Review: Pandemic (Infected #3) by Scott Sigler (Prequel/Sequel Challenge)

First, thanks to Crown Publishing and Edelweiss for allowing me to read an e-galley of this.  And extra thanks to whatever kept it from expiring on the date I had written, January 21st, since I wasn't able to get all the way through it until the 24th.  I was a little daunted at first because it was over 400 pages, and it had been awhile, since 2009, that I'd read the 2nd book in the series.  I am pleased to say that the way they did the kind of "review" mixed in at the beginning of the story was perfect for reminding me pretty much of all of it.  Not only that, the author's writing once again captured and pulled me right into the story.  And that many pages?  You might think it would be a ton of description and character building, boring stuff, and you'd be wrong.  Yes, all that description and character building is there, it is just done in such a way that it happens during exciting, edge of the seat action scenes.  I feel like this series is one that could make a few good movies, or even better, a tv series on the SyFy channel.

I'll try not to give too many spoilers out, but there are a few of course since this is the final book in a trilogy.  In the first two books, there was an alien virus/organism that was causing people to die, or even to change in ways that they would cause others to catch the same thing and then change to pass it on, or again, die.  The alien organism was sent by a society that sent them out to get rid of other life forms that might one day come back and kill them or cause them harm.  It sent several different parts, and each one could learn from the losses of the one before if something happened, as had happened in the last two books.  It got so bad in the last one that the government nuked Detroit to end it.  Which did mostly end it, other than one last part from the original machine which sunk to the bottom of Lake Michigan.  The government is searching for any last bits that may have made it out of the blast.  And they've found one.  They take all the precautions they think are necessary to try to safely get it into a submarine, and then back to a lab to test it/destroy it if needed.  Unfortunately, something goes wrong on the sub, it is obvious somehow the people get infected.  Clarence Otto, and Margaret Montoya, experts and heroes from last books, are called back in to try to stop it, and determine what is going on.  What they find is a much evolved organism, some of the ways it has changed they won't even notice, until it may be too late, and someone very important is infected.

And it's not just the alien organism they must deal with now, it seems another country has their eyes on getting ahold of this alien technology and using it for themselves.  Not realizing just how bad it can be for them if they don't follow all the protocols that even our heroes are using, at times unsuccessfully.

Such a great way that it all plays out, to the point that I was just figuring there was no way left to save the human race.  But the scientists must determine if there is any way to use the aliens' own technology against them in order to save ourselves.

Again, a great conclusion to the story, so glad I got to read it!  For my 2014 Prequel and Sequel Challenge, I will be able to count this as 2 points.  Unfortunately, since I didn't review the first two anywhere that I can find at the moment, I can't get the 10 points for completing the series.  Hopefully I will soon get my MySpace blogs sent to me from the past, and it will be there I hope.

Quarantine: The Loners

I won this book in a giveaway awhile back.  I wasn't quite sure if it was more of a zombie, post-apocalyptic, etc. type of book. Well, no zombies.  But that was okay. I have to say this was one of the most original stories I've read in awhile!  I really enjoyed it.  In fact, I think last night my dreams were all about figuring out a place to live and stay safe in case of a zombie apocalypse or whatever.  This was a page turner, I mean once I picked it up, I had trouble putting it down to do anything else.  At work last night on break, it was really hard to put the book away when I had to go back to work.  This would be a great book for boys, I know a lot of dystopian/post-apocalyptic are often with female main characters, but not this one, it is really from two boys, brothers' points of view.
The main characters are David and his brother Will.  David used to be a star athlete at his high school.  Until his mother died in a car accident and his life changed.  Sports and parties just didn't seem so important.  That is until he checks his girlfriend Hilary's phone.  And there is a text from one of his teammates.  So he shows up at a party, his first one in months, only to see Hilary standing with Sam, very close, hands all over each other.  He gets so upset that he punches Sam, and basically his former teammates drag him away and out of the party.  Then the first day back to school, he is already being ostracized by the athletes.  Which he hates for the sake of his younger brother Will, since it is his first day in high school and he doesn't want to ruin his high school career.  But shortly after school starts, it doesn't really matter, there is a huge explosion in the east wing of the school.  The teacher that Matt is talking to at the time begins to die, coughing up blood, and very quickly is gone.  As Matt runs to find Will, Will finds him, and they run to the entrance to leave the school.  But as they run out, there are soldiers there, and as students try to flee, the soldiers shoot them.  They yell for them to go back into the building.  The students who haven't been shot, or didn't escape into the wooded area on the sides of the school go back in and wait.  Soon they find out that a teen escaped from a nearby lab and came to the school.  This teen had a virus that was highly contagious, as with the teachers, it would immediately kill any adults or young children.  So their attempt was to stop it by blowing up the part of the school they'd seen him enter.  Meanwhile they are making the students stay in the school because this virus is so dangerous, all the students are now infected.  The powers that be have created a machine that can tell the students when it is safe for them to leave, and also dangerous for them to stay because they will no longer be immune to the virus.  The students call this their graduation date.  And it is close to the time when they would be a senior and able to graduate.  The scientists put a giant tent around the building, as well as sealing all but that front door shut, and even that can only open when a student passes the graduation check.  Inside the school, gangs form.  Food is dropped off, I think it is every two weeks, and there is always a stampede to get the food, as well as other supplies, such as clothing, cleaning, hygeine products.  And soon students join together to help get what they need.  But some people aren't able to join groups, they are the Loners.  Now your biggest group is the Varsity, made of all the male athletes in the school, except David, as he is on the outs because of what happened with Sam, who becomes the leader of the Varsity.  There are the Pretty Ones, all the pretty girls.  The Nerds, the Geeks, the Sluts, the Freaks, the Skaters, and I think those are the main groups.  They've all staked out places for their groups to live, and protect each other. They also offer services in order to trade for things they want.  You can guess some of the trades by their names.  David and Will are kind of on their own at first.  And David finds a way to survive by washing the blood out of the other people's clothes.  Will is very unhappy that his life has been reduced to this, and that he can't find a group because of David.  Sam still seems to have it out for David, and it gets worse when David accidentally kills one of the athletes when he saves Lucy.  Lucy was a Pretty One, but got kicked out for not being the "girlfriend" to a guy as she was expected to.  So David and Will take her in.  Not that they have much room for her in the elevator where they're living.  But news of David's feat spreads, and the other Loners think that maybe together they could form their own gang and offer protection for each other that way.  At first David doesn't want to, but soon he sees that this is a good idea, and so a new gang is formed.  The whole time Sam continues to go after David.  And David and Will continue to have issues, now about the girl, Lucy.  And it all comes to a big head when suddenly the food/supply drops stop and people stop getting to graduate.  Because if they don't graduate, they will die, and it happens to a few students.  It's up to Will and David to overcome their differences, as well as their obstacles with the other gangs and their environment, to try to save themselves as well as their friends.
Again, this is so original.  And interesting to see what happens, and how these teens turn on each other.  In a way, I saw it compared to The Hunger Games, and I would say to combine that with Lord of the Flies, and you've got a bit of an idea on this.  Great story, and I can't wait to read on in the series.  The 2nd book came out this summer I think, so I'll probably put it on my list for September is for Sequels challenge.

The Lives We Lost (Fallen World #2) by Megan Crewe

Attention, there will be a few spoilers if you haven't read the first book yet!!  So read on with caution.
Once again I am thanking Netgalley, as well as Disney for letting me read the e-galley of this book.  I really like the publishers that let all the books in the series be available on Netgalley.  For a kind of selfish reason, when I get to read a book early like this, I hate when I have to wait for the next book in the series even longer, because I don't get it as an e-galley.
This book basically picks up where the first one, The Way We Fall, left off.  Kaelyn is not alone with her cousin Meredith.  But not completely, her friend Tessa is there.  And also, her new boyfriend, Gavin, who in the first book was one of the guys that did the runs to get the food deliveries from the mainland before they stopped being delivered, is also living there.  We learned about one of her best friends, Leo, in the first book.  He makes it back to town at the beginning of this book.  And also moves in with the little family.  Since Kaelyn's father passed away, she now is having the time to go through the box of his stuff she got from the hospital.  And she finds the keys to his lab that she thinks has a vaccine he was working on.  She gets in, finds it, reads his notes on it, and decides she must get it to their friend Nell at the hospital.  Nell is very excited to hear of the cure, but says there is no one left on the island that would be able to help with it.  So Kaelyn figures she must get it to the mainland for someone to help.  She plans at first to just take Leo and go.  We know that Kaelyn is immune, as well as Meredith.  But none of the others are.  Unfortunately a guy named Tobias shows up when they are leaving to tell them that some military people are going to bomb the island as they blame the whole virus outbreak on them. So all of them leave, to be safe.  Once on the other side, both Tessa and Leo are given two of the vaccines. Gavin refuses to take one.  And so their journey begins.  Tobias travels with them, bringing his vehicle, I'm thinking it's a Hum Vee?  And all the provisions and supplies he can.  Leo has warned them that even the mainland isn't what it used to be.  People are dangerous.  And in one of the first towns where they stop to get gas, they find out this is true.  When they walk back to their vehicle, it has been disabled, and now they must walk.  It's winter and snowy, so they find some sleds, and pack all their belongings on them to move.  But again they must hide away from the road so that these people don't come after them.  See, they let slip that they have a vaccine, and now that is all these other people want.
Along the way they do come across some friendly people at an old artists' colony.  These people are self sufficient, and even have a greenhouse.  Tessa ends up wanting to stay behind with the greenhouse, and because of the danger, Kaelyn wants Meredith to stay there and wait until they get back from either Toronto or wherever they must end up going to find help with this.

And so a new journey is set on.  With someone from the colony joining them.  And even we hear from Kaelyn's brother, not even sure how he got to where he is, but he still does his best to help her.

I won't go on anymore about the story.  Just to say that it does end on a bit more of a cliffhanger this time I feel.  Which is good.  Because now I'm even more eager to read on!  I really liked the kind of road trip in this story.  I love stories like that.  And I feel the way the towns and few people out there were, was pretty realistic.  A great story, and if you haven't read the first one, The Way We Fall, you need to go get it and be ready for when this comes out in February.

The Way We Fall by Megan Crewe

The Way We Fall by Megan Crewe

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I was unsure whether to go ahead and post a review of this since it doesn't come out until January, but saw that everyone else seemed to, so here goes. First I'd like to also mention that I got this as an egalley from Netgalley.



Again, people call this a dystopian book, but to me this isn't what I consider dystopian. It is science fiction to me. There is a disease that starts to take out a whole island population, I think in Canada. Of course the government decides on a quarantine to keep it contained. This virus starts by making you feel like you have the flu, then you become really friendly and gossipy and will say whatever is on your mind. The main character is Kaelyn, and she first is introduced to this virus when her friend's father who has been sick says some really kind of prejudiced things to her when she is at their house one day. The story is told through her letters that she is writing to a boy who used to be her best friend. She is writing him because she was not nice to him right before he left the island. So we get to see the whole thing through her eyes. We get to hear about the people of the island panicking when they feel that the government has left them to die. Her father is actually a doctor who deals with this type of issue and so he is at the hosptital constantly and Kaelyn and her mother and brother must make it without him. She also has an uncle and cousin on the island, who it ends up they must take care of them as well at a point.

I like the science details, not too detailed for just anyone to read, like a teen, but enough that as someone who would have been really into the science at that age would be sucked in. Maybe it is the fact that I just saw the movie Contagion recently as well, but it was a good book, and I was hooked. Like another review on Goodreads said, it started a bit slow, but once the disease started taking over, I was at a point I didn't want to put it down. Can't wait to put it on my recommendation table at the bookstore where I work!



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