Review: Fire & Flood by Victoria Scott
Fire & Flood (Fire & Flood #1)
by: Victoria Scott
Publication Date: Feb. 25, 2014
Publisher: Scholastic
Genre: Dystopia
Age Group: Young Adult
Source: ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Page Count: 304 pages
Order Links: Amazon | B&N
My Rating: 4.5/5 stars
A modern day thrill ride, where a teen girl and her animal companion must participate in a breathtaking race to save her brother's life—and her own.
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?
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?
I will start my review off by saying: I WANT A PANDORA! Preferably Tella's, since I'm in love with foxes.
Ok, in all seriousness. I really enjoyed this book! Not that I thought I wouldn't because come on. It's Victoria Scott and she's a rockstar. I love how she has created this fast-paced, descriptive story about the lengths people would go to in order to save someone they loved. Most of these characters show heart and spirit and I loved getting to know them and see them interact with one another.
Let's start with Tella. She is such an interesting character! She is not your typical kick butt heroine that can defy all the odds and succeed. Tella is unique and definitely quirky, which I loved. Some of her internal dialogue comes across as a bit superficial and you can't help but laugh at her for thinking such thoughts. She definitely has some spunk and sass and I really loved that about her. However, I admired Tella's strength most of all. She is determined to find a cure for her brother and she enters into a world where she is alone and completely self-sufficient. She has no idea what's going on or what to do. The rules are simple: get to the base camp in 2 weeks. How she does that is completely up to her- there's no manual to lead her.
"I fear isolation more than the jungle itself."
I love how realistic Tella is. Katniss is great and all, but not every heroine can be a total badass or quick on their feet. Even though the race is harsh, Tella is sensitive. She feels for the Pandoras and cares for her own like she would a pet. Her companions that she meets up with and ends up traveling with think she's crazy for her treatment of the Pandora, but she doesn't care. She is compassionate and we see that compassion so much throughout the story. There are people in this story that would use this information as a weapon, however, but Tella doesn't think in those terms. That is not to say she's too trusting of people, because she's not. She is wary of Titus, especially, as he leers at her and makes her uncomfortable and something about him doesn't sit right with her.
Knowing there can only be one winner of the race, one would think the Contenders would try to kill each other off, and that may have happened elsewhere, but not with Tella and her companions. Instead, they work together for a common goal, taking it one day at a time. Scott has truly created a great set of characters and I connected with all of them: Harper, Caroline, Dink, Ransom, Levi, Jaxon, Olivia, and Guy. She also finds some unexpected allies along the way, which definitely intrigued me.
Let's talk about Guy. Obviously, he's my favorite. I love the way he acts stoic and tough, but he has a soft spot for Tella. We see that from the very beginning of the novel and we watch it grow into more as the novel progresses. He becomes such a source of comfort for her and it's clear these two have real feelings for one another. The romance isn't a huge part of this story, but it's incorporated just enough that I swooned like crazy.
I am all about plot twists, and I felt Scott handled the ones she gave us quite nicely. There were a few moments where I was definitely blind-sided and had no idea as to what would happen. The Pandoras were such a big part of this novel and I loved them so much. Tella and Madox (her Pandora) have such an incredible bond and where most of her friends thought their Pandoras only served to protect them, Tella was protective of her own, always conscious of where he was and what he was doing.
As the novel progressed, I found myself unable to put it down. Scott definitely upped the tension and the action and I was on pins and needles by the end. I've heard people comparing this to Hunger Games and while they have a similar premise, both are novels all their own. If you are a dystopian fan, you will definitely enjoy this one and I highly recommend it! I am really looking forward to book two, as some revelations are revealed by the end of this novel and Tella and her friends are only getting started!
15 comments
Love this review! And I am so with you I ADORE Katniss, but not every heroine is going to be her and I loved that Tella was strong but still a regular girl. The pandoras were awesome and I just loved how this story played out and Guy is swoonalicious. Great review!
ReplyDeleteThanks chica! Yes, I agree! We all want our strong heroines, but sometimes its the ones who aren't so that make a greater impact.
DeleteI'm glad you enjoyed this one! I just read it a few weeks ago and fell in love with it! I agree that Tella is realistic, let's face it we all can't be badasses like Katniss and I love that Scott put someone like Tella in a situation like the Bleed, it shows that you don't have to be a hunter or extremely tough to survive. And Guy *swoons* he was my favorite too ;)
ReplyDeleteExactly! I also agree! When we first meet Tella, she doesn't seem like she would last one second! She definitely surprised me and I appreciated her character more.
DeleteYES! I love Katniss, she is one kick ass bitch. But if I were to have to do something like this I woul definitely be more of a Tella than a Katniss and that's okay. And yeah, you can bet your ass that even if I was fighting for my life, I would still be hoping I looked at least somewhat nice. Especially if a guy like well Guy was around. I want a pandora too!
ReplyDeleteHAHAHAH! I love it! ME TOO! I would be very self-conscious about looking/smelling gross in front of hot guys like Guy! Haha! I've always wanted a fox for a pet, so.... I hate you Tella! LOL.
DeleteI definitely loved this one too! Guy. Ah! Yes! I loved him. So good! Glad you enjoyed it. :)
ReplyDeleteAmanda @ i solemnly swear
Thanks Amanda! I'm glad you liked it also! V-Scott is awesome!
DeleteI enjoyed the characters too. They were what kept me going, since I found the plot a bit too predictable and slow for my taste. I also loved that it was obvious Victoria researched her environments and even some animal behavior. Total points for that!
ReplyDeleteI do agree on the predictability. The plot started off slow for me too, but once I got my ADD under control I seemed to get moving, LOL. I agree- I thought she did a great job at describing and researching the jungle and that I was right there alongside them.
DeleteAH! I have this book and I must read it.... Soon! Oh so soon! I want to meet Tella! She does sound like such a great heroine! I just want to get into this books world so bad! I'm glad that though the book has been compare to the Hunger Games, it is its own book!!
ReplyDeleteLOVED your review so much!
Oh I can't wait for you to read this girl! I think you'll like Tella! She's definitely different, but she makes me laugh and I love that.
DeleteI loved Fire & Flood! Guy was my favorite, and I want a Pandora too! I enjoyed that Tella came across as a realistic teenager. I agree that she had a huge heart, and there were a few twists I never saw coming either!!! I'm so excited to continue this series! Excellent Review friend!!!
ReplyDeleteLindy@ A Bookish Escape
Thanks Lindy! I can't wait to continue it either! 2015 is entirely too long! LOL.
DeleteI liked the world Scott created to an extent and those Pandoras were pretty cool. I enjoyed this enough though and will probably check out the next one, but it wasn't as exciting as I was hoping for. Glad you loved it!
ReplyDeleteLeave me some comment love! And I will get around to commenting back!
My blog is an award-free blog, however, as I just do not have the time to follow-up.