Reviews
Annoyed beyond belief with the ending. A dagger unto my heart.
** spoiler alert ** Again, I was gripped. I really enjoyed it. I love the conflict Alex had with herself when she was with Wolf. I’m so intrigued where this will go with her changed like thoughts. What. A. Cliffhanger. After I finished it all I could say was ‘THEY WERE SO CLOSE TO EACH OTHER’. It was heart wrenching how close yet far Alex and Tom were to each other. I’m eager to find out what will happen next. It almost seems as though there’s not just a love triangle but a love square?! Sometimes at different points I root for ALL of them. I know I shouldn’t root for Wolf but I can’t help it, I’m so intrigued by him and them. Anyways, I’m going to read Monsters because the fucking cliffhanger!
This was such a freaking struggle to get through this book... I do understand how this book can be interesting, but... ugh, no, I won't be finishing the series.
The second of a planned trilogy has the main characters Alex and Tom (who we find out is still alive), and some new 'mains' Lena and Chris, all following separate story lines that eventually converge on an old mine filled with the ravenous zombie-esque "Changed." At times I found the constant shifting between narratives distracting, but overall the characters' fight for survival was riveting and often quite disgusting. The author Ilsa Bick is a native Wisconsinite, a Veteran of the US Military, and a former child psychologist. Her background in psychology really gave grit to her story; she obviously used it to help her writing brutally play with my emotions. I'm still surprised that this book is geared towards the "YA" market; as an adult I was often shocked at the graphic descriptions of violence, sex, and even instances where characters feared they would be raped! But, in Bick's defense, I think her edgy writing would be attractive to many young men out there, especially since the YA market is glutted with books geared solely towards hormonal teenage girls. In that same vein the characters, while surrounded by chaos, are still strong and fight against it. It is awesome to see kick ass female leads who can give young women AND young men someone to look up to. Of course, the book ends with a massive cliff hanger and I can't wait to finish the series. It was a mistake to read this on my meal breaks (not recommended). Hopefully we will find out soon when book three is expected.
