YA Dystopian Review & GIVEAWAY "Quarantine: The Saints" by Lex Thomas

Title:  Quarantine: The Saints (Quarantine #2)
Author: Lex Thomas
Publisher:  Egmont USA
Publication Date: July 9 , 2013
Genre:  YA Dystopian

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Author's Website 
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Synopsis from Goodreads:  

A cross between the Gone series and Lord of the Flies, Quarantine #2: The Saints continues this frenetically paced and scary young adult series that illustrates just how deadly high school can be.

Nothing was worse than being locked in—until they opened the door...

McKinley High has been a battle ground for eighteen months since a virus outbreak led to a military quarantine of the school. When the doors finally open, Will and Lucy will think their nightmare is finished. But they are gravely mistaken.

As a new group of teens enters the school and gains popularity, Will and Lucy join new gangs. An epic party on the quad full of real food and drinks, where kids hookup and actually interact with members of other gangs seemed to signal a new, easier existence. Soon after though, the world inside McKinley takes a startling turn for the worse, and Will and Lucy will have to fight harder than ever to survive.

The Saints brings readers back to the dark and deadly halls of McKinley High and the QUARANTINE series.

My Thoughts...
Ok, so I liked the 1st book, but this book took it to a whole other level for me.  The story in this one was more involved and we learned SO much more about the characters and the gangs.  The ending was pretty unexpected and quite frankly it was awesome!

This one starts where the the first one left off.  David is gone and suddenly Will is in charge of the Loners.  Then there is a small ray of hope when the doors open again.  That hope is dashed so quickly by a barreling school bus, but not before some of them escape.  Many of the escapees were Loners so that brings the few Loners who are left way down.  They can't compete at the drops because of the low numbers.

The kids who opened the doors are from a local private school.  These kids have essentially been on the run for the entire time since the virus hit.  Their number has been greatly decreased from the beginning because the military has hunted and killed them.  The McKinley kids have dubbed them The Saints.  Their leader, Gates is charismatic and quite likable, but there is something about him that isn't quite right.  One by one the Loners move on to new gangs leaving only Will and Lucy are the only ones left, but how long can that last?

This book is quite possibly more viscous and bloody than the last one.  Many of the main characters go through tremendous changes in this book.  Will grows up, Lucy transforms into something incredible, Hillary becomes more insane and Sam is a whole other story.  The influx of the new kids changes the the whole dynamic of the school and not necessarily for the better even though it seems like it in the beginning.

I am going to have a hard time waiting for the next book to come out for sure!  This one was just one crazy thing after another and the pace is just so fast I read this book in no time.  There are some more adult themes in this one as well.  If you read the first book and enjoyed it then you will like this one without a doubt.  If you haven't read these and you like YA Dystopian then I highly recommend this series.

*Disclaimer:  I was provided with a copy of this book courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

I have been authorized to giveaway ONE PAPERBACK COPY of Quarantine 1: The Loners and ONE HARDCOVER copy of Quarantine 2: The Saints!!  So enter for your chance to win.

So...here are the rules:

• Must be at least 16 to Enter
• You must live in the US for hard copy books.
• You will have 24 hours to contact me once it's confirmed that you are the winner and I have emailed you.
• Failure to contact me in 24 hours will result in my drawing another name as winner. 

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YA Dystopian "Quarantine: The Loners" by Lex Thomas

Title:  Quarantine: The Loners (Quarantine #1)
Author: Lex Thomas
Publisher:  Egmont USA
Publication Date: July 10, 2012
Genre:  YA Dystopian
Buy this book on Amazon 

Author's Website 
Author's Goodreads Profile

Synopsis from Goodreads:  

It was just another ordinary day at McKinley High—until a massive explosion devastated the school. When loner David Thorpe tried to help his English teacher to safety, the teacher convulsed and died right in front of him. And that was just the beginning.

A year later, McKinley has descended into chaos. All the students are infected with a virus that makes them deadly to adults. The school is under military quarantine. The teachers are gone. Violent gangs have formed based on high school social cliques. Without a gang, you’re as good as dead. And David has no gang. It’s just him and his little brother, Will, against the whole school. 
 
In this frighteningly dark and captivating novel, Lex Thomas locks readers inside a school where kids don’t fight to be popular, they fight to stay alive.

My Thoughts...
I was asked to review the 2nd book in this series and EgmontUSA was kind enough to send me this book as well so I wouldn't be lost reading the 2nd one.  I am glad I did because this is an excellent series, but you do need to start with this book to fully comprehend what's going on.

David and Will are headed to school, a brand new high school actually and it's a pretty big school.  Definitely bigger than anything around here where I live.  It's Will's first day of High School, but David is an old pro.  He was one of the popular kids at one time, QB of the football team, hot cheerleader girlfriend, etc...  He's not the same kid he was a year ago though.  Their mother died and a little part of David died with her.  He quit the team and just before school started again he discovered his girlfriend has been cheating on him with one of his former teammates.  Things are already looking down for him, then he gets to school and things literally explode.  One whole wing of the new school is gone, the teachers are all dying, the students have no idea what is going on.  Later they learn that they have been infected with something that makes the adults around them die.  Once they transition out of puberty the infection leaves their system and they are harmless again.  For now, though, they are sealed inside the school with no way out.

This reminds me a little of The Hunger Games only on a more frightening scale.   These kids are left on their own with no clue whats going on in the outside world.  They have no idea if what they are being told is even the truth.  They just know that they are trapped and that they have to find a way to survive.  Eventually, they get more information, they are given the means to leave when they transition out of puberty so that they don't die once they become "adults".  The ones that are left split off and form gangs according to affiliation (Varsity, Pretty Ones, Geeks, Skaters, Sluts, etc...) they are identifiable by their hair color.  The virus left them all with white hair a blank canvas for koolaide dye which they get from the supply drops that come through a constructed "tear" in the ceiling of the quad.  

David and Will are not part of a gang, they are considered scraps.  The scraps are kids that are outcasts or chose not to be a part of the other gangs.  The problem is that when the drops come they are on their own and it's pretty much a free for all situation.  One gang in particular is ruthless at the drops, they end up hoarding supplies and generally making life miserable for everyone else.  Each gang has a trade, per se, that they take to the "Market Place" after the drops.  This is where the kids barter what they have for what they need.  Long story short, David becomes somewhat of a hero and he ends up leading a whole new group called the Loners.  I don't want to give away any more plot so I am going to leave it at that.

This is a dark, bloody somewhat terrifying scenario.  The inner workings of this society are, at times, cringe worthy. There are some plot holes and it's wholly unrealistic at times, but hey, what dystopian type novel isn't?  The relationship between David and Will is quite realistic.  They fight like brothers for sure.  I was annoyed by Will for much of the book but that's because he was feeling sorry for himself for most of the book.  He finally gets over his pity party and the book is over!

Overall I really enjoyed this book, it's really different from anything I have read recently, for sure!  I would recommend this to anyone who likes dystopian novels from a YA perspective.  I will say that this book has a lot of violence, some gore, sexual situations or talk of them, talk of rape, lots of cursing including f-bombs.  I would probably recommend it for a high school age or higher because of this.  

*Disclaimer:  I was provided with a copy of this book courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*