Monument 14

This was my most traumatizing, terrifying book-reading experience since I was much younger and stumbled upon The Tomorrow Code (which, like Monument 14, I will never forget). I do not handle apocalyptic fiction well, especially ones that center around natural and chemical disasters. They make me paranoid and anxious and overall I have a problem of disappearing into a book. My heart was pounding 50 pages in, and when I was preparing dinner tonight, I had a thought that only a character in the book would have and I scared myself badly. I know, pathetic, but even though I will have nightmares for the next week, I'm glad I read it. This was a fantastic book. The plot was creative; I felt like I was dealing with new concepts. The characters show more were wonderfully diverse and most of them were multifaceted. The little kids were realistic. Even through the horror, there were genuine moments of hilarity that I appreciated. Monument 14 is definitely a must-read, and I'm getting the sequel as soon as possible. show less

A little bit like Lord of the Flies meets The Breakfast Club meets The Mist, Monument 14 is about a group of children holed up in a superstore after a freak hailstorm causes a chemical leak from the nearby weapons manufacturing site, leading to contamination of the whole town.

On the surface, this book seemed like it had a lot of potential. Books featuring kids in stressful, survival situations always seem more chilling and disturbing to me than books starring their adult counterparts. Children, after all, are the picture of ultimate innocence; in an ideal world we wish to protect them from all the troubles and anxieties of adulthood. Even most adults would be ill-prepared to handle a sudden disaster, so I can’t even imagine how much show more worse the burden of responsibility would be to a teenager. Without strong guidance and a lack of organization, it’s not surprising how quickly a group situation can devolve.

The kids in this book range from ages 5 to 17, all stranded passengers from a couple of school buses that were wrecked by the severe storm. Naturally, a hierarchy of leadership develops, with the older teens taking care of the young’uns. The dynamics are made more interesting by the differences not only in the characters’ ages, but also in their personalities, backgrounds and upbringing. Unfortunately, this does mean that almost everyone is pigeonholed into rather predictable and clichéd stereotypes. Main protagonist and narrator Dean is the “booker”, a quiet and somewhat awkward late-bloomer who has long harbored a secret love for Astrid, the popular and perfect hot girl. Astrid however is the girlfriend of Jake, the football jock. Among the high-schoolers, there’s also the bully/bad boy Brayden, the solemn and live-by-the-book Boy Scout Niko, who happens to have a thing for the kind and motherly Josie. The roles are cast, and the stage is set for some serious teenage drama.

The younger kids actually proved more intriguing and to have more well-rounded personalities. A couple of them genuinely surprised me, displaying a level of maturity and problem solving skills that even surpassed some of the teenagers’. In fact, I think one of the book’s main weaknesses is its gradual divergence from the “we’re all in this together” theme towards a greater emphasis on the relationships and soap-opera aspects of the older kids. The story was a lot more engaging at the beginning when the whole group dealt with the challenges of surviving together, addressing issues like mob mentality, who should be in charge, and how to explain the situation to the elementary children who are frightened and don’t understand why they can’t go home. Once the focus shifted to become more about “who’s crushing on whom”, the book became more typical and less special in my eyes.

While I loved the premise, another strike against this book is the whole reason why Dean and the other kids are trapped in the superstore. The explanation given – that the chemical leak is a gas causing different reactions based on the exposed victim’s blood type – is a bit weak and unconvincing. Victims with O-type blood will become mindless violent savages, while another type would break out in boils and blisters, while yet another type would experience no outward signs but may suffer infertility and reproductive difficulties, etc. Leaving aside how such an absurd model of symptoms made me want to bash my head against the wall, the theory of the chemical disaster did not feel that well thought out. It felt like the author needed a reason to put the kids in this particular jam, and seized upon the first idea to come to mind without fleshing it out giving it more detail. Perhaps that’s why the book also threw in the extreme weather and a massive disaster on the east coast, just to make the situation bigger and severe than it is.

As expected, Monument 14 also left off on a cliffhanger (these days, I’d be shocked if a YA novel didn’t). Still, it’s a strong start, with a great idea to work with, and just a tad wobbly on the execution. I haven’t decided if I want to continue with the series yet. Looks like it’ll be another short, quick read, so if the opportunity arises, I may take it. show less

In medias res. That’s a fancy-pants Latin term for in the middle. Is it okay that I’m starting my book review that way—in the middle of a series? I’m thinking the answer is oh yeah because from the perspective I’m taking, it’s ooey, gooey, and delicious, like eating a luscious cinnamon roll from the center to the outside. Nothin’ but goodness, people.

Let’s start with W-O-W. From the opening pages of book one, the story kept me on my toes. First of all, it was set somewhere different—Colorado—which doesn’t seem like an earth-shattering circumstance, but seriously, I’m tired of reading about all these fabulously gorgeous teens that frolic on the coast, be it Pacific or Atlantic. This is the hard-core West, my show more friends, and these peeps need that stoic western strength to make it through one epic thrill ride: hail storms, earthquakes, and chemical spills, oh my! The main character, Dean, journals the story for us from start to finish as he panics, protects, and of course, crushes on the beautiful swimming goddess that happens to get trapped in a superstore along with our goofy hero and twelve other school-age kids.

And holey doughnuts, people! Rarely does a sequel--especially the middle child--live up to the hype and expectations created by the first novel. Monument 14: Sky on Fire, does that and so much more. As in BOOM! baby. And in this read, that is literal AND figurative. show less

Imagine yourself on your way to school, and the world starts to end. You run to seek shelter and the nearest thing is a superstore. So you run into there and now you are trapped. You have no where to go. But you can survive for months there, would you leave. That is the question that I asked myself while reading this book. If I had no worries in the world other than am I going to survive through the night, would I leave the one place that provides me with food, water, and shelter???? Probably not. But that was not the case in this story.

In this story, you meet a group of kids that are on their way to school in the bus. While on the bus a hail storm starts to happen. I know what you are thinking, come on its just a hail storm. But in show more this story, this hail storm is really bad and they can’t drive in it. So one of the buses decides to run into the local superstore for cover. But then after a little while the bus driver goes back to save the people on the other bus. Once everyone was in the building, the driver decides that she is going to try and get help. So she leaves. At this point in the book, I was like really….you are just going to leave 14 kids all by themselves so that you can see if you can find help. I knew where this was going. At this point, the story reminded a lot of Lord of the Flies. I was just waiting for them to split into their own teams and try to kill each other. But boy was I wrong. This book was so much better then I thought it was going to be. I was really surprised with what the out come was in this book. But I would have to tell you, if I was ever stuck in a place like Target for a really long time I think I might be in heaven. :)

This book has everything that I good dystopian needs. In my world, a good dystopian needs a great story line. A story that keeps you wanting more. A story line that keeps the pages turning. And Emmy Laybourne did just that!!! I seriously can’t wait for the second book to come out! I am not going to lie, when I finished this book I was like, “ YOU REALLY CAN NOT END A BOOK LIKE THAT!!!” I think I threw the book across the room and cursed a little….oops… But a book that makes you do that deserves to be titled a great book and that is exactly what it is!!!! show less

Monument 14 was absolutely AMAZING! I'm in awe of it's depth and uniqueness! This is probably on my Top 5 list of the post-apocalyptic stories I've read in 2013!

“Your mother hollers that you're going to miss the bus. She can see it coming down the street. You don't stop and hug her and tell her you love her. You don't thank her for being a good, kind, patient mother. Of course not - you launch yourself down the stairs and make a run for the corner.
        Only, if it's the last you'll ever see your mother, you sort of start to wish you'd stopped and did those things. Maybe even missed the bus.
        But the bus was barreling down our street so I ran.”

This plot is, for the lack of a better word, EPIC! It's amazingly show more creative and unique, and it's one of the most original dystopian / post-apocalyptic books I've read in a long time!
        Our story takes place in Monument, Colorado in September 2024. For 17-year-old Dean, the school day begins uneventfully. The world suddenly turns upside-down when suddenly, out of the blue, the school bus Dean is riding is bombarded by huge pieces of hail! In an attempt to save the 14 children in the bus (whose ages range from 4-17 years old), the bus driver fatally crashes into the local Greenway superstore - where the children must put their differences aside if they want to get out alive.

Naturally, the Greenway store where the children end up has a multitude of supplies - just like a gigantic Walmart or Target. It's just their luck that the end up there...

The characters are very well done as well! It's definitely challenging to have even one well-written, in-depth character in a story. Yet, somehow, Laybourne manages to have 14! Each character in Monument 14 has a surprising level of depth to them - and they are all phoenominal! At first it seemed like these characters were slightly stereotyped, but throughout the course of the story there was so much additional character growth that, by the end, it was impossible to still classify these characters as stereotypical. They were all very relatable, and I enjoyed seeing how they each dealt with the catastrophe in their own unique way.

This story takes place during a series of horrible natural disasters. Yet the children were in the store while most of these phenomenons occurred, so we as readers never got to really experience these events. Sure...we experienced, alongside the characters, a few of these disasters such as the hail storm, the releasing of the toxic chemicals, and the aftershocks of an 8.2 magnitude earthquake, but we never experienced anything extraordinarily as horrible as those who lived, for instance, in New York whom experienced mega-tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanoes, and floods. I think this is my main concern with the book, but I think it will most likely be solved in the sequel.

The writing was slightly above average - nothing large to critique, yet no bonus points to be awarded either. The pacing of the story was fast, which I really enjoyed, and it definitely caught my attention up until the very last page. The author used the elements of suspense and survival well, which I thought was really interesting. I was constantly wondering how I would react if I was in the same situation!

All in all, this is a beautiful book that I would recommend to everyone who is a fan of post-apocalyptic survival stories (and maybe even the movie 2012!) Happy reading!

A solid 3.5 stars.
READING NEXT: [b:A Game of Thrones|13496|A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1)|George R.R. Martin|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1369520317s/13496.jpg|1466917]

show less

This review appears on my blog, Starting the Next Chapter.

From the very first page, Monument 14 succeeds in instilling a sense of foreboding. The opening words are the epitome of words left unsaid and, upon reading them, you just know that there is a lot of heartbreak on the way. What ensues is a chain reaction of events that will rock the characters in the story to their very cores and leave you, the reader, shell-shocked beyond belief. From cover to cover, Monument 14 delivers with trials, tribulations, emotions, and enough action to keep you on the edge of your seat.

The cast of characters that make up Monument 14 are as varied in temperament as they are in age. From the 5 year old twins to the 18 year old high school seniors, show more attitudes differ, emotions run amok, and conflicts arise. Shy, gawky Dean, the narrator and our guide through life in the Greenway in apocalyptic Monument, Colorado, is as flawed as he is endearing. You can't help but feel for the guy but, at the same time, he does mess up. A lot. Unlike characters from other books, however, Dean's mistakes aren't simply a nuisance to the reader. They add an edge to all of the other things going on in the story and make reading about the situation all the more intense. Dean's reactions to the various occurrences are nothing short of fascinating and I my attention was definitely held by both his point of view and the events as shown through his eyes.

I don't know what it is about apocalyptic settings that I find to be so intriguing, but the setting for Monument 14 especially delivered for me. The storyline was captivating and the pace was brisk enough to add a higher level of urgency to the book's atmosphere. It was so easy to get a sense of who everyone was thanks to the dialog and the descriptions of both the kids' surroundings and the events that take place are vivid. It almost felt like I was right there alongside them, trying to figure out how to get the pizza oven to work properly and keep the little kids out of trouble (as if I don't get enough of that in my day-to-day life; ha!).

Monument 14 is one of those books that refuses to let you out of its grasp. I found myself staying awake until the sun started to appear in the horizon because I simply could not stop reading. I expect I could have finished it in 12 hours if I hadn't needed sleep. It was that enthralling. If you're in need of a book with lots of action and the complexities of human reaction, look no further. Emmy Laybourne's debut, simply put, knocked my socks off. I'm going to be anxiously awaiting the next book. I just can't get enough!



Obligatory legal statement: This advance review copy was provided to me free of charge by the publisher. No monetary compensation was received in exchange for this fair and unbiased review. show less

Emmy Laybourne's Monument 14 blew me away. I devoured this debut novel and, when I finished, I found myself in a satisfied stupor wondering where the past few hours had gone.

I sometimes have difficulty connecting to male main characters, so, when I opened Monument 14 and discovered that the narrator was one of the boys trapped in the superstore, I paused for a moment. I was entirely too interested in the premise to ever put down the novel, but I wondered if Dean would detract from my reading experience... I very much wanted to put myself in the position of the main character and I didn't know if I could make myself think like a teenage boy. I can't guarantee that Dean's thinking and actions were entirely true to life, but he felt show more realistic enough to me that I never forgot the fact that he was a boy, but I could still understand his emotions and motivations. In the end, I grew to like Dean a lot and I was happy that he, rather than one of the girls trapped in the superstore, was the narrator.

One of the most interesting aspects of this novel was the presence of small children as well as teens. I think having small children trapped as well added another dimension and sense of urgency to the situation. I found the differences between the reactions of each age group really put things into perspective... for both the characters themselves and the reader. It's already crazy that these teens are trapped and had to learn to trust one another and work together, but then to throw in small children that are alternately panicked or wanting to play and do something fun... the situation was terrifyingly real.

The giant hailstorm, the chemical weapons spill, the bus crashes, and the other events that lead to the fourteen kids being trapped inside the superstore all seemed carefully thought out and contained just enough detail to create a realistic picture within the reader's mind. The entire novel felt very cinematic. I actually found myself matching characters from the novel to people I knew in real life. Each character felt so impossibly real that my mind needed a three-dimensional body to go along with the personality Laybourne created.

Monument 14 has landed a spot on my Best of 2012 list. I'm already anxious for the next installment, as the novel ended on a cliffhanger... I seriously get shivers just thinking about the intensity of the final scenes! show less