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3.47 AVERAGE
3.47 AVERAGE
I loved this! Unfolding apocalypse is a known love for me, but also the characters were solid, loved the cruise ship setting and the class stuff, and every last survival detail. Getting right to the sequel.
I was really looking forward to this book. Dystopian survival story featuring a non-white character--awesome! Not awesome. I got bored quickly, Shy is very much a Mary Sue character, and the plot felt convoluted. So disappointing.
Children's Literature review: High school--Rising high school senior Shy Espinoza gets the opportunity of a lifetime when he lands a summer job on a cruise ship. Three voyages, eight days apiece, and he'll be able to help his mom with finances. On the ship, Shy and fellow worker Carmen quickly form a bond when they discover that they have both recently lost loved ones to the mysterious Romero's Disease-- Carmen, her father, and Shy, his grandmother. During his first voyage, Shy is approached by David Williamson, a passenger who cryptically asks the towel boy how he can go on living with all the blood on his hands. When Shy's attention is diverted, the man climbs over the rails. Shy's attempts to pull him back are unsuccessful. Although Shy is hailed as a hero for trying to stop the suicide, some of the man's associates are on the second voyage, intent on discovering how much he revealed to the teen about LasoTech. During this cruise to Hawaii, the passengers get the news that a catastrophic earthquake has leveled much of the west coast of the United States, and before they can fully process this information, the ship is hit by a tsunami. While many of the passengers are killed instantly, some are able to get to lifeboats and rafts, although these smaller vessels are no match for nature's fury. A harrowing escape finds Shy on a raft with Addie, daughter of the LasoTech owner. Stranded on the ocean for days, they are close to death when rescued and taken to an island where other survivors-- including Carmen-- have found refuge. But things are not as they seem: on the island, Shy discovers that LasoTech was responsible for loosing Romero's Disease on the public, and the biotech company will stop at nothing to prevent that knowledge from becoming public. This action-packed series starter has much to recommend it: high-octane adventure and great character-building. Students will be biting their nails to see if Shy and his friends make it off the island and back to a ravaged California in the sequel.
Reader's Annotation:
A teen joins the crew of a cruise ship hoping to make some money over the summer, but experiences more than he bargained for when a tsunami sinks his ship and he has to survive shark-infested waters. He makes it to an island, but instead of safety, he is confronted with secrets and dangers that could potentially wipe out the world's population.
My Thoughts:
This is a fun, fast read. It started a little slow, and I had a hard time connecting with the main characters. But the action picks up a few chapters in and then I was hooked. The themes in the book are survival, friendship, and overcoming adversity.
My Recommendation:
4.5/5 stars
Grades 9+ (this is a tricky one, because my middle school students would love this story. There is some language and some romantic situations (not too graphic), but I was more concerned with the intensity of the violence with the shark attacks and the violent deaths of many people. I would put this on a HS shelf.
A teen joins the crew of a cruise ship hoping to make some money over the summer, but experiences more than he bargained for when a tsunami sinks his ship and he has to survive shark-infested waters. He makes it to an island, but instead of safety, he is confronted with secrets and dangers that could potentially wipe out the world's population.
My Thoughts:
This is a fun, fast read. It started a little slow, and I had a hard time connecting with the main characters. But the action picks up a few chapters in and then I was hooked. The themes in the book are survival, friendship, and overcoming adversity.
My Recommendation:
4.5/5 stars
Grades 9+ (this is a tricky one, because my middle school students would love this story. There is some language and some romantic situations (not too graphic), but I was more concerned with the intensity of the violence with the shark attacks and the violent deaths of many people. I would put this on a HS shelf.
I'm kind of disappointed with this book. The first chapter was really good but then it didn't pick up again until 15+ in. I really liked the parts after the earthquakes hit but some of the drama was too much. I didn't like the whole storyline with the disease, I wish it was more disaster storyline.
I consider this book as a sort of summertime blockbuster movie hit. Once the actions started, it kept going until the very end. Almost to the point that the plot suffers. Just like a summertime blockbuster.
The beginning starts out with a dramatic scene that would probably traumatize anyone else involve except apparently this main character. While he doesn't sometimes think back on what happened and occasionally has nightmares, he doesn't seem nearly as shaken about it as one would expect. On top of this, the action slows way down for a while that is probably longer than it should be, then all of sudden WHAM! California gets hit with The Big One. You know, the big earthquake tsunami couple that the West Coast it dreading. Except this Big One is much bigger than the one we are actually waiting for. It seems so overdone that sounds more like the end of the world.
Naturally, the main character gets stranded at sea with a rich passenger he doesn't like. Obviously. Then it gets slow for a while, than it picks up again and by the end we are left rather confused and questioning the intelligence of scientists.
Despite the fact that I believe there are way too many plots going on in this book as well as gaping plot holes that annoy me I still didn't hate the book. I thought what Matt de la Peña was doing with the book, especially toward the end, was interesting, and I hope that he fleshes it out more in his second book. Yes, this is a series. There were a few things that he touched on that I felt he should have expanded one, like the differences between classes and how people in these classes view each other. I felt this was a theme that could have been more present, however there were some great scenes that touched on the issues of not just class but of ethnicity as well, and the assumptions that are often made based on these. It was also great to read a book with a Mexican-American protagonists. There isn't enough diversity in YA lit, so it's good see it when it happens.
Overall, I think that this could make an interesting movie, and while I didn't much care for it, (mostly cause it's just not my style) I still think that it is an important YA book that deserves the attention it gets since it touches on such important social issues that teens really do care about even though we tend to think they don't. Peña has managed to start a very important conversation with this book. One that shouldn't be ignored but is sometimes difficult to start, and for that I applaud him. *claps*
The beginning starts out with a dramatic scene that would probably traumatize anyone else involve except apparently this main character. While he doesn't sometimes think back on what happened and occasionally has nightmares, he doesn't seem nearly as shaken about it as one would expect. On top of this, the action slows way down for a while that is probably longer than it should be, then all of sudden WHAM! California gets hit with The Big One. You know, the big earthquake tsunami couple that the West Coast it dreading. Except this Big One is much bigger than the one we are actually waiting for. It seems so overdone that sounds more like the end of the world.
Naturally, the main character gets stranded at sea with a rich passenger he doesn't like. Obviously. Then it gets slow for a while, than it picks up again and by the end we are left rather confused and questioning the intelligence of scientists.
Despite the fact that I believe there are way too many plots going on in this book as well as gaping plot holes that annoy me I still didn't hate the book. I thought what Matt de la Peña was doing with the book, especially toward the end, was interesting, and I hope that he fleshes it out more in his second book. Yes, this is a series. There were a few things that he touched on that I felt he should have expanded one, like the differences between classes and how people in these classes view each other. I felt this was a theme that could have been more present, however there were some great scenes that touched on the issues of not just class but of ethnicity as well, and the assumptions that are often made based on these. It was also great to read a book with a Mexican-American protagonists. There isn't enough diversity in YA lit, so it's good see it when it happens.
Overall, I think that this could make an interesting movie, and while I didn't much care for it, (mostly cause it's just not my style) I still think that it is an important YA book that deserves the attention it gets since it touches on such important social issues that teens really do care about even though we tend to think they don't. Peña has managed to start a very important conversation with this book. One that shouldn't be ignored but is sometimes difficult to start, and for that I applaud him. *claps*
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
This was a really weird book. I had a hard time getting into it and was about to give up on it completely when it finally hooked me. The beginning is a little like the beginning of the movie Titanic... It gets kind of long and you just want the ship to sink already. Once the action starts, though, wow! It never did let up. I told my husband that this book seemed like it was written by someone with ADHD. It had SO much going on. How many disasters can one novel hold?? I was disappointed to find that this wasn't a stand-alone book and you'd have to wait for the sequel to find out more, but it wasn't such a cliff-hanger that it made me mad either. It wrapped up pretty nicely and I feel pretty good about leaving it as it is. It wasn't good enough to pick up a sequel someday, but it was worth the read. I think a lot of my teens will enjoy it if I can just get them past the first 75 pages.