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| Alive |
Title: Alive
Author: Scott Sigler
Publication Date: 7/14/15
Pages: 368
How I Found It: NetGalley
Date Completed: 6/12/15
Summary: A group of teenagers awake in a mysterious confined space. They begin to explore, search for other survivors, and seek to discover the truth about themselves and their surroundings.
What I Thought: You know I am always game for a dystopian style young adult novel. Alive fit into that niche quite well, although it ended up being more of a sci-fi adventure than a dystopian one.
The first half of the book really kept me riveted. As the ragtag group of teenagers explored their presumed prison, I enjoyed the Lord of the Flies style power struggles and the Maze Runner feeling of desperation. Sigler keeps the group's origins shrouded in mystery and, just like Dashner's band of survivors, the characters themselves also have no understanding of their surroundings. You put the pieces together alongside them.
The second half of the book, however, got a little weird for me. I don't want to ruin anything; Sigler specifically issues a plea against spoilers in his author's note at the end of the book. I will simply say the science fiction element of the story really took hold as the teens discover their purpose and choose to fight against it. And that science fiction element - well, it just seemed a whole lot more fiction than science to me. Almost verging on These Broken Stars mysticism and paranormality.
I think the book had a lot of potential and started out strong. I may be interested in reading the sequel, depending on how much of that second half gets incorporated into it. I would be much more interested in sticking with the survival and discovery storyline than the science fiction meets paranormal one.
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Will I Re-Read: Unlikely
A Reduced Review: What started as a really interesting premise and survival story lost me in the second half when things got...weird.
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