Emmy Laybourne

If I reviewed this book with just one word, that word would be UGH. Honestly, I enjoyed Monument 14 when I read it last year. I'm not sure whether it's actually better than Sky on Fire or if, because of my monumental reading challenge, I was just happy to read something so fast-paced. Either way, Sky on Fire is just sad. I hate making such a pronouncement, but the quality of the writing, the flat characters, and the discomfiting portrayal of women combined to make this a horrid read for show more me.

Warning: There will be spoilers all up in this bitch.

On the plus side, Sky on Fire probably only took about an hour of reading time all told. It's just 210 pages, so it flies by. Its brevity is the big selling point. The other positive I can offer for Laybourne's series is that the world building does have promise. I like that the world really does seem pretty fucked, and that she's willing to kill off characters; I would like it more if she killed off all of them. The idea of an airborne toxin affecting different blood types in varying ways is interesting too. Unfortunately, a good idea didn't help much, since I hated the plot, writing and characters.

We'll start with the characters. I've read two books in this series now and have yet to see any character development. Things happen and the kids do change somewhat, but not for any discernible reason. Shit just happens. For example, Astrid, pregnant and the object of Dean's affections, tells him that it was nice of him to stay with her in the store, but that she won't have sex with him. Nothing really changes, but they have sex either that day or the next day and suddenly she likes him. Apparently this nerdy virgin who had no experience whatsoever before must have been a mind-blowing lay. *rolls eyes* So, yeah, Astrid changed, but there was nothing to explain why she supposedly likes Dean rather than Jake.

Or, how about this? At the end of the first book, we learned of Astrid's pregnancy. This was my first really bright red flag in the series, but I still wanted to give book two a try. How terrible is it to be a pregnant teenager? Pretty awful in most circumstances. How about if there are no doctors around to help with the birthing? That's definitely worse. And what if you're in the middle of an apocalypse? Worst time ever to have a kid. This is pretty much fact. Yet, somehow, both Jake and Astrid are OVERJOYED at the fact that they will be bringing spawn into the world. No. Yes, these kids are idiots, but, fuck, even they should realize that this is the worst fucking thing that could be happening.

Let's talk about the girls in this book. The way they are portrayed makes me very uncomfortable. The strongest girl in the book is Astrid, pregnant in the middle of the apocalypse. She does actually help save them. Yay! But she's also in the middle of an asinine love triangle and apparently wants to be with whichever guy had sex with her last. So . . . less cool. Then there's Sahalia, who does nothing but cry and have guys attempt to rape her. She's also thirteen. The younger ones serve no purpose to the plot. Oh, there's another girl who's used as a hostage. And another one who does save the group on the bus a couple of times, but then always runs off crying and I'm pretty sure gets left behind entirely, though they're going to go get her in book three. Still, they freaking fly off to fucking Canada and leave her. This is how much women matter.

The writing drove me bonkers. It's repetitive and redundant, like my description. The sentences are simple, especially in Alex's sections. The narration is split between brothers Dean and Alex, as they group has split into two. Alex's notes are monotonous. I don't know how something non-verbal can be monotonous, but this is. Simple sentences with few two or more syllable words. "We did this. We did that." down to mundane details that have nothing to do with the overall plot. Both brothers seem to be writing journals of some sort, but it's unclear when they're writing them. The bottoms of each page indicate the time or location of the entry, but they sometimes reference things the characters don't know yet, like they're being compiled much later. For example, Dean mentions that the smoke kept the toxins in the air from affecting them though they didn't know that yet. That's something they couldn't have learned until at least the last few chapters, but that was in the middle of the book.

Speaking of smoking, that plot element may have disgusted me more than the sexism. Apparently cigarette smoke clears the air of the dangerous elements. Yay! Children, cigarettes are good for you. Was this book endorsed by Marlboro or something? Ugh. There are so many other things that could have been used to clear the air, like incense or candles. It really had to be fucking cigarettes? This sends an awesome message to children.

In no way can I endorse this book. It's certainly not a good choice for a reader like me. I suspect Laybourne is trying to target reluctant readers, but easy-to-read writing can be better than this. However, if you can look past flat, unlikable characters and questionable messages, then maybe you'll like this series. Every book works for someone, right? All I know is that no force in the 'verse could make me read any more. show less

Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne is the first book in a trilogy about a group of Colorado school children caught up in an apocalyptic event brought on by climate change. With giant hailstones, world-wide tsunamis and earthquakes that lead to a horrific chemical spill, the earth has changed forever. The book opens with the children on their way to school, but when giant hailstones start falling and crushing people and vehicles, their bus driver steers the bus right into a giant superstore.

The show more bus driver goes looking for help and the children settle into the store. The older ones looking after the younger ones. They are actually lucky that the store has locked itself up with metal grills as they are relatively safe from outside looters and have supplies to last them for months. The author keeps the story moving along at a quick pace as this group of 5 to 17 year old adjust to surviving without any adults to help them. They seal the store completely to keep from breathing in the harmful chemicals that affect different blood types in various ways, but when they learn that there is a rescue mission operating out of Denver, they decide to repair the school bus and attempt the two day drive.
At the last minute some of the group decide not to go, as they are the ones who the chemicals turn into raving monsters, so at the end of the book, 9 leave and 5 stay.

Monument 14 is definitely a book that will resonate with fans of survival stories. This is a rapid read about a weather related catastrophe and how it affected this small group of children trapped inside a super-store. The YA designation meant that there was a fair bit of teenage angst, and I was quite disappointed in how some of the characters, in particular the three older girls, were portrayed. But the survival aspect and fast moving action made this a quick and fun read so I was able to overlook most of the writing flaws. show less

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, guys,” he told them.
He started ripping off the wires from the front of his jacket.
“I’m not . . . I’m not coming back. I can’t do it anymore.Tell Astrid I’m sorry”

In book 1, [b:Monument 14|12753231|Monument 14 (Monument 14, #1)|Emmy Laybourne|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1337779838s/12753231.jpg|17894351], the above words were the last we heard from Jake. He left the store and went out to check if the hospital was open...and then he show more disappeared and left everyone behind.

THIS story is the story of what happened to Jake when he was gone. Amazing! I loved it - to see it from his perspective. And to get to know him just a little bit better.

A little bit of my heart broke for him reading this, because you get to see a little more of him- but then I remember what he left behind and how he left it. And I'm not quite as sad for him, but it's still hard to be Jake....

I love this series. I need another book soon :) show less

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: This novel makes the reader question what role they’d play in an apocalyptic world. Though it has an action packed beginning and end, the lack of answers and suspense in the middle turn the large cast of characters into the focal point.

Opening Sentence: Your mother hollers that you’re going to miss the bus.

The Review:

We meet Dean when an ever normal day turns disastrous. It’s a pretty thrilling first chapter — monster hail and deaths show more — but after 50 pages the book slows down. Slows to the point where the characters are basically playing house inside a giant Target. While it’s fun to see everything living inside a superstore has to offer, the characters aren’t very distressed. Which, frankly, they should’ve been. When you have kids of all ages living inside a giant store, I find it hard to believe they’d all just settle down after such a traumatic event. And more of them are happening, megatsunamis and massive storms, that neither the readers nor the characters understand. While that bit of mystery is realistic and intriguing to a point, I really really want to know what’s going on.

There’s a huge cast of characters in this novel, but they’re all so well fleshed out that it’s easy to distinguish them. Sometimes, the secondary characters are more interesting than our hero, but I think that’s part of the point. In this novel, our hero isn’t the most handsome guy on earth — he’s normal. Which we don’t get enough of in YA, in my opinion. Laybourne tried really hard to make all the characters in Monument 14 real without devoting too much time away from our main character, and she did a great job of it.

My biggest problem was with Dean, our not-so-standard hero: I kept forgetting he was a guy. For the first few pages you don’t even know his gender until some POV switching happens, but even once I did I kept forgetting. He isn’t the most admirable character, but I think he’s the most relatable. He does everything I would do — succumb to peer pressure, deal with insecurities, make hard decisions, be jealous — and it draws the reader deeper into the story.

When the action picks back up about 50 pages from the end it almost makes up for the lack of suspense through 80% of the book. All the terrifying events that have happened look more like inconveniences because the suspense that should be there is so absent, but there’s a lot about the tension Laybourne added into this book I didn’t really understand. It’s a psychological thriller of sorts, making the reader wonder if they’d rise to the occasion or end up smoking pot in the sports section.

I know it sounds like I have a lot of negative feelings towards this book, but I think the problem is I just didn’t get the “What happened?” question answered that frustrates me. I enjoyed the male POV when I remembered he was, in fact, a guy as well as the way the novel makes the reader question themself. A very fast read with an ending that rocked my world.

Notable Scene:

“Jeez, man, this stuff is dark,” he said, reading it to himself.

“You’re such a jerk, Brayden!” I shouted. “How can you still be this immature?”

“Brayden, drop it,” Jake commanded.

“Don’t you want to know what it says about you, Simonsen?”

“I SAID DROP IT!” Jake shouted.

Brayden jumped. We all did.

Jake was standing, squared off to Brayden, with his hands in fists. His good-natured smile was gone. He was pissed.

“Whatever,” Brayden said and tossed the notebook to the end of the aisle.

“You gotta learn when to lay off, man,” Jake said with a rumble.

“Dude, I apologize,” Brayden said to Jake, palms turned up in an appeal. He shrugged. “For real. Sorry.”

Did I call Brayden a dick under my breath as I scrambled over the fallen books to retrieve my journal?

Of course I did.

Monument 14 Series:

1. Monument 14

FTC Advisory: Fewel and Friends/Macmillan provided me with a copy of Monument 14. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. show less