I really enjoyed this book! I was drawn to this book both by its fabulous cover and its description. I just love a good end of the world story and this one sounded different than others I have read. I found this book to be engaging from the start and before long it became impossible to put down. I found this book to be quite entertaining as well as thought-provoking and I am so glad that I had the opportunity to give it a try.
This book is told from several points of view. First, we meet Nico who has spent the first 18 years of her life in a locked up farmhouse with her parents and their dog, Harry. Now her mother is gone and her father says that it is time that she goes on a journey to Manchester. Kit is a 12-year-old boy who has lived his life in a movie theatre and elementary school in a small town. Eventually, he begins his own journey with two others in hopes of finding a safe zone. We also occasionally get to see the Deliverer's point of view. The Deliverer is rather mysterious but has delivered goods to Nico's family for years and seems to know exactly what to do at times.
The characters in this book were very well done. It was easy to care about Nico, Kit, and the rest of the characters because they were all inherently good people. There are still bad people in the world and our group of characters has a few difficult run-ins but the main obstacle is really the harshness of the world. The supporting characters were fantastic and I love that we got to see how much they care for each other and that they still have hope.
I found this book to very original. The swarms of Flies were more frightening than I could have imagined and the flu is just as deadly. This is a very dangerous world that these characters must navigate. Just when I thought I had a good understanding of what was happening, the author took the story to a whole new level. The science-fiction elements are very strong in this story and I was completely captivated by the complexity of the story.
I would highly recommend this book to others. This was a book that was very hard to put down. I loved the way that the story took unexpected turns that made me question everything that had happened before. I will definitely be reading more of David Arnold's work in the future.
I received an advance reader edition of this book from Viking Books for Young Readers via Bookish First.
This book is told from several points of view. First, we meet Nico who has spent the first 18 years of her life in a locked up farmhouse with her parents and their dog, Harry. Now her mother is gone and her father says that it is time that she goes on a journey to Manchester. Kit is a 12-year-old boy who has lived his life in a movie theatre and elementary school in a small town. Eventually, he begins his own journey with two others in hopes of finding a safe zone. We also occasionally get to see the Deliverer's point of view. The Deliverer is rather mysterious but has delivered goods to Nico's family for years and seems to know exactly what to do at times.
The characters in this book were very well done. It was easy to care about Nico, Kit, and the rest of the characters because they were all inherently good people. There are still bad people in the world and our group of characters has a few difficult run-ins but the main obstacle is really the harshness of the world. The supporting characters were fantastic and I love that we got to see how much they care for each other and that they still have hope.
I found this book to very original. The swarms of Flies were more frightening than I could have imagined and the flu is just as deadly. This is a very dangerous world that these characters must navigate. Just when I thought I had a good understanding of what was happening, the author took the story to a whole new level. The science-fiction elements are very strong in this story and I was completely captivated by the complexity of the story.
I would highly recommend this book to others. This was a book that was very hard to put down. I loved the way that the story took unexpected turns that made me question everything that had happened before. I will definitely be reading more of David Arnold's work in the future.
I received an advance reader edition of this book from Viking Books for Young Readers via Bookish First.