For the next entry on this week's Saturday Pages I have one of those "me" reads that was one of my highly awaited books for this year, and it's not part of any of my challenges for the year!
Fire & Flood by Victoria Scott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I was pretty excited for this book as soon as I read the synopsis for it, but it was after reading Giselle from Xpresso Reads review, I knew I just HAD to read it, so I preordered it and read it on release day.
I wasn't too much of a fan of Tella Holloway at first, she has her own way of coping with her family moving to middle of nowhere in Montana and with the sickness of her brother, but it's not a way I could really relate with. And then when she gets the invitation to the Brimstone Bleed race, she takes off with very little preparation or common sense. She has her heart in the right place but seems more of an act now and think later kinda girl. And it does take a while for the dangers and hardships of the race to really make her pause. But she completely redeemed herself with the interactions with her Pandora. She's so protective and loving with Madox that I just felt like hugging her!
We don't really know much about why or how the Brimstone Bleed comes to happen at first, because we're only following Tella and she and the rest of most of the contestants are equally in the dark. They all have someone close to them that is sick, and the winner is promised the Cure to save them. We end up getting some more information eventually and it's quite disturbing! The "I hate humankind" kinda disturbing!
While I was reading the jungle part of the race I started making "ewww" noises, quite enough for the bf to notice and stop working on his project to ask me what was disgusting enough to make me go "eeeewwww"! Once I read some passages I kept on thinking of Giselle's review and how I was glad she had warned us! *shudders*
Tella starts making alliances while in the jungle and join a few fellow contestants with the sound logic that they can help each other till the end and the all bets are off. I liked how the interactions between Tella and Harper were of a fairly solid alliance and respect, and not one of those stupid bitchy competitions. All the characters seem to trust each other to a point but they are all keeping secrets from each other, some of them more shocking that others.
Guy Chambers (that sounds like such a proper English name to me, I'm not sure why... have I heard it before somewhere?) is a bit of a mysterious wild card at first and then becomes one of Tella's most firm allies and much more, even if the romance progression has a bit of hot and cold. It is not the driving point of the book at all though, and I'm quite happy about that. Their relationship isn't one that made want to root for them madly, but I think it'll grow in the next book.
If there's something I fell completely in love with in this book, they were the Pandoras. They're this special Companions for the contenders, genetically modified engineered animals to help them along the race. They all have special qualities and reading about them made me want one of my own! That's why a certain twist by the end of the book was so upsetting for me! *shakes fist*
The book is full of action and raises quite a few uncomfortable questions to ask ourselves. It doesn't leave us with a horrible cliffhanger but still I cannot wait till I can get my hands on the next book! Very well deserved 4.5 stars!
View all my reviews
Fire & Flood by Victoria ScottMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I was pretty excited for this book as soon as I read the synopsis for it, but it was after reading Giselle from Xpresso Reads review, I knew I just HAD to read it, so I preordered it and read it on release day.
I wasn't too much of a fan of Tella Holloway at first, she has her own way of coping with her family moving to middle of nowhere in Montana and with the sickness of her brother, but it's not a way I could really relate with. And then when she gets the invitation to the Brimstone Bleed race, she takes off with very little preparation or common sense. She has her heart in the right place but seems more of an act now and think later kinda girl. And it does take a while for the dangers and hardships of the race to really make her pause. But she completely redeemed herself with the interactions with her Pandora. She's so protective and loving with Madox that I just felt like hugging her!
We don't really know much about why or how the Brimstone Bleed comes to happen at first, because we're only following Tella and she and the rest of most of the contestants are equally in the dark. They all have someone close to them that is sick, and the winner is promised the Cure to save them. We end up getting some more information eventually and it's quite disturbing! The "I hate humankind" kinda disturbing!
While I was reading the jungle part of the race I started making "ewww" noises, quite enough for the bf to notice and stop working on his project to ask me what was disgusting enough to make me go "eeeewwww"! Once I read some passages I kept on thinking of Giselle's review and how I was glad she had warned us! *shudders*
Tella starts making alliances while in the jungle and join a few fellow contestants with the sound logic that they can help each other till the end and the all bets are off. I liked how the interactions between Tella and Harper were of a fairly solid alliance and respect, and not one of those stupid bitchy competitions. All the characters seem to trust each other to a point but they are all keeping secrets from each other, some of them more shocking that others.
Guy Chambers (that sounds like such a proper English name to me, I'm not sure why... have I heard it before somewhere?) is a bit of a mysterious wild card at first and then becomes one of Tella's most firm allies and much more, even if the romance progression has a bit of hot and cold. It is not the driving point of the book at all though, and I'm quite happy about that. Their relationship isn't one that made want to root for them madly, but I think it'll grow in the next book.
If there's something I fell completely in love with in this book, they were the Pandoras. They're this special Companions for the contenders, genetically modified engineered animals to help them along the race. They all have special qualities and reading about them made me want one of my own! That's why a certain twist by the end of the book was so upsetting for me! *shakes fist*
The book is full of action and raises quite a few uncomfortable questions to ask ourselves. It doesn't leave us with a horrible cliffhanger but still I cannot wait till I can get my hands on the next book! Very well deserved 4.5 stars!
View all my reviews
I agree...the Pandoras were the best aspect of this book to me too. I enjoyed this one but I had some struggles connecting to the characters. I'm still excited about the next book in the series. So glad you enjoyed it!
ReplyDeleteIt took me a bit to warm up to both Tella and Guy, and I'm not entirely sure about him still! Madox I absolutely adored!
DeleteI LOVED THIS ONE TOO. HAVE to agree with you on the Pandoras especially :3
ReplyDeleteThe Pandoras were the most adorable thing everrr, even when they were dangerous animals!
DeleteI'm quite curious about this book, especially since the opinions are highly divided. Probably time to pick up this book and get to find out myself! Tell a doesn't sound like the most likeable character though... And the parts that made you go "ewwwww!" HMM. *WORRIED*
ReplyDeleteAlicia @ Summer Next Top Story
If you are very squeamish about bugs and the like... be warned!!
DeleteBut I think this is the kind of book you must give a try yourself. Tella was hard to relate to for me, but I ended up rooting for her!
Great review Pili, my review of this will be going up tomorrow. Unfortunately I didn't love it as much, but I did enjoy the Pandoras. I was absolutely surprised by the gory bits, I totally know what you mean lol!
ReplyDeleteJeann @ Happy Indulgence
Awesome that you loved it, Pili! I don't have any plans to read this soon but I did hear a lot from friends that the Pandoras were the book's highlights. I'm not sure I'll be able to appreciate the MC, but at least we have Pokemon-ish creatures to look forward to right? ^^
ReplyDeleteFaye at The Social Potato Reviews
Yeah, the Pandoras are really something to look forward to, Faye!
DeleteI loved the pandoras too! I wanted my own by the time I got to the end. :D I agree that there were some disturbing parts in this too, and I'm glad that Scott didn't shy away from them. I had more issues with it overall, but I'm really glad this book worked for you. I can't wait to see what you think of the sequel. :)
ReplyDeleteI wanted a Madox to cuddle!! Thanks a lot, Sam!
Delete