Published: July 10, 2012 (Egmont USA)
Source: ARC from Kismet ARC Tours in exchange for an honest review
Rating: Beam-worthy
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Connect with the authors: Website | Twitter
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It was just another ordinary day at McKinley High—until a massive explosion devastated the school. When loner David Thorpe tried to help his English teacher to safety, the teacher convulsed and died right in front of him. And that was just the beginning.
A year later, McKinley has descended into chaos. All the students are infected with a virus that makes them deadly to adults. The school is under military quarantine. The teachers are gone. Violent gangs have formed based on high school social cliques. Without a gang, you’re as good as dead. And David has no gang. It’s just him and his little brother, Will, against the whole school.
In this frighteningly dark and captivating novel, Lex Thomas locks readers inside a school where kids don’t fight to be popular, they fight to stay alive.
My Review
As soon as I began Quarantine, I knew I was in for a wild, heart-pounding ride, with non-stop action and an easily detectable current of danger that constantly dragged me under and into the story being told. Author Lex Thomas (a writing team made up of Lex Hrabe and Thomas Voorhies) takes readers into a world like our own, yet different. There's truth in the tagline, "graduate or die." In Quarantine, the stakes are high from the beginning, and never lessen. Whereas for most of us, high school is about finding out who we are, for these characters it's about surviving the epidemic that caused the government to seal them into their high school. While I at first found that part difficult to believe - that the government would abandon so many people, and only send in food and basic supplies every two weeks - the authors convinced me. I was quickly drawn in to the battleground that once was McKinley High.
The characters are all well-developed, and they feel real; they're the kids you went to school with, only now they're fighting for their lives. Brothers David and Will were opposites, yet fiercely loyal to one another. Each of the gangs that the kids devolve into were startlingly pragmatic and real. I was fascinated by the trading system, almost like a black market, that was established, and it was shocking to see how much some characters changed from who they were at the start. I never knew who to trust, or how to predict what might happen next!
This type of story isn't normally my cup of tea; however, even though I found a few parts of Quarantine to be too convenient, I did enjoy the story being told. The story definitely kept my attention, but I wish I had been able to connect with the characters more. I'm not sure if I'll read the following novels, since to me, this felt more like a stand alone. However, Lex Thomas knows how to write a tense nail-biter of a story, how to electrify a reader's darkest fears for humanity, and how to keep readers turning pages!
Author Guest Post: The Best Kept Secret of McKinley High...
Every locker holds a surprise. In one you might find a forgotten jacket or backpack or school supplies still there from the first day of school. If you’re enterprising, you might trade that stuff in the market for food. In another locker, you might find someone’s secret stash of food, weapons and goodies that they’ve been squirreling away in case they fall on hard times. But then there’s always the chance that the next locker you open is a grave. There have been a lot of deaths in McKinley, and those bodies have to go somewhere. Good thing the halls are lined with coffin-sized metal boxes....
And PS - always remember that if you’re being chased, a locker makes for a quick and easy hiding place. Just avoid the ones that say RIP.
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Check out the previous and upcoming stops on the tour!
Monday, September 10th - Wastepaper Prose
Tuesday, September 11th - Bewitched Bookworms
Wednesday, September 12th - Novel Novice
Thursday, September 13th - The Bookish Brunette
Friday, September 14th - The PageTurners
Monday, September 17th - MundieMoms
Tuesday, September 18th - Forever 17 Books W
Wednesday, September 19th - Evie Bookish
Thursday, September 20th - Once upon a Prologue
Friday, September 21st - The Bookswarm
Monday, September 24th - Reading Angel
Tuesday, September 25th - Fire and Ice
Wednesday, September 26th - Emily's Reading Room
Thursday, September 27th - Fiktshun
Friday, September 28th - Hypable
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