Book Review + Contest: The Way We Fall by Megan Crewe

SUMMARY: It starts with an itch you just can't shake.

Then comes a fever and a tickle in your throat.

A few days later, you'll be blabbing your secrets and chatting with strangers like they’re old friends. Three more, and the paranoid hallucinations kick in.

And then you're dead.

When a deadly virus begins to sweep through sixteen-year-old Kaelyn’s community, the government quarantines her island—no one can leave, and no one can come back.

Those still healthy must fight for dwindling supplies, or lose all chance of survival. As everything familiar comes crashing down, Kaelyn joins forces with a former rival and discovers a new love in the midst of heartbreak. When the virus starts to rob her of friends and family, she clings to the belief that there must be a way to save the people she holds dearest.

Because how will she go on if there isn't?


OPINION: 4 STARS

From a science aspect, this book is great. Crewe has done a fantastic job of creating her own virus, yet mirroring plenty of viruses that do exist and more importantly, keeping true to how quickly and unexpectedly they can spread. Right down to involuntary responses caused by the virus, and a surefire way for it to keep spreading, Crewe has clearly done her research.

Kaelyn is a great character, definitely a loner of sorts yet very kind and perceptive. Her growth and change are smoothly handled, and the way she branches out as the story progresses brings a great life into her. The story stays focused very much on her, written in letter form and therefore giving focus to some things that do feel a bit more mundane.  The rest of the cast is well done, with some characters having bigger roles than others, and a sense of sorrow surrounded several of them who do become ill.

Plotwise, however, this one was a bit slow, with plenty of waiting around and wondering. While this is definitely a realistic aspect of something like this, it's also harder to read and stay interested with. Still, the overall plot has a great arc, with most everything tied up, although there was one aspect left open that this reader would have liked some closure on. Stopping otherwise at the perfect point, this is a book that will make readers think, and also creep them out just a bit.

Details:

Source: ARC received from Big Honcho Media in exchange for an honest review 

Reading level: Ages 12 and up 

Hardcover: 320 pages 

Publisher: Hyperion Book CH

Publication Date: January 24, 2012

Want more from Megan and The Way We Fall? Check out her website, and enter for your chance to win a copy of the book as well as a Minimergency Kit! 

To enter, just fill out THIS form.

This contest is US only, and ends January 31. No entries will be accepted through the comments, but you know you want to leave one still.

 And check out the book trailer, to help get you excited for this book, which hits shelves today!