This review is for those who have read or are familiar with the previous books, Virals, Seizure, and Code, or don't mind knowing spoilers for them.
SPOILER ALERT
Morris Island has barely had a chance to return to normality after the high profile trial of the Gamemaster, when two local students seem to vanish into thin air.
Tory Brennan and the Virals pack move quickly in their attempts to discover what has happened to their twin classmates. But the pack's canine powers are growing wilder, and it is becoming ever harder to conceal the secret which protects them.
When Tory and her friends find evidence of blood in the students' basement, they realize that the disappearance is no game.
But in order to save the twins, the Virals must risk the exposure of their powers, and in doing so put even their own lives in terrible danger.
I could not stop reading this book - it was sooo much better. The tug-of-war with boys wasn't nearly as bad! Tory wasn't a controlling/manipulative bitch! All other women were not considered stupid or shallow! Issues were finally talked through! I learned something!
Okay, one at a time. I was getting super tired of stringing along Jason for Tory's benefit. The poor guy deserved a straight out "no" instead of winking coyly and asking for favors. It was getting ridiculous. And Ben (though not as prevalent in most of the book) finally got some answers for all his efforts.
Tory was very much subdued this time, much less self-assured and more cautious about everything. While she asked for the other Virals for help on certain things, she didn't really push the issue on anything they weren't willing to do. There were no long debates to convince them to go along. Now, whether this was because there were fewer break-ins this time, or whether they just stopped questioning Tory's plans in the first place, I can't say for sure. Maybe it was because another person's life was in the balance instead of their own? Whatever the reason, it seemed a lot better for the boys this time.
The one major issue I've had with labeling these books "girl-power" on my bookshelves has been Tory's attitude towards literally every other female. All of her female classmates have been either ditsy, shallow, skank, evil, or a combination of the above. And don't get me started on Whitney or any of the cotillion ladies. I get that she's an unwilling participant, but snarking on all the other participants was getting old. I liked that that changed a bit at the end of the last book, with Tory's own debut, but I wasn't hopeful on the whole thing. Ella was a huge improvement. Yes, she was a bit of a plot device, but I'm hoping she's gonna be around for a while, cause some girl to girl friendships are never a bad thing.
But most amazingly of all, Tory finally spilled some of her inner turmoil to someone. She's been flitting from one subject to the next so much, I was about to accuse her of ADHD. And it seemed like everything she thought about, she'd push back and save 'for later': she lost her mom about a year ago; high school mean-girl drama; romantic thoughts; physical and mental wolf weirdness; the main storyline (kidnappings this time); Chance spying on them; feeling guilty about lying to Chance; feeling guilty about lying to everyone; Ben's betrayal from the last book... not to mention normal high school activities like homework and soccer.
I wish more was addressed, but I was thrilled that at least some of it finally boiled over into TALKING ABOUT THINGS. I don't need a full-on Anime cry-fest, but hell, there is a lot to unpack there, and I was surprised she hadn't broken down yet! Heck, I don't have half of that on my plate and I'm on meds!
And lastly, I've been kinda tickled when the kids go off researching things in regards to the main mystery and get this big schpeal on how bullet striation patterns work, or fingerprinting. I've seen enough shows like Bones, CSI, and even Fringe to know how all that works, so I typically skim those sections. This time all the expert lectures were on things I didn't already know: astrology, computer hacking, and phosphate mining. Cool beans.
Anyway, there's a major cliffhanger at the end of this one, so I'm off to start the next one ASAP!
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
View all my reviews
No comments :
Post a Comment
Let me hear you howl!