ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell 144 pp. Penguin Group. £8.99. (Ages 13 and up) ISBN 9780141182704 Rating: ? Stars This book is set in a future when animals are much cleverer than now. And because of their cleverness, the pigs started a revolution against the humans. Pigs could speak fluently in English unlike the other animals, and that gave them the power to be leaders. But, the story that follows only happened a few years after that... Their first leader, Old Major, was kind and fair who knew animals should be equal. But when Napoleon became the leader it was very unpleasant. He made a rule that allowed the pigs to have better food and that forced all of the other animals to work crazily hard every day and night. That wasn’t enough, Napoleon wanted more power. He decided to kill his brother, Snowball, so that he would be the only leader. Snowball was admired because he came up with a clever idea to build windmill. Sn...
Publisher: Spencer Hill Press
Pages: 312
From Goodreads: "Seventeen-year-old Eva is a chosen one. Chosen to live, while others meet a swift and painful death from an incurable virus so lethal, a person is dead within days of symptoms emerging. In the POD system, a series of underground habitats built by the government, she waits with the other chosen for the deadly virus to claim those above. Separated from family and friends, it's in the PODs she meets David. And while true love might not conquer all, it's a balm for the broken soul.
After a year, scientists believe the population has died, and without living hosts, so has the virus. That's the theory, anyway. But when the PODs are opened, survivors find the surface holds a vicious secret. The virus mutated, infecting those left top-side and creating... monsters.
Eva and David hide from the infected in the abandoned PODs. Together they try to build a life--a new beginning. But the infected follow and are relentless in their attacks. Leaving Eva and David to fight for survival, and pray for a cure."
When I first heard the premise of "PODs" I was immediately intrigued at it has been a situation that I had given a fair amount of consideration to- having to live underground in a bunker due to some apocalyptic event (blame the National Geographic TV show "Doomsday Preppers"). That being said, when I did start to read the book I did find myself growing increasingly more and more skeptical- finding it to be fairly cheesy (the dialogue, especially). That being said, once the pacing of the story picked up, and I was able to better ground myself within it, I found said cheesiness to be a thing of the past.
I think that the biggest strength of this book was its ability to toy with emotions- admittedly I bawled my eyes out the first 30 pages of the book, something which is quite rare for me to do (while I have been known to tear up while watching TV, I can only count the number of times that I have while reading a book on one hand)- I think that author Michelle K. Pickett was able to accurately portray the feelings that Eva would have experienced in learning that she was one of few chosen to survive, while all of her friends and family members were not to.
Another element of the book that I enjoyed was the romance. While at time, as previously mentioned, it was a fair bit cheesy, I do appreciate that there was actual build-up to it- with Eva and David coming to know one another before forging a relationship, rather than jumping straight into it (as, unfortunately, happens fair too often in YA).
All in all, I highly recommend this book to fans of post-apocalyptic books as I do think that it brings something different to the table than we have seen before in the genre. Furthermore, I think that because it does offer a balance of action/ adventure and romance that it will appeal to a wide audience of readers. I personally can't wait to see what Michelle has in store for us next with the next installment of this series!
Rating: 4/5
I received this book from the publisher to read and honestly review. I was not compensated in any way for said review.
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