Fire and Flood by Victoria Scott

Title: Fire and Flood

Author: Victoria Scott

Release Date: Feburary 25, 2014

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Format: eBook

Page Number: 304

Source: Netgalley

Synopsis(Goodreads): 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?

My Review

In a world dominated by dystopians, I think that Fire and Flood was really good. Though it had some things that could be compared to The Hunger Games, I still think that it held its own. 

One thing I want to mention is that Fire and Flood is not just another Hunger Games wanna be. Fire and Flood has its own unique story line with its own unique twists and turns. Though some things seemed rather close to the Hunger Games, the Pandoras and other elements in the story made it different. 

The main character Tella was kind of meh. She was really obsessed with Guy and her Pandora Madox, and it was kind of weird. I also felt she was trying to hard to be tough, and she was really naive at some parts of the book. The side characters of the book, especially Tella's friends were really interesting and it was cool to see their reasons for entering the race. 

There was a ton of awesome stuff that went down in this book. It was filled with tons of action and was really fun to read. Sometimes the writing made everything seem kind of awkward, but other times it was really good. The whole book was really engaging and it was a fast paced read!

Rating: 4/5 worms

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Release Date: August 16, 2011

Publisher: Random House NY

Page Number: 374

Format: Paperback

Source: Own

Synopsis: It's the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place.

Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets.

And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune--and remarkable power--to whoever can unlock them.

For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday's riddles are based in the pop culture he loved--that of the late twentieth century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday's icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes's oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig.

And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle.

Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt--among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life--and love--in the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.

A world at stake.
A quest for the ultimate prize.
Are you ready?

My Review

You know that book that you never want to put down, because you're afraid you'll miss something? The one that you'll reccomend to all of your friends, whether they read or not? Well, Ready Player One is that book. This book was crazy awesome and totally great!

 

Wade is an awesome character. He lives his entire life inside the OASIS, only coming out when he absolutely needs to. At first, I didn't really know what to think of him. He didn't have any close contact with any of the people around him, and he spent all his time in a virtual game. But as the book went on, I realized that Wade was really funny. He would sometimes say a funny comment and it made me laugh. And closer to the end of the book, I realized that he was smart and super crazy. He came up with these out-of-this-world plans that fit together perfectly, that you would think would fail. I also really liked Art3mis, especially after Wade got to know her. She was a total kick but character and I loved that!

 

The plot of this book was so intricate and complex. There was so much stuff that happening, and there were times that the characters would do something that seemed pointless, that would play a major roll in how the end of the book turned out. Being inside the virtual world of the OASIS was really cool, because we got to imagine what a wonderful game it was. There was also a ton of action, as you can probably imagine, and I didn't want to put the book down.

 

Ernest Cline did a fantastic job creating the world. After reading Ready Player One, I felt like the OASIS was a real game, because he did a great job describing and depiciting it. He made me feel like I was inside the game and watching from the sidelines as Wade went through his quest to win Halliday's treasure. He also did a great job of creating his characters, because they actually seemed real and not like cookie cutter characters.

 

Rating: 5/5 worms