Words cannot being to express how much I was looking forward to this book. Monument 14 was one of the first times I ever screamed, "No!", when finishing a book. It was such an exciting book, and it ended on such a cliffhanger that I was not ready to close the book. Monument 14:Sky on Fire gave me the same reaction. It is a bit shorter than I am used to, it is only 215 pages, but holy crap, Emmy Laybourne packs a serious wallop in those pages. The benefit of the 2nd book is that the characters have already been introduced and the writer can focus more on the action of the story. In Sky on Fire readers get a quick reminder about who is who in the story through a journal entry. They are also reminded about the toxic chemicals in the air and how it affects each person. Ordinarily this technique bothers me, but with so many characters to keep track of, I was very grateful.
***SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T READ THE 1ST BOOK*****
In the 1st book, 14 kids ranging in age with some being as young as 5, have taken refuge from a disaster in one of those supercenter places. The kind of place where one can find practically anything. They are attempting to survive while chaos reigns outside and there are no adults to comfort them inside. This isn't Lord of the Flies though. The kids, for the most part, get along, and it's the occasional adult that happens upon the kids, that introduces things that are truly scary. As the first book ends, part of the group decides they are going to try to make it to the airport since they heard that people are being rescued there.
****NO MORE SPOILERS****
As our not so merry band of travelers set out, they get a glimpse of just how bad things actually are. Cars are abandoned on the side of the road and so are bodies. Everything has a sort of white mold growing on it. There are looters, killers, and people who will do anything to survive, even if that means condemning someone else to certain death. Some of the scenes reminded me of The Road things seemed so bleak and hopeless. I questioned choices made some of the characters as they seemed to have dire consequences. There seems to be a serious shortage of good people out there, and yet, you do get to see that there are still good people out there. There are still people willing to help a complete stranger and expect nothing in return.
The action never stops in Monument 14:Sky on Fire Laybourne barely gives you a chance to catch your breath. It's a plot technique that works. What also works is that the story jumps from the kids who are on the road and those that have stayed behind. We learn the fate of characters who left in book 1, and we are left guessing about others by the end of this book. Be warned that there is another cliffhanger in this book. There is some resolution. There are characters that I don't think I need to worry about anymore, but that might be a false sense of hope.
I'm a huge fan of this series. I'm excited for book 3. Laybourne is a talented writer with a gift for getting a reader's attention and maintaining it. I predict great things from her, and look forward to all the stories she is going to tell.
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