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Showing posts from March, 2014

Many Covers Monday - The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda

Today we're looking at the many different covers of Andrew Fukuda's The Hunt. Some are rejackets and others are foreign language covers.


(UK/US) I really like the torn paper of the US cover but I don't understand the significance of it. The UK cover is my favourite of all the covers because it makes sense and even if it didn't it has a very attractive man on it so all would be forgiven, naturally.


(Greek/Spanish) More torn paper this time and oddly similar covers. I think both books have taken note of what the US cover has done and made their own version, which is common. I find the eye drawing thing pretty creepy though and I would honestly think that the Spanish cover was about two teenagers on the run across a beach from cannibals or something.


(UK/UK - I think) Hey, that guy on the Left looks familiar....


(French/German) The French cover somewhat makes sense apart from those lights but the German cover makes no sense at all. I'd think it was a ghost story or something. Covers are important guys, don't pick one out of a hat.


(Bulgarian/Spanish) 'Creepy shadow people walk into the sun'. Plus a story about hooded youths.

Which cover was your favourite? Did you feel they fit well with the book? Let me know in the comments!

Next week: Unwind by Neal Shusterman 

Review of Secret Seekers: Beast Of Bladenboro by J.L. Hickey

Publisher: Self Published
Release Date:
31/12/12
Genres: Fantasy, Mystery
Pages: 174
Format: eBook

Secret Seekers Society and the Beast of Bladenboro follows the young protagonists Hunter Glenn, and Elly Ann through an adventure ripe with adversity, paranormal monsters, secret societies, and most haunting of all, a life without their parents.
The book follows both the sibling’s emotional struggle from their parent’s sudden loss, as well as their physical journey into a new and strange “home”, an ancient and creepy mansion known only as the Belmonte Estate.
It is here where they first learn of their new guardian, an eccentric old man named Professor Clandestine and the rest of the mansion's caretakers. Tossed into their bedroom, and locked away under the pretense of “safety concerns” it does not take long for the children to hatch an escape plan. Follow the children as they slowly unravel the secrets of their parent’s true identities, the origin of the strange Mansion, and their inheritance into an ancient secret society of monster hunters known as Seekers. 


(Add to your Goodreads shelf)  

Hunter and Elly have just lost their parents, and are shipped off to live with the Godfather they've never met before, Professor Calenstine. Upon arrival to his dark and pretty creepy mansion, Belmonte Estate, they are greeted warmly by Margot, who also lives in the mansion and promptly locked into their new bedroom, for reasons unknown. Suspecting something is wrong, Hunter sneaks out to discover the mansion's secrets... and gets more than he bargained for!

This story is told in the third person, so we get a glimpse of life through nearly every character, however Hunter and Elly are the two main characters. They argue just like any other siblings do but forgive each other quickly because they only have each other. Hunter is very impulsive, whereas Elly is quieter and content to sit and read for hours on end. I have both these traits so I identified with both of them!

The mansion's mysteries were quite unique and I enjoyed reading about them. The book took a lot of twists and turns that I wasn't expecting, which was fun. I loved Trayer, the giant adorable puppy and Plato, the giant robot the most. I'm hoping we read more about them in future books. There was plenty of action, danger and suspense to keep me reading chapter after chapter too.

I did have a particular problem with this book and that was audience. With the characters being so young, and after referred to as the children, one would marked this as a middle grade, not a young adult novel. However, the language used is more advanced than middle grade, plus it's a long book. On top of that there's a few counts of swearing too. So it's not quite middle grade but somehow reads a bit too young for Young Adult. I'm just not sure.

The Beast of Bladenboro was a really fun, enjoyable read. I will very likely be reviewing the next book in the series soon, so look out for that!

4/5

Un-Stacking The Shelves (1)

Un-Stacking The Shelves is my version of Stacking The Shelves, except the goal is to remove the books from my shelves rather than add to them! These are the 5 books in my treebook pile and the 5 books on my eBook app, that I plan to read next and will be posting reviews of very soon. Some repeats will inevitably happen over the weeks as I'm not a machine and can't read that many in a week. Feel free to make your own if you like the idea!

The Rule of Claw - John Brindley
We enter a futuristic world and meet a band of sixteen year olds who were dumped in isolation at an early age. They're educated partly by gleaning facts from the few books in their possession, but primarily through their experiences of survival which features death and danger. A new threat emerges when the teens transcend their own rules and eat animal flesh. Ash is kidnapped and becomes a pawn in the power struggles between the formidable raptors. In these beautiful beasts, she glimpses new forms of evolution which make her consider her own humanity. Soon she learns the frightening truth of their origins. And realizes the dangerous implications for herself and her friends.

Diverse Energies - Various
In a world gone wrong, heroes and villains are not always easy to distinguish and every individual has the ability to contribute something powerful.
In this stunning collection of original and rediscovered stories of tragedy and hope, the stars are a diverse group of students, street kids, good girls, kidnappers, and child laborers pitted against their environments, their governments, differing cultures, and sometimes one another as they seek answers in their dystopian worlds. Take a journey through time from a nuclear nightmare of the past to society’s far future beyond Earth with these eleven stories by masters of speculative fiction. Includes stories by Paolo Bacigalupi, Ursula K. Le Guin, Malinda Lo, Cindy Pon, Daniel H. Wilson, and more.


Amy and Roger's Epic Detour - Morgan Matson
Amy Curry thinks her life sucks. Her mom decides to move from California to Connecticut to start anew--just in time for Amy's senior year. Her dad recently died in a car accident. So Amy embarks on a road trip to escape from it all, driving cross-country from the home she's always known toward her new life. Joining Amy on the road trip is Roger, the son of Amy's mother's old friend. Amy hasn't seen him in years, and she is less than thrilled to be driving across the country with a guy she barely knows. So she's surprised to find that she is developing a crush on him. At the same time, she's coming to terms with her father's death and how to put her own life back together after the accident. Told in traditional narrative as well as scraps from the road--diner napkins, motel receipts, postcards--this is the story of one girl's journey to find herself.

 Dearly, Departed - Lia Habel
Love can never die.
Love conquers all, so they say. But can Cupid’s arrow pierce the hearts of the living and the dead—or rather, the undead? Can a proper young Victorian lady find true love in the arms of a dashing zombie?
In Dearly, Departed, romance meets walking-dead thriller, spawning a madly imaginative novel of rip-roaring adventure, spine-tingling suspense, and macabre comedy that forever redefines the concept of undying love.


 Angelfall - Susan Ee
It's been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. Street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. When warrior angels fly away with a helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back.
Anything, including making a deal with an enemy angel.
Raffe is a warrior who lies broken and wingless on the street. After eons of fighting his own battles, he finds himself being rescued from a desperate situation by a half-starved teenage girl.
Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they have only each other to rely on for survival. Together, they journey toward the angels' stronghold in San Francisco where she'll risk everything to rescue her sister and he'll put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.


Don't Even Think About It - Sarah Mlynowski
This is the story of how we became freaks. It's how a group of I's became a we.
When Class 10B got their flu shots, they expected some side effects. Maybe a sore arm. Maybe a headache. They definitely didn't expect to get telepathy. But suddenly they could hear what everyone was thinking. Their friends. Their teachers. Their parents. Now they all know that Tess has a crush on her best friend, Teddy. That Mackenzie cheated on Cooper. That Nurse Carmichael used to be a stripper. Some of them will thrive. Some of them will break. None of them will ever be the same.


The Dollhouse Asylum - Mary Grey
A virus that had once been contained has returned, and soon no place will be left untouched by its destruction. But when Cheyenne wakes up in Elysian Fields--a subdivision cut off from the world and its monster-creating virus--she is thrilled to have a chance at survival.
At first, Elysian Fields,with its beautiful houses and manicured lawns, is perfect. Teo Richardson, the older man who stole Cheyenne's heart, built it so they could be together. But when Teo tells Cheyenne there are tests that she and seven other couples must pass to be worthy of salvation, Cheyenne begins to question the perfection of his world.
The people they were before are gone. Cheyenne is now "Persephone," and each couple has been re-named to reflect the most tragic romances ever told. Everyone is fighting to pass the test, to remain in Elysian Fields. Teo dresses them up, tells them when to move and how to act, and in order to pass the test, they must play along.
If they play it right, then they'll be safe.
But if they play it wrong, they'll die.


 A Mad, Wicked Folly - Sharon Biggs Waller
Welcome to the world of the fabulously wealthy in London, 1909, where dresses and houses are overwhelmingly opulent, social class means everything, and women are taught to be nothing more than wives and mothers. Into this world comes seventeen-year-old Victoria Darling, who wants only to be an artist—a nearly impossible dream for a girl.
After Vicky poses nude for her illicit art class, she is expelled from her French finishing school. Shamed and scandalized, her parents try to marry her off to the wealthy Edmund Carrick-Humphrey. But Vicky has other things on her mind: her clandestine application to the Royal College of Art; her participation in the suffragette movement; and her growing attraction to a working-class boy who may be her muse—or may be the love of her life. As the world of debutante balls, corsets, and high society obligations closes in around her, Vicky must figure out: just how much is she willing to sacrifice to pursue her dreams?


 The 100 - Kass Morgan
 In the future, humans live in city-like spaceships orbiting far above Earth's toxic atmosphere. No one knows when, or even if, the long-abandoned planet will be habitable again. But faced with dwindling resources and a growing populace, government leaders know they must reclaim their homeland... before it's too late.
Now, one hundred juvenile delinquents are being sent on a high-stakes mission to recolonize Earth. After a brutal crash landing, the teens arrive on a savagely beautiful planet they've only seen from space. Confronting the dangers of this rugged new world, they struggle to form a tentative community. But they're haunted by their past and uncertain about the future. To survive, they must learn to trust - and even love - again.




Salted - Aaron Galvin 
 Life isn’t better under the sea.
Lenny Dolan is all too familiar with this reality. A Selkie slave in the realm beneath the waves, he has no choice when charged with leading a crew ashore to capture an elusive runaway. If unsuccessful, the loved ones kept behind will pay for his failure with their lives.
But when their target leads Lenny and his crew to deeper, darker secrets, the Selkies are faced with a moral dilemma. Secure their own freedom at the expense of others, or return empty-handed to face the grisly consequences?
How Lenny and his crew answer the question will teach them the harshest truth of all. Only through the loss of innocence does one become Salted.

(The author is ridiculously good looking, it has to be said)

Have you read any of these? Did you love them or hate them? Link me your reviews and STS posts! 

Review of Desperate Measures by Laura Summers

Publisher: Piccadilly Books
Release Date:
01/12/2009
Genres: Contemporary, Disabilities
Pages: 220
Format: Paperback

Vicky and Rhianna are twins but they couldn’t be more different. For their fourteenth birthday, Vicky wants a card from the hottest boy in school. Rhianna, brain-damaged at birth, wants a Furby. Instead they get a nasty shock – their foster parents can’t cope and it looks as if Vicky and Rhianna and their younger brother Jamie will have to be split up. How can they stay together? Desperate times call for desperate measures…

(Add to your Goodreads shelf)

The story is set in the UK and follows the three siblings as they choose to get themselves out of a difficult situation. Their mother has passed away and their father is in prison, so they were staying with a foster family. However, their foster mother has been rushed to hospital so they only thing the social services feel they can do is to split them up, which just isn't an option in their eyes. So, they run away, traveling hundreds of miles across the country.

The story starts with Rhiannon's (Rhe's) point of view. She speaks in a simple style, about whatever is preoccupying her mind the most at the time, usually her toys or her siblings. The point of view then switches the Vicky in the next chapter. Vicky speaks in an older voice, her mental age being older than her twin sister's. The font also changes accordingly. It goes back and forth that way throughout the book. It was easy to keep up with and the transition between voices each chapter was smooth, I never found myself confused about who was speaking because the voices were so different. They also have a younger brother, Jamie, who is mentioned often throughout the book. He clearly has a lot of anger issues due to his circumstances.

I really identified with Vicky. Having no parental figure around after they had run away, so she assumes responsibility for both Rhe and Jamie, a difficult task for any 14 year old. She often gets frustrated with Rhe, which I could understand as I also felt frustrated with Rhe. But Rhe, brain damaged at birth, just doesn't understand the urgency of the dangerous situations they find themselves in. One thing I loved was that throughout the story Rhe really found herself and started growing up and Vicky eventually realised that Rhe could look after herself.

The ending was cute, as you would expect a Middle Grade book to be. Honestly, if I hadn't have got the ending I was hoping for I would have sat and bawled my eyes out. I felt that Laura really captured the voice of both of these characters and I was really happy with the book as a whole.

5/5

Review of Zombie Blondes by Brian James

Publisher: Square Fish
Release Date: June 24th 2008
Genres: Horror, Zombies
Pages: 232
Format: Paperback

From the moment Hannah Sanders arrived in town, she felt there was something wrong. A lot of houses were for sale, and the town seemed infected by an unearthly quiet. And then, on Hannah’s first day of classes, she ran into a group of cheerleaders—the most popular girls in school. The odd thing was that they were nearly identical in appearance: blonde, beautiful, and deathly pale.But Hannah wants desperately to fit in—regardless of what her friend Lukas is telling her: if she doesn’t watch her back, she’s going to be blonde and popular and dead—just like all the other zombies in this town...

(Add to your Goodreads shelf)

I love zombie movies. The cheesier the better. Sometimes they're not even real zombies, like The Stepford Wives. Or Disturbing Behavior, which everyone should see at least twice. This story reminded me strongly of Disturbing Behavior, however I couldn't invest as emotionally with it. Each character had their flaws, but not in a character building, we love you for them way. In an irritating, why on earth are you doing that sort of way.

As soon as we met Hannah, I knew she was going to be cardboard cutout Bella. Yeah, that Bella. I dislike comparing characters to Twilight, however, girl moves to a small town and complains about everything she lays her eyes on is pure Bella. Although, with Bella, I still somehow liked her. With Hannah, I just didn't care.

This would have been a better story had it been more fleshed out. Hannah needed a better backstory, I don't remember her once missing whatever used to be home or mentioning friends (although with a personality like that I'm not sure she had any). There was a brief mention of past boyfriends once. It felt like she only started existing once she arrived in the town. Her Dad was supposed to be running from debt collectors but again. that was never really expanded upon, just brief mentions. Lukas was the only character who could have had some sort of likability but I couldn't understand why he would even try to help a girl who didn't want to be helped. I would have preferred to see the entire story from his Point Of View actually. Besides the blondes, Lukas, a few teachers and one girl who disappears quickly, I never got a sense of the school. There were no other characters mentioned, which is pretty weird for a school.

The ending, much like the book, was meh. Nothing I couldn't predict. I would happily watch this as a bad movie. Reading it however, I just had no feelings towards it. I guess I'd recommend it to someone who was really, really bored one afternoon.

3/5

Review of This Is Not A Test by Courtney Summers

Publisher: St Martin's Griffin
Release Date: June 19th 2012
Genres: Horror, Contemporary, Zombies
Pages: 323
Format: eBook


It’s the end of the world. Six students have taken cover in Cortege High but shelter is little comfort when the dead outside won’t stop pounding on the doors. One bite is all it takes to kill a person and bring them back as a monstrous version of their former self. To Sloane Price, that doesn’t sound so bad. Six months ago, her world collapsed and since then, she’s failed to find a reason to keep going. Now seems like the perfect time to give up. As Sloane eagerly waits for the barricades to fall, she’s forced to witness the apocalypse through the eyes of five people who actually want to live. But as the days crawl by, the motivations for survival change in startling ways and soon the group’s fate is determined less and less by what’s happening outside and more and more by the unpredictable and violent bids for life—and death—inside. When everything is gone, what do you hold on to?

(Add to your Goodreads shelf)


Argh *zombie noises* Can zombies be excited about really great zombie books? Because if they could I bet they would be excited about this one. This Is Not A Test is a horror/zombie tale with a strong contemporary feel and somehow, that just works. With contemporary, I sometimes find myself a little bored as the pace feels slower. However This Is Not A Test kept up the contemporary tone and feel but also kept the action and sense of danger, despite the majority of the book being set in just one building. I would say this was one of the scariest zombie books I have ever read.

My heart really went out for Sloane, her life was just rubbish, seriously. She was constantly being beaten up by her father, like seriously beaten up, the can't go to school because the bruises are showing type. On top of that her sister had recently run away and now there's actual real life (dead life?) zombies banging on the doors. She was so broken I wasn't sure we were going to make it to the end of the first couple of chapters with her, let alone the whole book. She had literally lost the will to live, in the worst possible time.

The other characters had their own faults too, although I won't lie, I kept getting Cary and Rys mixed up at times. I felt that the most interesting person was Harrison, who was one of those wet type of guys who I would probably shoot first or use at bait during a zombie apocalypse. While he moans and complains about not having one anything in his short life, he won't do anything about it either. He's more than happy to follow around whoever he senses as the leader. However I didn't hate him as much as I hated Trace. He was damaged, having just lost his parents but his twin sister Grace didn't act anywhere near as much of a ass as he did. Every time he started getting at Cary it set my teeth on edge.

At around 95% I was wondering how Courtney would end the book and if there would be unfinished questions or if she'd kill everyone off at that point but somehow in the little bit of extra percent left, she managed to finish off the story perfectly. There was unanswered questions but I felt like it ended in the right place. I enjoyed her writing style so much I went out the next day and bought two more of her books. I would happily read a sequel to this or more zombie books though...

5/5

Top Ten Supernatural Things On My Bookish Bucket List


1. To actually read all those sequels I keep saying I need to read. Instead of putting it off for new shiny books which are nearly always part of a new series.

2. To stop obsessively watching and stressing over Game Of Thrones long enough to read the damn books.

3. To go on holiday and... not bring... too many books back. Maybe just one or two.

4. To stop looking at NetGalley. It's beautiful and shiny and magical and I don't need it.

5.To go and see The Maze Runner, the movie I have been waiting for for about four freaking years. I have my dream cast and everything, it's going to be so beautiful.

6. It's shallow but I really want 100 bloglovin followers. Because followers are a beautiful thing.

7. I'd also like to read 100 books this year. Completely doable if I stop doing other things. Like watching Supernatural.

8. I've run out of ideas so here's a gif of Castiel talking about my people skills.

9. So... this is awkward... er... did you see the episode with Snooki? It was... interesting.

10. I'll use number ten to wrap up this post. Don't forget to leave your links so I can visit you and happy blog hopping and stuff!

Many Covers Monday - Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Today we're looking at the many different covers of Lauren Oliver's Delirium. Some are rejackets and others are foreign language covers.

Ninety-five days, and then I'll be safe. I wonder whether the procedure will hurt. I want to get it over with. It's hard to be patient. It's hard not to be afraid while I'm still uncured, though so far the deliria hasn't touched me yet. Still, I worry. They say that in the old days, love drove people to madness. The deadliest of all deadly things: It kills you both when you have it and when you don't.


''Just stick some faces on it.'' I don't really like it when they just dump a face on a book. The US has an obsession with plant matter and faces and the cover on the left is no exception. However the UK cover is even more bizarre, seeming to choose a 13 year old for it's cover.


These two UK covers are almost exactly the same and the left looks like a draft version with the right being the finished version. I do like the idea of having writing over the face though and the birds are a nice touch.

Discussion: Can You Keep Up With Sequels?

Most of the start of series books I've read these past 4-5 years, I've never finished the series in the end and now I'm trying to catch up...


...and my head keeps coming up with the strangest excuses to pick up new books instead of reading the series I need to be reading...


...and then I have to avoid all the reviews of the books I haven't read...


...which means I am now 'Under The Mountain' of sequels I need to read...


But! I will catch up this year for sure yes? I'm going to start with... The Immortal Rules series I think, then Hollow City and maybe The Selection series and eventually I may catch up...


Are you swamped under by sequels or just mean and horrible and keep up with all your series of books? Let me know in the comments!

Vickie x

Stacking The Shelves (22/03/2014)

Stacking The Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews. Don't forget to leave your link so I can see your haul fo the week too. Hey! What's that over there? A bloglovin' button? Where you can subscribe to lots and lots of blogs and follow them via a simple reader, just like Google Friend Connect? You should click it!


Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan . . . But for Cath, being a fan is her life — and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving. Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere. Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to. Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone. For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?
And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

Review of The Headhunter's Race by Kimberly Afe

Sixteen-year-old Avene was sentenced to prison at thirteen for a crime she didn't commit. Now she has a chance to win her freedom back – if she enters the Headhunters Race. Second prize isn't so bad either, an upgrade to the Leisure Prison if you make it to the finish line. To win either prize, Avene and the other prisoners must navigate one hundred and fifty miles of dense forest, desert, and worst of all, cannibal territory. With a mechanical collar timed to strangle the prisoners if they're not back in nine days, Avene allies herself with seventeen-year-old McCoy, another prisoner that insists on helping her at every turn and a boy she's trying hard not to fall for. Together they battle nature, other prisoners, and the timed death collars to win the coveted prize. But when Avene is tested with one deadly conflict after another, she realizes there is more at stake than winning her freedom – first she has to survive. 

(Add To Your Goodreads Shelf)

What first caught my attention was the gorgeous cover, it's really pretty and as I discovered later, fits in well with the plot too, which is a rare event in typical Teen books I've found. The book itself is a quick read, only around 200 pages but packed with action all the way through. Our protagonist is Avene, a 16 year old girl who has been sent to prison for the death of her mother. It's not mentioned in the description, but she's sent there not for the murder but as an accomplice to Gavin, her brother's crimes, who was accused of the murder. However, her brother escaped and Avene was thrown in the prison knows as the Dead Man's Pen where it's every man or woman for themselves.

At least, I think Gavin is her brother. Due to either my lack of attention or bad editing, I didn't see the word brother at all when Avene recollected the event early on, and I thought he was just a random person, kitchen staff perhaps. It wasn't until she mentioned the word brother later on that it clicked and at first I thought he would be a secondary love interest, as these things usually go. Honestly, I'm very, very confused about this as even after 3 years she's not sure she can recognise him, the guy she says she's spent years with.

I did enjoy this book. It has some very unique elements in it that kept me reading long into the night. Avene's plan is to get out of the Pen and the only way to do that is to run The Headhunter's Race and if you finish in time you get to be not dead and upgraded to a leisure prison, with decent meals and a warm bed. However, if you come back with Gavin (or his head), you get to walk free. Which is exactly what Avene plans to do.

 A lot of Avene's decisions are questionable. She never once questions Gavin's guilt, yet questions everything else King (her step father) has done. She's easily jealous and suspicious. The love interest, McCoy seems nice, however the author chose to use the 'he's an ass I don't like him he's out to get me' cliché that in most places, didn't make sense after she already kissed him. However, overlooking the issues I did enjoy this book and if/when a sequel is written, I will definitely be reading it to find out what happens next.

3/5

Review of Where The Rock Splits The Sky by Philip Webb

Where Megan lives it's forever dusk: an endless indigo sky above a wounded land that's slowly dying. Ever since the 'visitors' came, the world has stopped turning. No one sleeps, everyone's afraid. But Megan wants to know what's coming. She'll stop at nothing to save those she loves. She'll ride across a forsaken wilderness to where the rock splits the sky to set the world spinning again - and discover what she's truly made of.

I received this for  review from Chicken House a couple of months ago during my blogging break and although I wasn't reading books at the time (shocking, I know), the minimalistic cover and shiny orange metallic writing caught my attention, as did the description. I do have Philip Webb's other book, 6 Days but it's been sitting on my shelf for over a year now collecting dust. After reading this fast paced, gripping adventure, I'll be sure to pick it up.

Four things to note about Where The Rock Splits The Sky - it has just 266 pages, yet has a well paced story that doesn't feel rushed in any places. It's a Sci-Fi Western that people will probably try and squeeze it into the Dystopia category (the 3 users on Goodreads, I'm looking at you). Although it has some Dystopia elements, I don't think it's fits the modern definition of Dystopia enough to fit it into that definition. As far as I can tell, it's a stand alone novel, which I know will appeal to the many readers who are tired of waiting three years to finish a story that could be wrapped up in one book.Finally, it has a really freaking long title and I keep writing When instead of Where.

I don't think I've ever read a YA western story, which surprised me when I realised this. The 'Wild West' is a staple the Hollywood movie's diets and I've seen all kinds of Westerns portrayed on TV from West World in 1973 with the amazingly talented Yul Brynner, to comedy movies like Wild Wild West and more recently The Lone Ranger. But the Wild West doesn't feature much in books these days, despite it being hugely popular on the Big Screen. Where The Rock Splits The Sky manages to take all the classic Western elements and a lot of desert, add Sci-Fi and make a really, really good story.

Aliens are becoming more popular in YA books and it was refreshing to have a YA book where the girl doesn't fall in insta-love with an alien. The aliens, or Visitors in this story are not something you want to fall in love with, especially when a few of them are hiding in reanimated corpses and have maggots crawling out of their eyes *shudder*. That was really freaking gross. Almost as gross as the rain of fish. We have three main characters, Megan, Kelly and Luis. Megan is our main character and we see everything from her point of view. Luis is kind of her sidekick and follows her everywhere and Kelly they pick up a few chapters in, we find her in a floating town with no idea what has happened to the world. Kelly was my favourite of the group and the one I related to the most, constantly cracking jokes. I wasn't sure about Luis as there was almost no description of him that I can remember.

Although I had a little difficulty getting used to the story (nothing is explained, you kind of just have to pick it up as you go along), I really enjoyed the inbetween parts of Where The Rock Splits The Sky. There was quite a bit of travelling but it was interspersed  with strange towns where something weird happened each time - they met Kelly, cleaned bat poo, almost got arrested for underage gambling... meanwhile trying to keep out of the way of Jetho's Gang, a pack of Visitors that are on their trail. It's a thrilling read that I enjoyed very much and I was rather sad when it ended. If you love Sci-Fi, Western or just Adventure tales, I highly recommend this book.

4/5

Received free from Chicken House in exchange for an honest review