Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Review – Sky On Fire (Monument 14 #2)

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Sky on Fire
Author- Emily Laybourne
Series – Monument 14
Publisher – Feiwel & Friends
Available now

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a great cover for the second book in this series, don't you think? I love when a book's cover so perfectly fits the story within.

I read and enjoyed the first book in this series but it left me with some reservations about the writing. I no longer have those reservations, I thought this second book was wonderfully written and much richer in detail and character depth. While I had reservations after reading Monument 14 and normally, when I feel that way, I won't continue the series BUT I found that this story stuck with me and I was more than eager to read this sequel and find out what happened to the characters. This fact alone makes me consider raising my previous 4 star rating to a 5.

With that being said, I didn't enjoy Sky on Fire as much as I did Monument 14. It almost felt like it was overstuffed, from action scene to action scene with barely any breathing room between. This is something I'm sure other readers will enjoy about the book but I found a bit too much for me.

One thing I really enjoyed about Sky on Fire is that this author is completely unafraid to allow her characters to suffer in this brutal and dangerous world. This makes the story so much more plausible when there is the real possibility that the characters that readers have become invested in may get hurt, sometimes fatally. This makes the survival aspect all the more compelling and this is so very well done in this series, both in the first book and even more so in Sky on Fire. I want to also mention and appreciate the fact that this book had an ending with resolution instead of a cliffhanger. While it ended in a way that will allow the series to continue, I was not left feeling frustrated and angry as so often happens.

I would HIGHLY recommend this series to fans of post-apocalyptic fiction and even zombie books because, while there aren't exactly zombies in this series, it does have that atmosphere. If you read and enjoyed Monument 14, then I assure you, it is well worth continuing this series.

Rating 4 of 5 stars

3 comments:

Lectus said...

My god! I read the first book and loved it. I'm just scare to buy the second one because... what if it's not as good? Laybourne makes them suffer? Oh my my...

Donna @ The Happy Booker said...

These are the types of things that make me question my moral compass. I actually like when an author makes their characters suffer. It just seems more realistic to me, if they are battling to survive in such a brutal world that some of them are likely to get hurt. If you liked the first book, I think you'll enjoy this one.

Neysa Kristanti said...

Ooh, I've been hearing many great things about Monument 14!
But I agree with you, sometimes when a novel is jumping from action to another action and then another and so on and so on, it became kinda too much :D

But since you mentioned that the world realistically brutal and dangerous, I'll definitely adding this to my TBR :D

Nice review!


Neysa @ [B.O.O.K.L.I.F.E]

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