ASIN: B00CAHQF50
Series: Stung Series
Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's
Pages/File size: 303pages/479KB
Formats Available: Hardcover, paperback, E-book
Release Date: 4th July 2013
BLURB from Goodreads
In a world in crisis, children are the future. Part of the cure. Not now. Children are deadly. Marked one to ten. Fiona is a TEN. She just doesn't know it yet . . . She doesn't know her true strength.
Fiona doesn't remember going to sleep. But she has woken to find her entire world has changed - her house is abandoned and broken, and her neighbourhood is barren and dead. Even stranger is the tattoo on her right wrist that she doesn't remember getting but somehow knows she must cover at any cost. And she's right. When the honeybee population collapsed, a worldwide pandemic occurred and the government tried to bio-engineer a cure. But instead the vaccination turned people into ferocious, deadly beasts. They have been branded as a warning to unvaccinated survivors. Key people needed to rebuild society are protected inside a fortress-like wall. Fiona has awakened branded, alone and on the wrong side of the wall . . . . .
MY REVIEW
I received a paperback arc of this book from Bloomsbury (thank you Bloomsbury!). There are a few different covers for this book, but have to say the one on my ARC that is pictured above is the one I like the most. I think the gold colour works best as it also represents the honey, as well as the bees. It's not a pretty, pretty cover but it would certainly catch your eye whilst sitting on a book shelf. I don't think the book cover needed the comparison to the hunger games, sure the book has some similarities but not that much. This book is a great story in its own right. I do like the byline on the cover which says "A Deadly Cure For A World In Crisis. . . ." This byline perfectly sums up the vaccination and what it was meant to be as opposed to what it turned out to be. The vaccine was meant to be a cure for a world that was in crisis only the terrible side effects of the vaccine made it into a "deadly cure".
The book starts off with Fiona waking up and discovering life as she thought she knew has changed. . . dramatically. Fiona discover a strange tattoo on her right wrist and although she can't remember exactly what it means, she somehow knows she has to keep it hidden from others. The tattoo is what happened when she was vaccinated against the pandemic. It all began when the honeybee's began dying off. the vaccine was supposed to prevent the pandemic becoming any worse, but it had major side effects. Those who had the vaccine became extremely violent and out of control. The tattoo is a form of branding, so other people know to be on their guard and keep away.
Now all important people or those people considered useful to regenerating society are living within a walled community apart from the vaccinated and security/guard like people.
The vaccinated are hunted and sold to be put in a circle to fight too, so they are treated as a commodity to be either sold to the labs to be experimented on or sold to the fight circles.
I don't wish to go into any more details as it may give away spoilers as you read the book.
So what did I think to the book? I found the pace a little irritatingly slow to begin with,and felt like getting hold of Fiona and shaking her for more information! Then all of a sudden the pace picked up and everything began making more sense. I loved the character of Bowen and certainly warmed to the character of Fiona as time went on. There's plenty going on in the book, we also see relationships, and people that have changed because of the pandemic and vaccination issues. There's Bowen and his brother, the older one is in the military,and the younger Bowen, Dryden is one of the men that try to catch and sell "the beasts" to the lab. Once the pace picked up I really did enjoy this book. I loved reading about the developing relationship between Bowen "the beast catcher" and Fiona "the beast".
So did I enjoy the book? Yes, once the pace picked up. Would I recommend the book? If you can cope with the slower pace at the beginning Would I read a Bk#2? Yes, I'd definitely Would I read other books by Bethany Wiggins?I'd certainly check out any books by this author so yes.
Thank you!
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