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The Last One. Alexandra Oliva. 2016. 304 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: The first one on the production team to die will be the editor.

Premise/plot: What if a virus/plague destroyed life-as-we-know-it in the United States while a survival-themed reality TV show was being filmed? What if the twelve contestants didn't know what was going on in the outside world? What if they stumbled upon the truth but didn't believe it, clinging to the fact that the reality show has a big budget and a cruel sense of humor? Well, I don't know about "they," but Zoo whose perspective we share is the LAST ONE to know the truth.

My thoughts: Didn't care for this thriller. I didn't find it as compelling as 'a thriller' should have been. Zoo--and all the other characters--are minimally developed. And the action/adventure aspect of it lacked suspense because while Zoo may have been the last to know that all the dead and decaying bodies were real, readers were never in the dark. Readers are smarter than Zoo for about 90% of the book. Since Zoo wasn't fully fleshed out as a character--with depth and substance--I didn't get much from her chapters. Though I preferred her chapters--the "now" chapters--to the "then" chapters which focused exclusively on the television show and the twelve contestants. There was no reason to truly keep reading--other than stubbornness (I have plenty)--since there was no suspense.

I think it comes down to this: if I can't have character-driven fiction (my favorite favorite) then give me ACTION with suspense, lots and lots and lots of tension and suspense. Force me to "enter into temptation" and contemplate peeking ahead to the end. Keep me focused on what may or may not happen next. Throw in twists and surprises, if you want. Keep me guessing about the motivations of this character or that character. But somehow, someway engage me. I don't personally think it's suspense when readers know it's real from page one and the main character is the last one to know just about everything there is to know.


© 2016 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Where The Rock Splits the Sky. Philip Webb. 2014. Scholastic. 272 pages. [Source: Review copy]

Where The Rock Splits The Sky definitely has a unique and intriguing premise: there has been alien invasion which destroyed the moon and altered life on earth forever. Some areas are more affected than others. There is "the zone" where anything and everything can happen: no natural rules or laws apply. This "zone" is in the new-old west. Yes, this science fiction has a very western feel to it. Outlaws and sheriffs. Horses and Stagecoaches. Of course, modern technology does not work in the zone. The good news, and this novel desperately needs good news, is that the heroine discovers that ALIENS are just as vulnerable INSIDE the zone as un-invaded humans. She doesn't know why, she doesn't particularly care about the why.

Megan, Luis, and Kelly set off into the zone. Technically, Kelly is a friend they pick up in the zone after their official mission has started. But. Kelly is probably the most intriguing character in the novel. I'm not sure she's meant to be. All three join together, but, all three have their own personal agenda. Luis wants revenge, in other words, he wants to kill some aliens. Kelly is looking for answers. Twenty years of her life is missing. She wants to know if any of her family or friends have survived. And Megan, the heroine, wants to find her father. Megan is the leader of the three, she is the one most in-touch with the zone, most sensitive to its strangeness.

Where The Rock Splits the Sky is not my kind of book. I'm allergic to westerns even if there are aliens it seems. I was hoping the science-fiction would overcome that. It didn't quite work for me, but, it might work for you.

© 2014 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Orleans. Sherri L. Smith. 2013. Penguin. 336 pages.

Orleans is intense and I suspect unforgettable. The novel is set after the Delta and/or the Gulf Coast have been cut off from the rest of the United States. (There being an actual wall to prevent people from entering/exiting.) The reason is simple: Delta Fever is too contagious and there isn't a cure. Everyone is infected with the fever, but each blood type responds differently to the disease or virus. This separates everyone into groups or tribes according to blood type.

Fen, our heroine, is O positive. But soon after the novel begins, her tribe is attacked. Her chieftain, Lydia, goes into premature labor because of the attack. The baby survives, she doesn't. Fen and the baby are what is left of this tribe, and Fen is desperate to provide a better life for this baby. Her goal is ambitious and dangerous. She wants to find a way to smuggle the baby out before it catches the fever. She wants to reach the wall.

Sometimes helping, sometimes hindering, Fen's ambitions is a young scientist named Daniel. Daniel dreams big too. He is desperate to find a cure. That is why he is there illegally.

Orleans is incredibly intense and impossible to put down. If you enjoy disaster and/or survivor fiction, then this one is a must read! It is extremely creepy in places, which I think will definitely appeal to some readers! But even if you don't like horror elements, you may find yourself hooked.

Read Orleans

• If you enjoy great world-building
• If you enjoy meeting strong heroines
• If you enjoy survivor or disaster novels
• If you enjoy dystopian or post-apocalyptic fiction
• If you like darker stories with some horror elements

© 2013 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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The Maze Runner. James Dashner. 2009. Random House. 384 pages.

He began his new life standing up, surrounded by cold darkness and stale, dusty air.

The Maze Runner is certainly compelling--very suspenseful. It's an action-packed dystopian novel. Thomas, our narrator, awakes to find his memory gone. He knows his first name. Nothing more. He's in a strange place. But he's not alone. There are others like him. Others his own age. Others whose memories have been erased--they call themselves the Gladers. They've got a system in place. A system that seems to be working. For the most part. Still there are plenty of creepy things about his new life. There are rules to learn. And while they are forthcoming with the rules--they're not always good at explaining to Thomas why these rules are in place. Can Thomas find the answers he so desperately wants?

I enjoyed The Maze Runner. It is very intense, very exciting, very mysterious. Readers--like Thomas--don't have all the answers by the end of the book. There is a second novel in this series, The Scorch Trials, which releases in October.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Z for Zachariah. Robert C. O'Brien. 1974. 250 pages.

I am afraid.
Someone is coming.
That is, I think someone is coming, though I am not sure, and I pray that I am wrong.

Ann Burden learns that there are some things worse than loneliness in Robert C. O'Brien's Z for Zachariah. It has been almost a year since Ann's world fell apart, since a week-long war destroyed the world as she knew it. Almost a year since she's seen another person. Ann has been living in a valley. For better or worse, this valley, her home, remained untouched by the nuclear disaster that destroyed the surrounding area, killing everyone and everything. Ann has managed to survive just fine on her own. But her strength will be tested now that a stranger is approaching her valley.

It is still hard for me to realize, even after all this time, that I am not going to be anything, not ever have a job or go anywhere or do anything except what I do here. (131)

I enjoyed Z for Zachariah. I wouldn't say I loved it exactly. But I thought it was interesting and I'm glad I read it. I will say that I thought the jacket description revealed way too much.


© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Enclave by Kit Reed. 2009. Tor. 368 pages.

Departure Day. It's almost time. Gangplank up, repel all boarders. Destination: the last safe place.

Where to start? Sargent, one of our narrators, has started Clothos Academy. He is claiming it is the last safe place on Earth for our children. For the right price, of course, parents can rest assured that their child will be safe come what may. The world may end tomorrow, but this Academy on the top of a mountain, can withstand anything. Or so he claims. But is he really doing it for the children? And is the world really on the brink of destruction?

The Enclave has multiple narrators. This can be hit or miss with me. I don't always appreciate novels with that approach. But with The Enclave I think it works. I liked seeing the different perspectives. Because the truth is this isn't one person's story to tell.

One of my favorite characters was Killer Stade. He was one of the reasons I kept reading. He is one of the teens being "saved" in these end times. And I thought his voice worked a bit better than some of the adult ones.

The Enclave had an interesting premise. I picked it up thinking it was one thing, and while it wasn't quite what I expected, I don't regret reading it. But. I had some issues with this one. I thought the ending was a bit rushed, a bit fragmented. The epilogue didn't quite work for me.


© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Fox, Andrew. 2009. The Good Humor Man. Tachyon Publications. 280 pages.

First paragraph: I remember cheese. I remember pizza; real pizza. Deep-dish, Chicago-style, four-cheese pizza, fresh from the oven, the cheese steaming and bubbling on top like cooling lava.

The Good Humor Man is the sometimes amusing, sometimes disturbing 'tribute' to Fahrenheit 451. In fact, this one's full title is "The Good Humor Man, Or, Calorie 3501."

The year is 2041. Our narrator, Dr. Louis Shmalzberg, is a Good Humor man. His job is to seek out and destroy junk food. Well, all food deemed 'unhealthy' by the powers that be. All people caught with contraband are stripped of their health insurance cards. And if you've got a medical condition that requires prescriptions and medical care, well, too bad for you. You shouldn't have been tempted by a bar of chocolate, a cup cake, or a slice of cheese. If people don't willingly give up the forbidden food items when they're caught, then most Good Humor men won't hesitate to shoot you dead. You simply shouldn't have resisted. But Louis is different. In a way. Yes, he's a Good Humor man. But he's got a soul. Sometimes, when no one is looking, he takes a bit of the forbidden food. Not for himself, mind you, but for his father. Did I mention our narrator is in his sixties? Well, he is. And his father is in a nursing home. And his father has a weakness for sweets. And his father just can't understand why the government went nuts and started taking away all the good food and replacing it with genetically engineered healthy foods, diet foods, foods meant to speed up your metabolism. What Dr. Louis Shmalzberg discovers when he visits his father is disturbing and shocking. Something with widespread repercussions.

How many people think there may just be an evil corporation involved?

This book is more than just a little weird. The initial premise--what I just wrote about above--is interesting, intriguing even. But that's just the bare basics. This one goes places you may not be comfortable going. It's a strange, strange book. The doctor and his father were both plastic surgeons. In fact, his father is the first doctor in the United States to perform liposuction. Do you want to guess his first patient? The King himself. Elvis Presley. His father's most prized possessions are jars of Elvis' fat. That and a few personal items from Elvis that he got as gifts after the procedure.

The world is in danger--humanity's survival is being threatened--can decades old belly fat from the late, great King save the world in its darkest hour?

How do I feel about this one? Honestly, I'm not sure. It goes so many places all at once. I think it becomes more complicated than it needs to be. I think it tries to do too much in some ways. But the two basic premises are ones that I enjoyed. One, that government could outlaw unhealthy food and make eating cheese or chocolate or cake or potato chips or whatever a crime. Two, that science could (whether purposefully or accidentally) make a goof-up so bad that life as we know it is threatened. Scientists playing god is not a new theme in fiction. And this genetic engineering twist where the scientists create something that they can't control or are having a hard time controlling...well, it's an interesting little plot device. But there are other plot threads that are even more disturbing (if you can believe it).

I think if you try to pick this one apart and look for messages about society--about food, about body image, about science, about religion, about government, about culture, about race and ethnicity, about life and love itself--then it's going to start falling apart. I don't think this should be read as an allegory. I don't think it should be taken all that seriously. If you're looking for a quirky little book then this one might work for you.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Grant, Michael. 2008. Gone. HarperCollins. 558 pages.

One minute the teacher was talking about the Civil War. And the next minute he was gone. There. Gone. No "poof." No flash of light. No explosion.

I have mixed feelings on Gone by Michael Grant. On the one hand, it's an exciting thriller. A book based on an interesting premise--what if all adults (at least all adults that we know about within this one county at least) vanished. What remains are young adults under the age of 15 on down to the wee little newborns. Gone as well are all phone lines and Internet connections. And television. Effectively, these people are shut off from the world. They have no way of knowing--and neither does the reader--how widespread this vanishing is. If there is an outside world that can be reached or connected. It's a mad scramble to find food...and babies. (It's not always a happy picture. There were young children--babies and toddlers and preschoolers--left too long with horribly tragic results. I want to scream at them: Why didn't you think to look for the babies right away??? Why wait, can't you imagine that every hour counts?!)

But on the other hand, while the premise is intense and thrilling, I wasn't that impressed by the characterization. The characters themselves, their stories, their narratives, didn't impress me. The reader learns that a handful of these characters--over half of the ones we meet up close and personal--have superpowers. They have enhanced abilities--the power of healing, the power to shoot flames out of their hands, the power to transport themselves from room to room, the power to read minds, etc. Some of these characters are the "good" guys, others are the "bad" guys. And from the very start, the reader knows we're counting down until the Big Confrontation.

I'm honestly not sure if it was a personal disconnect or a more general one. Have you read this one? Am I missing something? Is it just my mood? Am I only supposed to care about the premise?

While the premise was intriguing and the plot was action-packed with a few thrilling reveals thrown in, I didn't really connect with any of the main characters. And because I didn't care about the characters, I had a hard time genuinely connecting with this one. It's not that I didn't "like" it. There was nothing about it that I could point at and say exactly what it was that didn't work for me. I think it will work for many--if not most--readers.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
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