Above - Reviewed by Maggie Devero

Above by Isla Morley

Reviewed by Maggie Devero

Sixteen year old Blythe is going about her average business in the small town of Eudora, Kansas; arguing with her siblings, falling for a boy named Arlo, and enjoying the town's annual picnic and just growing up a regular teenage girl, with nothing out of the ordinary. That is until the town's librarian, Dobbs Hordin, kidnaps her the night of the Horse Thieves Picnic and hids her away from her normal world, preaching the End of all as we know it. He keeps her held captive in an abandoned missile silo in the vast fields of Kansas, where he has made his survivalist home of sorts, to wait out the end, and then repopulate the vacant world as the Remnant of humankind. Blythe struggles with the idea of no one coming to her rescue, and deals with failed attempts of escape; she is stuck and no one is going to save her. She fights off and eventually succumbs to some kind of insanity, accepting that this is where she will reside until she passes from this life, but it will never be a home. She deals with many traumatic events during her time down under, until miraculously she finds escape seventeen years later. But the world she returns to is so different than the one she had previously known, will she be able to return to life above ground? Was escape really worth it in the end?

I LOVED this book, it was just as good as I had expected it to be. Starting right in the midst of the drama from the very first line, and working its way through the storyline until the very end this book keeps you on your toes. Blythe's character grows, maybe not in the happiest or most positive way, but seeing how Morley writes her changing while stuck in this hidden silo is crazy because she sticks with the initial passion to escape, but eventually settles with the fact that this is her life now, and escape will not happen. Also seeing Dobbs go from Blythe's captor who won't lay a hand on her, to a crazed man who even through all this, might have loved her all along, is just so weird. Also all the different means of escape, states of minds, and drama that Blythe endures is just mindblowing to experience as a reader. The writing style of Morley was detailed, breathtaking and enrapturing for me. The only fact that kept me from giving this book five stars is that after Blythe manages to get out of the silo, the setup of the plot just seems to be random and not as well thought through and put together. It bored me in comparison to what I had just previously read, and had me skimming the pages multiple times before i completely grasped what was going on. Overall, though, a fantastic book that I would recommend to any apocalyptic/thriller genre fans! Great book!

Above reviewed by: Portia Rockers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above is about a sixteen year old named Blythe who lives a normal every day life, she goes to school and hangs out with friends. Until one day she is abducted by the schools librarian Dobbs, who is a survivalist. Dobbs believes that the End is coming and makes a shelter in an abandon missile silo. Blythe must now learn to deal with being locked under ground trying to find away to escape and dealing with insanity. But is Dobbs right about The End? Is her family still looking for her after all this time? And how will she escape with a child?

 

I liked this book a lot! The plot was of the story was really good. In the beginning it was one shock after another. There was a few spots in the book where was a bit dry and boring, but it picked right back up again. I felt really sorry for Blythe and it made me think what I would do if I were in her situation. I found Dobbs interesting as well, though he was creepy I think he loved Blythe. If you like this book you might also like The Lovely Bones, I thought there were some similar aspects in both the books. I recommend this book for some one who likes apocalyptic type books along with kidnapping and mystery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Empty-- Reviewed by Alexandra Lopez

Empty

By Suzanne Weyn

Reviewed by Alexandra Lopez

In the distant furture the fossil fuels are running out. No gas. No oil. Which means no driving. No heat. Supermarkets are empty. Malls have shut down. Life has just become more local than we ever knew it could be.

Nobody expected the end to come this fast. And in the small town of Spring Valley, decisions that once seemed easy are quickly becoming matters of life and death. Three young teens Tom, Nicki, and Leila are three young teens whose lives are very different from each others and their view points different. Will the they survive this madness? Will the world survive? Or will we resort to war, to take what little oil is left?

Empty is basically the world running out of oil. And it shows exactly how we are depend at of oil. For electricity, generators that require oil to run, which effect a lot house hold appliances. Then because oil is limited, the government raised the prices. In the story just the description of other teens, kids and even adults, t has taken a toll on them. They seem dirtier, angrier, and even more worried. Things I also enjoyed is that the world around them affected them. The country was on the verge with Venezuela, new treaty's with country that had valuable resources, oil being cut off from us and many other things that took a toll on everybody.

However even if oil was gone, life didn't end, yes it would be difficult, most of them had luxuries that would be missed, but the world wasn't dead. There is hope, life will go on. Overall this was a really good book and a big reminder that the oil will not be there forever, and we should look for alternatives before things get any worse.

The Eleventh Plague reviewed by Molly Varney

By: Jeff Hirsch ****

The eleventh plague destroyed the world before Stephen was born. He grew up with his father and his grandfather, after his mother and unborn baby sister died. All he knew to life was to salvage anything worth trading and staying on the Path. After his grandfather died, however, his father decided to leave the Path for one day. Before they even could however, they were forced to run from slavers after saving the lives of two strangers. This caused Stephen's father to be seriously injured after falling. Stephen had to decide to trust the help of some other men who offered their help to him. As he waited for his father to recover, he found himself in a small town. As he got more familiar with the town he met Jenny, a troublesome Chinese girl who he couldn't stop thinking about. As he gets more comfortable with the small town, he has to decide between leaving or staying with Jenny and the family who took him in.

I gave this book four stars because I really liked the storyline but it got a little dry at some parts. I liked all of the characters and thought that they were easy to relate to. I'm not really into books about the world ending but this one was more about people trying to cope with what they had left. If you like books about the world being over then you'll definitely love this one!