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Sometimes we don't stop and think about all the things that could go wrong in our precious, carefully orchestrated lives. When a mega-tsunami creates a chemical leak that changes the Four Corners are forever, a group of kids must learn to grow up quickly. In the Monument 14 conclusion, Savage Drift, Emmy Laybourne wraps up the story of those kids and how they had to change with the world.
It wasn't easy, but Dean, Alex, Niko, Astrid and the other kids made it to Canada. In the refugee camps, life isn't easy, but it is far better than where they came from, running from criminals, looters, and worse, the compounds that changed them with every exposure. They have carved out a little life in the camp, but they never expected to see someone they thought was dead in the papers. When Niko finds the picture of Josie in the news, he insists they must go get her out of the O concentration camps they are keeping everyone who might go crazy in. Josie lost it to save their lives, and they can't leave her there with all those criminals.
At first Dean and Astrid refuse to entertain the idea. They can't leave the kids behind, and with Astrid's pregnancy, it is too dangerous to travel, especially with the rumors of "drifts" where the compound was collecting and moving with the wind. But when they catch on that exposed pregnant women are being taken without their permission for testing, Astrid worries about her unborn baby's life. When they finally make their way out of the camp, the world outside is no longer as they remembered it. Things have changed, but so have they.
This series has always been a little juvenile and unsophisticated. It has been a good alternative to the darker PA stories for middle school students, but it did reveal Laybourne's struggles to conclude and stretch the story simultaneously. I think older students would find it too tame and childish, but my middle school students who wanted to read a PA story seemed to like it, and I didn't have to worry about mature content. Unfortunately, that juvenile quality also made the story a little one dimensional. And the ultimate conclusion, while not that bad, felt rushed and predictable.
Ultimately, I think the story would have been better if it had ended with their arrival in Canada. This installment wasn't really necessary, and that showed. It felt like the push to squeeze out a trilogy along with every other author out there, and the stretch showed through. It was interesting, but I think the story would have been better if the first two books had been combined as one and ended in Canada. I originally picked this story up for the content, but I am not sure if I will read Laybourne's next book, although I imagine it would be a decent middle reader for that age group. I just don't think I am partial to her writing style.
Kids are resourceful. In extreme circumstances, I have no doubt kids could find a way to survive all on their own. In Emmy Laybourne's Monument 14, we saw them find a way to survive in a Greenway, but in the sequel, Sky on Fire, the group splits up in their fight to survive.
As type O's, if Dean and Astrid breathe the compounds NORAD released into the air, they will become raving psychopaths hellbent on killing anything in their way. Therefore, they decided to stay behind and protect the little kids while Dean's brother Alex and the others took the schoolbus that saved them to the Denver Airport in the hopes of finding people willing to help rescue those left behind. But neither group experiences anything they expected.
Outside the Greenway, things are bad. A strange white mold eats rubber and has destroyed cars, making their bus a commodity for anyone within earshot. Add to that the raving lunatics and the fact that Josie lied to them about her blood type. With one whiff of the air, she becomes her own raving lunatic in the close quarters of the bus. Meanwhile, back at the store, Astrid and Dean are experiencing their own horrors. With crazy people trying to break into their stronghold one after another, they realize how defenseless they really are. Meanwhile, inside, they can barely hold things together with the little kids, infections, and people determined to get in. Both groups are in the middle of the battle of their lives, but will anyone make it out alive?
This series is an odd mixture of fairly mature circumstances with a relatively low reading level. Therefore, it is a good series for an older student who is also a struggling reader. The maturity of the subject matter includes a lot of murder, sex, and pretty scary situations, but the short nature of the stories and easy reading level makes them a perfect option for a reader who doesn't want to read a "kids" book, but needs a lower level story. Also, this series could easily serve as a bridge into more complex, mature post-apocalyptic and dystopic stories.
Overall, I like the story, but sometimes the kids make some really stupid mistakes. I know that is most realistic, but still, I would love it if they had a learning curve about trusting people! How many times do you have to get attacked, beaten, almost raped, and robbed before you figure out to not trust anyone??!! I like the fact that these books end with some finality, but still lead directly into the next story. I don't think these are the absolutely best PA stories out there, but they are quick and a lot of fun to read, which gives them a permanent space on the shelf of my classroom!
You know what you would say to your loved ones if it was the last time you were going to see them, but what if you didn't know that time was the last time? In Monument 14, Emmy Laybourne takes a group of kids from a school bus (or two), throws them into a new, very dangerous world, and hopes they can survive.
Dean boards the high school bus and his younger brother, Alex, gets on the elementary and middle school bus. They head off on just another day of school and routine, but this isn't just another day. On their way to school a freak hailstorm takes out Dean's bus. The driver is dead, as are some kids who were trapped and beaten to death by hail, but the remaining kids know they have to get out. Through the heroics of an ancient bus driver, the surviving kids find themselves trapped in the Greenway department store. When the bus driver heads off to find help, she leaves the kids behind, not knowing just how alone they will soon be.
The hail storm was just the beginning of the after effects of a giant tsunami. When a major earthquake hits, the kids assume they made it through until a chemical spill from NORAD. The chemical reacts differently in people with different blood types, killing some, sterilizing others, and making another percent of the population go stark raving mad and murderous. The kids are lucky enough that the emergency gates on the store closed, sealing them inside, but what is on the outside wants to come in. While the kids have enough supplies to survive in the department store, there are scarier things out there than they can imagine safe inside the store.
First, let me just assure you that there are no zombies going on here. Homicidal psychopaths, yes. Zombies? No. I wanted to get that out in the open, because the description of the people affected by the chemical sounded to me a lot like zombies, but they aren't. They are alive, reasoning, thinking loons who want to tear everyone and everything apart they can get their hands on. Scarier than the zombies if you ask me! But nevertheless, no zombies here.
The story is quite interesting story, especially on the heels of a similar story I just read called No Safety in Numbers. They are very different books as this is apocalyptic and that was a terrorist plot that led to a quarantine, but there are still some similarities, like being trapped in a mall/department store. The thing that sets this story apart is the lack of adults. The older kids try to hold things together, but since they are children themselves, it doesn't always work. Some kids started dipping into the pharmacy, others gorged themselves on candy and ice cream. A couple of the older kids paired off, little kids wanted their mommies, and all of them grew more and more scared. It actually felt very real in regards to how the kids all reacted to the situation.
My one skepticism surrounded the chemical agent released from NORAD during the quake. I am not sure how a chemical could react so differently based on blood type, but I have learned not to question these things too much and to give fiction a little wiggle room for creative license. So I let that go and just enjoyed the story. It was written in first person narrative and sometimes the story felt very much like it was slipping out of the mouth of a young adult... perhaps a little too much at times? With this writing style comes a few choppy sentences or disjointed thoughts where I had to go back and reread to get the full gist of what was happening. But all in all, it wasn't distracting most of the time, so I was able to really enjoy the story. I found the story exciting and engaging and really want to know what happens next. I desperately hope this is the beginning of a series because otherwise Laybourne's "Got some 'splainin' to do!" The ending had a feeling of finality while still being abrupt and leaving you hanging. I don't know how she concluded the story that way, but she did, and it left me dying to know more!
