Tori's Review: Fire & Flood (Fire & Flood #1) by Victoria Scott

Fire & Flood by Victoria Scott
Series: Fire & Flood #1
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Rating: ♚♚♚
Pages: 320
Published by Scholastic on February 25, 2014
Amazon | B&N

A modern day thrill ride, where a teen girl and her animal companion must participate in a breathtaking race to save her brother's life—and her own.

Tella Holloway is losing it. Her brother is sick, and when a dozen doctors can't determine what's wrong, her parents decide to move to Montana for the fresh air. She's lost her friends, her parents are driving her crazy, her brother is dying—and she's helpless to change anything.

Until she receives mysterious instructions on how to become a Contender in the Brimstone Bleed. It's an epic race across jungle, desert, ocean, and mountain that could win her the prize she desperately desires: the Cure for her brother's illness. But all the Contenders are after the Cure for people they love, and there's no guarantee that Tella (or any of them) will survive the race.

The jungle is terrifying, the clock is ticking, and Tella knows she can't trust the allies she makes. And one big question emerges: Why have so many fallen sick in the first place?

NOTE: I received this as an ARC from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The first thing that I disliked about Fire & Flood was Tella, but I'm pretty sure this was the case for nearly every person that read this book. She was irritating, and all she really thought about was herself. That's kind of sad considering she was racing to win the Cure for her brother who was sick and dying. The majority of the narration was "I," "I," "I." Honestly, I don't know how Guy put up with her.

Guy Chambers. Since this is only the first book, I'm sort of hoping that they change his name. After reading Jon's review over at Scott Reads It, I can't get it out of my mind that Guy Chambers sounds like the mens' restroom. Tella made this huge deal out of him like he was there to win for her. She always forgot that Guy was there for somebody too and was there to win the Cure for a loved one too. He wasn't going to give it up for a girl he just met. The same thing goes for all the supporting characters. They're all there to win the Cure, not to make friends. Tella knows this, and still she's so shocked when one of her "friends" betrays her to get win the game.

Plus, the romance between Guy and Tella is very basic and nothing new to the YA genre. It's not horrendous, but it's not something that I'm over here swooning over.

The supporting characters were slightly irritating and forgettable. If it weren't for the plot, I don't think I could've read on. Despite the similarities between The Hunger Games and Fire & Flood, the two were still pretty different in my opinion. I loved how there were separate legs in the Brimstone Bleed, and I liked how people didn't have to die in order to win. They just had to beat out the other Contenders.

The world-building a bit lacking, and I really didn't understand what was going on until about 75% through the book. It's never really confirmed what time period it is, and that bugs me. There's no advancement of technology (that's mentioned), and yet there are hybrid animals being hatched out of eggs? It's illogical and kind of made me want to rip my hair out.

I have to admit that the action was great, though. I thought that Scott really knew how to frame her novel and turn it into something adventurous. The things Guy knew about survival made sense and weren't stupid. They were perfectly logical. When Guy said to empty the packs, I was like, "Let's empty the packs!" Leaving the tents behind was sort of sketchy to me, but Guy knew that he had his Pandora to keep them warm at night.

Ah, Pandoras. I loved them. I loved them so much. They were so cute. Madox is the best Pandora in the world. I really liked Harper's Pandora, too, though. They were all great in their own way. I think the best thing about Fire & Flood was the Pandoras. (Titus's Pandora, AK-7, sounds like a gun.)

Well, and the action. But mostly the Pandoras.

Going into this book, I thought I was going to hate it, but I ended up liking it quite a bit. In the end, it's worth the read. The characters are a bit rocky and forgettable, and the romance wasn't anything special. The plot was a bit predictable, but it didn't hurt or add anything to the novel. I'll recommend this to people who aren't critical readers and are looking for a quick, fun, intense read with action and adventure along with some survival aspects along the way.

Lindsay's Review: Forever (The Wolves of Mercy Falls #3) by Maggie Stiefvater

Forever by Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Wolves of Mercy Falls #3
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Werewolves
Rating: ★★★★
Pages: 388
Published by Scholastic Press on July 12th, 2011
Amazon | Barnes & Noble

then. When Sam met Grace, he was a wolf and she was a girl. Eventually he found a way to become a boy, and their loved moved from curious distance to the intense closeness of shared lives.

now. That should have been the end of their story. But Grace was not meant to stay human. Now she is the wolf. And the wolves of Mercy Falls are about to be killed in one final, spectacular hunt.

forever. Sam would do anything for Grace. But can one boy and one love really change a hostile, predatory world? The past, the present, and the future are about to collide in one pure moment - a moment of death or life, farewell or forever.

Why do we read? We read to immerse ourselves into a new world, to fall in love with characters we will never meet, and to enjoy ourselves along the way. And that's exactly what I got while reading this series, and especially Forever.

The book started off a bit slower than usual, especially with all the things that went down at the end of Linger, the second book. And despite how much I've defended the pace of the entire series, I think that Steifvater got a bit sloppy in this book with pacing throughout the whole story. The content, for the most part, was perfect, however not only the slow start bugged me, but the timeline in which things were happening.

Now I warn you, from here on out, there will be big and little spoilers alike. Read at your own discretion.

When doing a timeline through a book, I feel like if you're counting down to something bad, you're characters should be stressed, maybe even freaking out - especially freaking out if their friends might die, which in this book, was the case. But as time progressed, I didn't find the tension rising. It wasn't until the very end that there was so much happening all at once, amazing, but jumbled together in a nothing-built-up-to-this-very-much-and-now-all-this-is-happening-at-once kind of way.

However, despite the pacing, the content was excellent as always, and I couldn't help but get sucked right into Mercy Falls, knowing the place so well with the pictures in my head that I felt like it was a place I actually visited in real life.

The series, as a whole, is one I'm really glad I got around to reading. It was cute and sad and wonderful all at once. The Sam-Grace moments, the angry Grace moments, the Cole-Isabel moments and the Sam-Beck ones. Every one touched me and I really felt like I knew these people.

And even though I was unsure about Cole, I fell in love with him as a character who was lost but redeeming himself. In the end - huge spoiler here- when I thought he was dead, I was so close to bawling that I felt like I wasn't breathing. I hate to admit it, but I speed-read just to find out what happened to him and when he was alive, I wanted to cheesy fist pump freeze-frame in the air like all those 80's movies. So yes, if this book can make me do that, it is definitely worth a read. But I must warn you, do not have expectations, or it will ruin your read. Go in knowing nothing, and I can promise it will be a great read.

Lindsay's Review: Linger (The Wolves of Mercy Falls #2) by Maggie Stiefvater

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Wolves of Mercy Falls #2
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Werewolves
Rating: ★★★
Pages: 368
Published by Scholastic Press on July 13th, 2010
Amazon | Barnes & Noble

The astonishing #1 New York Times bestseller.
In Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other. Now, in Linger, they must fight to be together. For Grace, this means defying her parents and keeping a very dangerous secret about her own well-being. For Sam, this means grappling with his werewolf past . . . and figuring out a way to survive into the future. Add into the mix a new wolf named Cole, whose own past has the potential to destroy the whole pack. And Isabelle, who already lost her brother to the wolves . . . and is nonetheless drawn to Cole.

This book is both amazing and also forgettable to me. I don't know how to explain it clearly, but I'll try my best. It's forgettable because when I think about it, all I see is the main plot through the series about the wolves and Sam and Grace. But when I sit down for a moment and think, little things come to mind that I read that make the book amazing and worth reading.

I think it takes a certain type of reader to read this book. Either one who is experienced in the art of reading (yes, I've declared this a thing) or someone who genuinely likes the flow of a book. I think Stiefvater's writing and the series in general is never about the ending or the climax. I think it's about the road to getting there and all the small moments that you have to read between the lines to let them warm your heart. I know it sounds super cheesy, but it's true. It isn't romance-packed, full of action or even entirely about the werewolves. It's a book I can only explain as, for lack of a better expression, about the path along the way to the destination.

I had only a few problems while first getting into the book, and it was that there were two new perspectives introduced, which I was not prepared for. I find reading two perspectives is enough for me, but switching from that to four upset me at first. Isabel we met in Shiver and although seemed like the bad guy, turned out to be important to the story. This time in Linger I liked her a lot more than I did before, and being in her perspective actually gave us more insight to her and the story. But Cole was hard for me to like throughout the novel, and I didn't actually enjoy reading his perspective until the end. I find it very difficult to read a book when the writer integrates new characters in the middle of the series. The author didn't necessarily fail, but it was a rocky thing to throw into the Linger series.

My second issue was that Sam and Grace need to be more realistic as not only characters, but also a couple. They think they will be together for ever and love each other, but I didn't feel like Stiefvater  succeeded in giving that information to the reader. They just seemed like a regular teenage couple that are obsessed with each other at the start of the relationship instead of truly being in love. I also found that their personal problems were secondary to the story, which I can understand why the author did, but I felt like their problems should have been equals with the story because they were so personal and huge to live day-to-day life with.

Grace and Sam as main characters are not only wonderful, but they find ways to say so much meaning with so little words. They have me thinking about what they say and think, reading in between the lines and applying their thoughts to my own life, even after I've put the book down for a while. Some people might find it slow, but I found Linger to be a good book to curl up in and escape life with. If you've read the first book, this book is a must because I promise, the story gets better. And also, Cole is pretty hot, so that's a definite plus.

DNF: Shiver (The Wovles of Mercy Falls #1) by Maggie Stiefvater

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Wolves of Mercy Falls #1
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Werewolves, Paranormal
Rating: ★ DFN
Published by Scholastic Press on August 1, 2009
Pages: 390
Amazon | Barnes & Noble

For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf—her wolf—is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without.

Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human… until the cold makes him shift back again.

Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human—or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.

I guess it's not really a DNF since I've read it once before, but still... I simply couldn't continue on with this book. When I was 10 and I first got my nook, Shiver was one of the first five books I got. I don't know what was up with me then, but it seemed like the only thing that I wanted to read about was love--no plot, no characterization, no action, just love. Let's just say that over the past four years, a lot has changed. For example, my rating for Shiver is no longer four stars on Goodreads. In fact, it's now one.

I only picked up this book to read it again because Lindsay read it, thought it was good, and I didn't remember what happened other than the fact that this girl named Grace falls in love with a werewolf named Sam. I'm just going to say that I wish I never read this book again. I wish I just left it on my nook, allowing myself to still believe that I thought Shiver was a good, solid book. One-fourth through the book, I already wanted to rip my freaking hair out. It's so brain cell murdering, this book is. I asked Lindsay if it's just me that hates this book so much, and she said that it's just not for some people. Slow books, that is.

She's wrong. Shiver might be slow, but so are John Green's books, and I love John Green's book. They're deep and meaningful. I read in several reviews that Shiver is a tear jerker and that it's heartbreaking and wonderful but I can't agree. I just can't. The writing just drags on and on. And where one of my favorite reviewers says that the writing is absolutely beautiful, I'm over here just like 'no.'

Sam, who's the werewolf, doesn't know how to speak or think words while he's in his wolf form and so when he becomes human he doesn't really know how to control or use the influx of words that pour into his mind. Therefore, naturally, he resorts to song lyrics. Just no. Those lyrics sucked. No. Just no.

And Grace. Don't even get me started on her. Sam is clearly trying to be portrayed by the author as some magnificent creature of great beauty and emotions when really he's just annoying, obsessive, a little creepy, and a sap. Grace on the other hand...she's just plain flat. I can't find anything I like about her. She's obsessed with wolves because of one particular wolf's eyes that she saw while the other wolves were mauling her face. I don't know about you, but if wolves were mauling my face I'd be screaming bloody murder, not paying attention to the wolf with yellow eyes. Oh, and whenever Sam or Grace use the term 'yellow eyes' to describe Sam's eyes, I always think that his eyes look like piss.

Attractive.

I also hated Sam and Grace's relationship together. In my opinion, it was disgusting as hell. For instance, Grace watches Sam for years as a wolf and gains an obsession over him? Unlikely. And the fact that she fell in love with a wolf because of his eyes is absurd. Then literally one day after they meet in human form, he kisses her. Big no-no. I don't care if they've known each other (hypothetically...) for six or so years. Just no.

The supporting characters were very 2-D as well. Don't tell me that I just didn't read enough to realize that they had a soul, because I read half the book. The beginning was monotonous and uneventful. Why would I want to read more when there are other books I could reading? The only character that didn't fry my brain is Isabel. From the few encounters that Grace had with her, I liked her.

Other than Isabel the only saving grace (no pun intended) in Shiver was the werewolf world. The world that Stiefvater created for her wolves was amazing. She completely banished the other stereotypes for wolves and created her own. I'd give Shiver two stars because of her creativity, but because of everything else wrong and boring in this book, I simply cannot do that. I enjoyed pretty much nothing while reading this and two stars would suggest that I enjoyed some components and was about to persevere through.

Honestly, I think this is just one of those books that you really have to get into. I can't really recommend this to anybody because clearly I loved it before but hate it now. And plenty of my favorite reviewers on Goodreads loved this book, so I'm not really sure.

It's up to you whether or not to read it. I just suggest that you save your money and borrow this from the library, and if you like it, then by all means go and but a hard copy. But I have to admit that maybe I'll try to reread it for the third time sometime in the future when I don't have as many books on my immediate TBR as I do at the moment. Maybe I'll enjoy it more as a fifteen, sixteen, or seventeen year old? I just hope that The Raven Boys is better, because I bought that book too.

You also might like: 

Nightshade by Andrea Cremer