Monday 21 April 2014

SERIES PROMOTION & REVIEW - SKY ON FIRE - MONUMENT 14 BY EMMY LAYBOURNE

Title: Sky On Fire BK2
Series: Monument 14
Author: Emmy Laybourne
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends, Tor Books

BLURB from Goodreads
Trapped in a superstore by a series of escalating disasters, including a monster hailstorm and terrifying chemical weapons spill, brothers Dean and Alex learned how to survive and worked together with twelve other kids to build a refuge from the chaos. But then strangers appeared, destroying their fragile peace, and bringing both fresh disaster and a glimmer of hope. 

Knowing that the chemical weapons saturating the air outside will turn him into a bloodthirsty rage monster, Dean decides to stay in the safety of the store with Astrid and some of the younger kids. But their sanctuary has already been breached once. . . .

Meanwhile, Alex, determined to find their parents, heads out into the darkness and devastation with Niko and some others in a recently repaired school bus. If they can get to Denver International Airport, they might be evacuated to safety. But the outside world is even worse than they expected. . .

REST OF THE SERIES SO FAR

Title: Dress Your Marines In White Bk0.5
Series: Monument 14
Author: Emmy Laybourne
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends, Tor Books

BLURB from Goodreads
It was just a test report. Like one of many, many he’d written up in the past. Except this time, several of the test subjects are dead…”

At first, Dr. James Cutlass had thought his new job at NORAD was thrilling and full of opportunities, but that was before the demonstration… “Dress Your Marines in White” is the story of the terrifying choices surrounding a chemical weapons demonstration gone horribly wrong.


Title: Monument 14 Bk1
Series: Monument 14
Author: Emmy Laybourne
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

BLURB from Goodreads
"Your mother hollers that you're going to miss the bus. She can see it coming down the street. You don't stop and hug her and tell her you love her. You don't thank her for being a good, kind, patient mother. Of course not--you launch yourself down the stairs and make a run for the corner. 
""Only, if it's the last time you'll ever see your mother, you sort of start to wish you'd stopped and did those things. Maybe even missed the bus. 
""But the bus was barreling down our street, so I ran. 
"Fourteen kids. One superstore. A million things that go wrong. 
In Emmy Laybourne's action-packed debut novel, six high school kids (some popular, some not), two eighth graders (one a tech genius), and six little kids trapped together in a chain superstore build a refuge for themselves inside. While outside, a series of escalating disasters, beginning with a monster hailstorm and ending with a chemical weapons spill, seems to be tearing the world--as they know it--apart.


Link To My Review



Title: Jake And The Other Girl Bk1.5
Series: Monument 14
Author: Emmy Laybourne
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends, Tor Books

BLURB from Goodreads
The apocalypse has hit Monument, Colorado, and Jake Simonsen, captain of the football team, is caught in the middle of it. A series of escalating disasters, beginning with a monster hailstorm and ending with a terrible chemical weapons spill that affects people differently depending on blood type, has torn the world as he knows it apart. Now Jake has to decide how to pick up the pieces.




COMING SOON

Title: Savage Drift
Series: Monument 14
Author: Emmy Laybourne
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends, Tor Books

BLURB from Goodreads
The stunningly fierce conclusion to Emmy Laybourne's Monument 14 trilogy.

The survivors of the Monument 14 have finally made it to the safety of a Canadian refugee camp. Dean and Alex are cautiously starting to hope that a happy ending might be possible.

But for Josie, separated from the group and trapped in a brutal prison camp for exposed Type Os, things have gone from bad to worse. Traumatized by her experiences, she has given up all hope of rescue or safety.

Meanwhile, scared by the government's unusual interest in her pregnancy, Astrid (with her two protectors, Dean and Jake in tow) joins Niko on his desperate quest to be reunited with his lost love Josie.

Author Emmy Laybourne reaches new heights of tension and romance in this action-packed conclusion to the Monument 14 trilogy.



MY REVIEW

Title: Sky On Fire BK2
Series: Monument 14
Author: Emmy Laybourne
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends, Tor Books

BLURB from Goodreads
Trapped in a superstore by a series of escalating disasters, including a monster hailstorm and terrifying chemical weapons spill, brothers Dean and Alex learned how to survive and worked together with twelve other kids to build a refuge from the chaos. But then strangers appeared, destroying their fragile peace, and bringing both fresh disaster and a glimmer of hope. 

Knowing that the chemical weapons saturating the air outside will turn him into a bloodthirsty rage monster, Dean decides to stay in the safety of the store with Astrid and some of the younger kids. But their sanctuary has already been breached once. . . .

Meanwhile, Alex, determined to find their parents, heads out into the darkness and devastation with Niko and some others in a recently repaired school bus. If they can get to Denver International Airport, they might be evacuated to safety. But the outside world is even worse than they expected. . .


INITIAL THOUGHTS
I felt like I was in a bit of a reading slump and wanted to choose something that I knew I would most likely enjoy, so I chose to read this one. So after reading and loving Bk1 so much my expectations were pretty high!

MY REVIEW
I won a Giveaway run by the always generous, Natalie Cleary of Book Lover's Life and the prize was my choice of a book and I chose this one!
I like the cover of the book as it fits well with Book One in the series. This cover features the school bus that some of the kids have gone in,in their attempt to get to Denver International Airport to some sort of safety. Their plan is to send back help to the others remaining in the Greenway Store. 
So the book is told from the two separate groups points of view, those who are on the bus trying to get and help and those left at the Greenway store trying to exist and survive until help can arrive. 
The group that are being led by Alex and Niko on the bus are seeing death and destruction all around them on their mission to get to Denver and get help.
Whilst at the Greenway with Astrid and Dean being the new leaders, their problems continue. Both groups have the same problem of whether they should trust other survivors they come in to contact with or not..
Niko and Alex's group do meet "good" and "bad" survivors. In fact they are given help at one point in their journey when everything seems lost an unlikely source of help arrives.
For Dean and Astrid's group an old friend returns to them and turns out to be more helpful than they ever thought he could be when they are literally taken hostage in their own safe haven.
This second installment in the Monument 14 series, Sky On Fire is as action packed and as drama filled as Monument 14 was. By now after book one you have made your mind up as to which characters you like, hate or love. As a reader, Emmy Laybourne has written them so well that you do feel emotionally attached to them and are really rooting for the group on the bus to succeed and send help to the group back in the store.
The characters and their relationships with one another develop even more in book two. Niko, Alex, Dean, and Astrid all seem to take on almost parental roles on within their groups looking after the younger kids and trying to shield them from the harsh realities that now exist. In fact at times the kids seem more mature and able to cope with the changing world around them than the adult that are surviving.
As I approached the end of this book I had super mixed feelings as I thought wow this series is going to end now with a fairly mixed happy ending but then there is the epilogue which sets the scene and the questions to be answered in a book three.
So did you enjoy the book? Yes, I loved it as much as book one, in fact, even more. Would you recommend the book? Yes, I'd recommend this series so far. In some series the second book kind of slows things down but in this series there's even more action. 
Would I want to read more of this series? Definitely, I have added the next book in the series to my wishlist to read already!
Would I read other books by this Author? I would certainly consider reading more titles about this Author.

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