The Farm #3
Berkley Trade, December 2014
Paperback
Obtained via: publisher
ISBN 9780425275887
Young Adult Dystopian
****
The last book in Emily McKay’s dystopian young adult series, THE VAULT, was the happy ending no one could have seen coming in the first two books.
In a world overrun by vampires where teenage humans are kept in farms as a food source and leaving means dying at the hands of ticks, flesh eating monsters that were once humans, keeping a positive attitude is a real challenge. In the third and final book in this dystopian series, Lily, the autistic twin sister of Mel has been exposed to the tick virus and is in a coma. After her sister Mel was turned into a vampire by Sebastian to save her life, Mel and Carter have left in search for a cure that may or may not exist. Then the difficult decision to split up had to be made. Carter will get human rebels from a nearby farm to help him infiltrate the lair of the vampire Sabrina who supposedly has a vial of the cure. Together with Sebastian, Mel will travel to his underground vault where he claims the cure is being kept. Of course their best hope resides with Sebastian, Mel’s vampire mentor, betrayer, love interest and the man she left staked to the ground in the last book. But time is running out. Lily is turning into a tick, Mel is a vampire with a blood lust that makes her want to kill Sebastian and Carter is a mere human that simply doesn’t know how to give up.
This reader was excited to find Emily McKay’s, THE VAULT, in her to be read pile. After reading the first book in the series, The Lair, hopes were high that this was going to be a really exciting story. And it was. The action is non-stop. The storyline moves at breakneck speed. The obstacles placed before the characters seem insurmountable and the cure is the only hope this group of teens has, if they can reach it, and if it really works.
On the negative side, as with the first book (I can’t comment on the second book, The Farm, as I haven’t yet read that one, though it didn’t seem to take away from the story), it is very difficult to figure out whose point of view the story is being told from even though the chapters are clearly marked with the speakers name for the chapter titles. That confusion really took away from the story for this reader. I had to constantly leaf back to figure out just who was speaking. In other books where the POV switches from one person to another, the characters each have their own unique style of speaking that quickly identifies them. This is not the case in THE VAULT. Everyone sounds the same and speaks the same way. This reader found this very confusing and took away from the entertainment value for this reader.
Still, the world building in THE VAULT was excellent, the characters multidimensional and the story pace a thrill ride. And no one will see the ending coming. What will talented new author Emily McKay come up with next? This reader can’t wait to find out.
Reviewed by T. Barringer
tammyLRM@gmail.com
"This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book."
Berkley Trade, December 2014
Paperback
Obtained via: publisher
ISBN 9780425275887
Young Adult Dystopian
****
The last book in Emily McKay’s dystopian young adult series, THE VAULT, was the happy ending no one could have seen coming in the first two books.
In a world overrun by vampires where teenage humans are kept in farms as a food source and leaving means dying at the hands of ticks, flesh eating monsters that were once humans, keeping a positive attitude is a real challenge. In the third and final book in this dystopian series, Lily, the autistic twin sister of Mel has been exposed to the tick virus and is in a coma. After her sister Mel was turned into a vampire by Sebastian to save her life, Mel and Carter have left in search for a cure that may or may not exist. Then the difficult decision to split up had to be made. Carter will get human rebels from a nearby farm to help him infiltrate the lair of the vampire Sabrina who supposedly has a vial of the cure. Together with Sebastian, Mel will travel to his underground vault where he claims the cure is being kept. Of course their best hope resides with Sebastian, Mel’s vampire mentor, betrayer, love interest and the man she left staked to the ground in the last book. But time is running out. Lily is turning into a tick, Mel is a vampire with a blood lust that makes her want to kill Sebastian and Carter is a mere human that simply doesn’t know how to give up.
This reader was excited to find Emily McKay’s, THE VAULT, in her to be read pile. After reading the first book in the series, The Lair, hopes were high that this was going to be a really exciting story. And it was. The action is non-stop. The storyline moves at breakneck speed. The obstacles placed before the characters seem insurmountable and the cure is the only hope this group of teens has, if they can reach it, and if it really works.
On the negative side, as with the first book (I can’t comment on the second book, The Farm, as I haven’t yet read that one, though it didn’t seem to take away from the story), it is very difficult to figure out whose point of view the story is being told from even though the chapters are clearly marked with the speakers name for the chapter titles. That confusion really took away from the story for this reader. I had to constantly leaf back to figure out just who was speaking. In other books where the POV switches from one person to another, the characters each have their own unique style of speaking that quickly identifies them. This is not the case in THE VAULT. Everyone sounds the same and speaks the same way. This reader found this very confusing and took away from the entertainment value for this reader.
Still, the world building in THE VAULT was excellent, the characters multidimensional and the story pace a thrill ride. And no one will see the ending coming. What will talented new author Emily McKay come up with next? This reader can’t wait to find out.
Reviewed by T. Barringer
tammyLRM@gmail.com
"This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book."
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