliffhanger, dennoch bleiben unzählige Fragen ungeklärt, die im Finale hoffentlich geklärt werden.
Bewertung: Monument 14: Die Flucht ist ein unglaublicher Pageturner und hat für mich eine deutliche Steigerung hingelegt. Ich war rundum begeistert und zufrieden und kann diesem Buch so mit gutem Gewissen 5 von 5 Füchschen geben.
Vielen herzlichen Dank an Heyne fliegt für die Bereitstellung des *Rezensionsexemplares.

Maria Banning

Talk about scary stuff. This could really happen!

Somya Verma

Monument 14 written by Emmy Laybourne is written about a group of 14 children who get stuck in a hailstorm and are bussed into a fully stocked mall. With no adults to help guide them, the older kids must figure out a way to protect themselves and the kids for their little hailstorm was nothing compared to what the rest of the United States was experiencing. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good science fiction novel

Shawna Gavas

I really enjoyed this book.

The premise was great: huge tsunami destroys Monument, Colorado leaving 14 kids b/w the ages of 5 and 17 trapped inside a Greenway (the equivalent of a Walmart). There is leak at Norad and depending on your blood type, the chemical compound in the air brings out, violence, paranoia, or reproductive failure. Therefore, the kids are forced to seal all entrances and airways for their own protection. And there they remain.

The story is not without faults and "ya rights", but overall the book is a really fun read. The ending is completely paved for a sequel....which I will be eagerly waiting for!

It's not very often that a sequel is just as if not better than the first book. But this one totally delivered!

"Sky on Fire" picks up right where "Monument 14" left off. We alternate between brothers Dean and Alex's POV.

Half of the kids have left the safety of the Greenway to seek help at the Denver Airport. The bus is running and stocked. Faced with unimaginable obstacles, the kids slowly make their way through what are now nothing but wastelands. Will they make it?

The other half are still inside the Greenway waiting for rescue. But trouble comes knocking, and of course being kids, they let it in. Now Dean and the others must outsmart these intruders before it's too late.

This sequel is action packed from beginning to end. I still think the kids are unnaturally mature for their ages (especially the 5 and 6 year olds) but fortunately the story moved at such a fast pace, that I couldn't dwell on it for long.

The best part?? There is going to be a book 3!!!! Let the countdown begin.....

2.5 

Fifth book finished for #TBRTakedown. June 2015.

As seen on Caity Reads.

This book has trigger warnings for: attempted rape, slut shaming, depression, drug abuse, and alcohol abuse. If this triggers you in anyway, I do not recommend picking this book up.

I’ve been really struggling on how to review this book. I apologize if this review is formatted a little differently from my others. I originally rated this book three and a half stars, but upon further reflection, I have decided to knock it down a star. I enjoyed the general premise of this book. It starts at the beginning of a super storm, and is set in Monument, Colorado (which I actually live fairly close to). It follows kids, ranging from high school age to preschool/kindergarten age, who take refuge in a super store (similar to a Super Walmart). I enjoy post apocalyptic novels, and what kid doesn’t dream of getting stuck in Walmart and having everything it has at your disposal? I know I did when I was younger.

We’ll start with what I liked about the novel. The original premise, as previously mentioned. This book was incredibly fast paced, and took me no time at all to read. I enjoyed the scientific twist with the chemicals being released into the air, and how they affected the characters in the story. I thought it was interesting, and definitely nothing I’ve seen before. I enjoyed that this was less about the action of a post apocalyptic story, and more about how the storm and being trapped without their families affected the characters mentally. I found it very interesting.

Now we’ll talk about what I didn’t like about the novel. I don’t believe we got enough back story as to why these storms and such were happening; we got a little, but not enough to really satisfy me. I’ll touch a little on each of the trigger warnings I listed above. First of all, the depression part is fairly obvious. These kids are trapped, as their world is ending, without their families. It’s bound to happen, and made perfect sense for the book. The drug abuse and alcohol abuse happens with one of the high school students. I don’t really have an opinion on this, to be honest.

As to the other topics of attempted rape and slut shaming, I’m not going into tremendous amount of detail on these issues. Doing so would be spoiling things and frankly, I think the fact that these were even issues in this book is disgusting. Let me clarify as to why I feel that way. Both of these subjects were directed at a thirteen year old girl. I think it’s completely ridiculous to put a thirteen year old in a sexual light. There was absolutely no reason for that to be in this book. Let me put a disclaimer out there: I have no issue reading about topic subjects such as these, in the right circumstances. I don’t believe this was needed in this novel, at all.

Overall, I would not recommend this book. To be frank, if the attempted rape and slut shaming of a thirteen year old were not present in this book, I would have given this book a higher rating. I would probably even been telling you to pick it up right now. I cannot do that, and feel good about it. I just can’t. I did read the second book, it was quite a bit shorter and was a lot better than this one.

As seen on Caity Reads.

When we finished Monument 14, half of the kids from the Greenway had left in the school bus headed toward Denver. I really enjoyed that we got to see more of the world outside of the superstore in this second book. We see how truly desperate things are since the tragedies in the first novel. Emmy Laybourne did an amazing job of showing how completely ruthless and violent people can be when it comes to survival. There was also a very emotional side of this story, that I wasn’t entirely expecting after reading the first book.

This book, unlike the first, is told in dual perspective. The brother’s are now separated so we get to see how their struggles differ from each other. Dean’s struggles of staying in the store, and Alex’s struggles on the road with everything that they encounter on their trip. This book was shorter than the first, and just as fast paced, which made it a super quick read.

Now, I want to touch a little on the trigger warnings that I listed for the first book. I had a lot of issues with the subject matter in the first book, but things did improve on that front in this book. There was still some alcohol/drug abuse by one of the characters; but I’m glad to report most of the slut shaming issues were put to bed. I do plan to read the last book, but I’m hoping my library has it because I really don’t care to own the books. (In fact, I will probably unhaul the first two.)

Although I enjoyed this second installment more than the first, I still have a lot of negative feelings about the story in general, because of the issues that I had with the first book. That being said, that is the biggest reason why I rated Sky on Fire, a three out of five stars.

Overall, I would recommend if you want to read the series that you borrow it from a library before committing to buying the books. I kind of wish I had done that for the first two books.

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. . . . Monument 14: Sky on Fire is the second installment Emmy Laybourne's thrilling series.

Monument 14

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