Quarantine: The Burnouts by Lex Thomas

Published: July 22nd, 2014

Publisher: Egmont USA

Pages: 272

Copy: Publisher via Edelweiss

Summary: Goodreads

Lord of the Flies in a 21st-century high school setting.Welcome to Quarantine 3: The Burnouts , where readers of The Maze Runner, Gone, and Divergent go when they're hungry for more dark, compelling survival stories.

When an explosion rocks David and Will's suburban high school one morning, a deadly virus is unleashed on the school. After a year of quarantine, with no adults around, the students have created their own society. All of the social cliques have developed into gangs-The Nerds, The Geeks, The Freaks, The Sluts, The Skaters, The Burnouts, The Pretty Ones, and The Varsity-and each gang provides a service with which they can barter for provisions. Without a gang, it's almost impossible to secure food, water, territory, or supplies. In the final installment in the Quarantine trilogy, the brothers are reunited on the Outside and it appears as if, for once everything is going right. But inside the school, Lucy is alone with no gang and no hope, until the Burnouts welcome her into their filthy arms

I have loved this trilogy from the beginning ( you can find my reviews #1 here and #2 here) and I was just a little worried that Mr. Thomas would not be able to maintain the tension.  Well, I'm very happy to say I was wrong.  Tension abounds yet again in this third and final volume.

As I mentioned before there are many parallels to Lord of the Flies in this Quarantine trilogy, but it's more like Lord of the Flies on steroids, 10 times over.  One of the most horrific things about it for me is the absolute plausability of it all, and that scares me to death.  Part way through this book there is a comment that the parents on the outside are sure they have solved the food problems, but readers see that this is definitely not the case - the troubles have just gone underground and have become so much worse.

We are made aware that almost 2 years have gone by.  2 years in which hundreds of kids have reverted to savagery to get by.  It's amazing that any of them have survived. Some of the descriptions of the Burnouts and their means of escaping reality had me almost gagging, but I could see it happening!  And just wait until you find out about the cure.  All I'll say is O.M.G.

You will be rooting for Will, David and Lucy and you will cry along with them and keep hoping that they will survive. What poor Lucy has to go through this time will have you gasping. This is a really gritty and horrifying story from beginning to end, but it is so worth reading if you like this type of thing.  Definitely not for the squeamish though and you have to start at the beginning.

Quarantine: The Saints by Lex Thomas

 

Published: July 9th, 2013

Publisher: Egmont USA

Pages: 400

Copy: Publisher via Edelweiss

Summary: 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

 As bloggers we are often given the opportunity to review a new book in a series.  If you're like me, you look at it and turn it down, because you haven't read the first book in that particular series.  Occasionally, we are lucky enough to be given access to the original book as well.  That is the case with Quarantine: The Saints.  I reviewed the first book in the series Quarantine: The Loners a short while ago - check it out here - and absolutely loved it.  Of course, this led to some trepidation when I started 'The Saints'.  Would it measure up, or would it fall short?  I am thrilled and delighted to say that not only did it measure up to 'The Loners', it actually surpassed it.

Mr. Thomas has put together a very large group of kids and has them separating into groups, or cells, according to type.  We have Varsity, Sluts, Skaters, Loners and many more.  Then in this volume we add The Saints into the mix.  If I tell you where they come from it will be a huge spoiler, so I'm not going to do that.  The introduction of a new group completely screws with the dynamics of the situation and upsets the status quo. From first book to second, the situation has deteriorated completely, but not in any way that I expected.  There was surprise after violent surprise, most of them coming at me from out of left field, and I was constantly changing my mind about what was going to happen.  I loved that about this book.

Mr. Thomas has also managed to give his characters huge growth as the story develops.  As each new situation develops Will, Lucy and the others have to change and adapt just in order to survive.  Some characters adapt positively, and others - not so much.  I'm not going to get into specifics, as it would spoil the surprise, but just say that I'd love to have Lucy on my side.  What a girl. 

 Quarantine: The Saints, is a roller coaster disaster ride that will pull you in from the very beginning.    There is just so much more going on in the story than just the action.  Society - or in this case a microcosm of society - is breaking down irrevocably and whether the characters survive or not isn't always just up to them. Fast-paced, violent, thrilling and surprisingly romantic, Quarantine: The Saints is a superb book that should be an absolute must read for fans of Gone, Divergent, The Hunger Games, Dust and Decay and others in this genre.  It is a treat to read.

 This series is right up there at the top of my favourites list along with Jonathan Maberry's Dust and Decay series.  I continue to believe that Mr. Thomas must have read and loved The Lord of Flies, if you read 'The Saints' you'll understand why.  Go out and buy, borrow or steal a copy asap.  You're missing out if you don't.

Let's Hear it For the Boys - Quarantine: The Loners by Lex Thomas

July 10th, 2012

Publisher: Egmont, USA

Pages: 416

Copy: From Publisher

Summary: Goodreads

“As original as The Hunger Games, set within the walls of a high school exactly like yours.” – Kami Garcia, New York Times best-selling co-author of the Beautiful Creatures novels

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.

"Take Michael Grant's Gone and Veronica Roth's Divergent, rattle them in a cage until they're ready to fight to the death, and you'll have something like this nightmarish debut...Thomas' whirlwind pace, painful details, simmering sexual content, and moments of truly shocking ultra-violence thrust this movie-ready high school thriller to the head of the class." - Booklist (starred review)

I started Quarantine: The Loners because I had been asked to review Quarantine: The Saints, and you can't read the second without knowing what comes before, right?  I hadn't heard anything about it, which was a little odd - it's been out for almost a year - so I wasn't too sure what I was getting into.  It didn't take me more than about 20 pages though to realise that this is a hidden gem.  Loners starts of with a huge bang, literally, and then slides provocatively into chaos and mayhem.

We meet all the characters fairly quickly, but it is the slow reveal of their true selves that I found most fascinating.  The relationship between brothers David and Will was amazing.  Seeing that relationship from both sides highlighted just how much of what we see is personal perception - not necessarily the truth.  Add in the fact that Will is epileptic and they are both crushing on the same girl and it's instant fireworks. Two other characters that intrigued and appalled me were Sam and Hillary - what a pair.  Sam is a little stereotypical at the beginning, but by the end - wow, he is such a nasty piece of work.

Mr. Thomas takes the natural arena of cliques in high school and turns it on its head.  I think if you take the best parts of The Hunger Games, Gone, Maze Runner and then throw in a bit of Lord of the Flies you might just begin to get an inkling of what it is like at McKinley.( Don't forget Divergent as well, as Booklist suggests!)  The pace of the story is frenetic and it truly illustrates the clichés 'survival of the fittest' and 'dog eat dog'.  But in the end, I was just saying 'yeah for the little guys!'

This story grew on me with every page I read, and when I got to the end I was smiling, not because of what had happened, but because the last line is just so typically Sam I couldn't help myself.  I'm off now to start on Quarantine: The Saints, and I suspect it's going to be a whole different set of problems for everyone.  I can't wait.

Note:  Quarantine: The Saints is out today, July 9th.  and there is a special promotion on Quarantine: The Loners - it's available as an e-book for just $1.99 until July 2nd.  Trust me, it's worth buying.