Things I Liked:
The ending was quite well done, full of adventure and lots of surprises. It was hard to put down right near the end. I also liked some of the world-building and the dystopian elements. It was an interesting look at what the world would be like if we had to survive a new ice age.
Things I Didn't Like:
The first half was really quite boring. I had a hard time getting into the story and didn't really like or connect with any of the characters. Some of the stuff mentioned seemed like tangent information - not useful or relevant to the story at all. The action, until the very end, was not every exciting. I thought The Machine was extremely vague - I really never understood what it was or what exactly it did. The dystopian idea was interesting, but not very well developed. And the title annoyed me - I'm not sure it works.
Read-alikes:
Some better executed dystopia:
Unwind by Neal Shusterman
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: !@#
swearing throughout
mrg-factor: X
implied, not described
v-factor: ->->->->
some of it was disgusting and detailed
Overall rating: **
And as a special treat today, thanks to Haiku Amy, I'm going to Pay It Forward by offering the first three commenters a special surprise gift. If you win, you will be required to pay it forward by giving three people a surprise gift (whether you have a blog or not). Winners will be emailed, so if your email isn't readily available (on your profile), please leave it in the comment. Good luck!
If you buy through my Amazon linkage,
I will get a very small percentage
I will get a very small percentage