Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne - Review

Pic & Description from Goodreads:

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 time 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.

Fourteen kids. One superstore. A million things that go wrong.

***

One of the most enjoyable debut novels I've read this summer! Monument 14 started off with a bang, well ... by *bang* I mean an ungodly freakish hailstorm that set my nerves a-tingle straight off the bat! And that's only the FIRST disaster! Sicko that I am, I kinda wished the entire book had maintained its initial pace, but it didn't and I was sad.

But anyway, how many of us (raise your hands) have fantasized at one time or another about being *trapped* in a superstore, mall, etc? With enough diet Mtn. Dew, Keebler cookies, a half-way decent book section and plenty of electricity, I'd be in heaven. So, for all the angst, there was also something *cozy* about Monument 14.

Don't get me wrong. There were grim moments, peer power struggles, romantic triangles, and a few key points of interest.

One thing that irked me, though, was the fact that until a structured regime had been established, the kids appeared to be wasting the food - with such idiocies as having a Sunday ice-cream breakfast by opening a veritable plethora of ice cream cartons. This annoyed me because there were enough young adults present to have known better, or to have had a smarter head on their shoulders. I could forgive this lack of foresight from middle grade students, but not from those older students left in charge. And mind you, they did this WHILE they still had plenty of electricity and weren't in immediate danger of food thawing. The *mother* in me kept silently demanding they consume the perishables first, don't you know ;)

Then again, lest I come off as nit-picking, I really enjoyed reading about how the kids re-purposed their environment, similar to Quarantine: The Loners, minus all the freaky weird stuff. More like a Mom & Pop's version - fun & cozy stuff! :)

Now, not so fun nor cozy was the little matter of a strange, biochemical air-borne poison that affected the infected by virtue of their particular blood type. Without giving too much away, I found it a very creative plot twist, and kudos to the author for thinking up such a scenario.

All in all, if you are looking for an enjoyable, mildly dystopian fast-paced read, then I think you would like Monument 14. It appears to be open ended, so I imagine we may anticipate a sequel in the future.

Sex & violence - not too heavy in my opinion.

* I received this book as a gift from my beloved daughter (YAY for daughters!). I have not been compensated in any way for my honest review. So there ;D

EDIT TO ADD: (forgot to do this earlier)

Lenore at Presenting Lenore is having an incredible Dystopian August!

Tons of author interviews and giveaways, you DON'T want to miss this ;D

Hurry on over ... click HERE