The world stopped turning long before Megan was born. Ever since the Visitors split the moon and stilled the Earth, permanent sunset is all anyone has known. But now, riding her trusty steed Cisco, joined by her posse, Kelly and Luis, Megan is on the run from her Texas hometown, journeying across the vast, dystopic American West to hunt down her father. To find him, she must face the Zone, a notorious landscape where the laws of nature do not apply. The desert can play deadly tricks on the mind, and the quest will push Megan past her limits. But to solve the mystery of not just her missing father but of the paralyzed planet itself, she must survive it--and an alien showdown.
Megan lives in a future where the world has stopped spinning, twenty years ago when the Visitors arrived. No one really knows much about what has happened but has had to adapt; half the world is in internal ice age and the other is sun-blasted, making only the edges habitable. This is a typical Western road-trip story, where Megan and friend Luis travel across the country to find her father and hopefully answers on the Visitors and what the dangerous Zone is.
Even though the Earth not spinning is a terrifying thought, Megan - born after it stopped - made a very logical argument about shadows being pinned still and knowing where you are in relation to the sun that made an unusual amount of sense. I really felt for Megan, stuck with this tough journey, looking for her father and not even sure he's still alive but she was pretty standoffish. Raised without parents, I'm not surprised she had trouble with emotional stuff but it made her unlikable at times. As for her traveling companion Luis, I really liked him; he was strong, knew what he was doing most of the time, stood up to Megan if he thought they were in danger.
The story was very fast-paced but with no real explanations, it was difficult to understand, I just sort of went with it. Until we come across a character much like ourselves: still thinking the Earth spins and some things were explained but not all. I'm very glad they came across Kelly, she gave the opportunity to have some weird occurrences explained as well as some much needed comic relief. It was all very intriguing, and definitely interesting enough for me to want to finish it, but not really my style. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I stuck with it and got the answers I wanted but it was sometimes difficult to read while I was trying to piece bits together.
Published 6th March 2014 by Chicken House. Thank you to the publisher for ym copy in exchange for an honest review.
This next up for. It's a shame it was a little difficult for you - I hope I don't have the same issues!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this book but I do agree about the lack of explanations, perhaps an extra couple of chapters at the beginning to explain things would have been better.
ReplyDelete★ Under The Mountain's Review ★