Book Review ~ Fire & Flood (Fire & Flood #1) by Victoria Scott

 

Image Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16069167-fire-flood

Title: Fire & Flood (Fire & Flood #1)

Author: Victoria Scott

Release Date: February 25th, 2014

Published By: Scholastic Press

Page Amount: 304 pages, Hardcover

GoodReads Blurb:

A modern day thrill ride, where a teen girl and her animal companion must participate in a breathtaking race to save her brother's life—and her own. 

Tella Holloway is losing it. Her brother is sick, and when a dozen doctors can't determine what's wrong, her parents decide to move to Montana for the fresh air. She's lost her friends, her parents are driving her crazy, her brother is dying—and she's helpless to change anything.

Until she receives mysterious instructions on how to become a Contender in the Brimstone Bleed. It's an epic race across jungle, desert, ocean, and mountain that could win her the prize she desperately desires: the Cure for her brother's illness. But all the Contenders are after the Cure for people they love, and there's no guarantee that Tella (or any of them) will survive the race.

The jungle is terrifying, the clock is ticking, and Tella knows she can't trust the allies she makes. And one big question emerges: Why have so many fallen sick in the first place?

Review:

I received an ARC of this book from Scholastic Press in return for an honest review. 

First of all, I was so excited when I got this in the mail! Right around Christmas! It was like an extra Christmas gift! I wanted to start reading it right then and there, which I did, but I had to put it down to finish other things. I picked it back up again right around the new year and finished about mid-January, I think. I'm so excited to finally be reviewing this book!

I loved this book. Absolutely loved it. I thought that this book was great. It's hard to give this review without spoilers. I appreciated the character of Tella for her honesty. Yes, she went into this competition for her brother but she wasn't all-the-time-every-second thinking about him. I also appreciated that she was not an all out kick butt girl by nature. She had people helping her throughout the race and when something terrible happened, sometimes she would be frozen with fear or unable to look at it. To me, that seems realistic. That she is not necessarily the kick butt girl that we have often come to expect in adventure stories with a female protagonist at the center. That wasn't her personality. However, she does "step up", so to speak and does her share of "butt kicking". 

I did like Guy Chambers, as well. And the character Harper. She is not what she seems. If there is one butt kicking girl in this story, I would say that it was Harper. I also thought that the story line was great. I was waiting to know more about this mysterious Brimstone Bleed. Victoria Scott gave it to you in drips and drabs at first, which only made me more anxious to know what the real story was. Towards the very end, you get the story finished off. On the way there, though, there are a lot of twists and turns. There was a time that I had I nearly yelled "Oh my gosh!!" and closed the book shut (in a doctor's office waiting room). I did that at least two more times while reading that scene. There was another time where I was reading the book at night and got pretty significantly freaked out. (And thoroughly surprised. I figured it out about a paragraph or so before Tella). It was not easy getting to sleep that night. The ending most definitely left me wanting more. I wanted the second book in my hands before the first one had even officially come out yet! 

I thought that this was a great read. I have to give this one 5 stars! 

<3 Amanda Leigh