Review/ Monument 14

Your mother hollers that you're going to miss the bus. She can see it coming down the street. You don't stop and hug her and tell her you love her. You don't thank her for being a good, kind, patient mother. Of course not—you launch yourself down the stairs and make a run for the corner.Only, if it's the last time you'll ever see your mother, you sort of start to wish you'd stopped and did those things. Maybe even missed the bus.But the bus was barreling down our street, so I ran.Fourteen kids. One superstore. A million things that go wrong.
In Emmy Laybourne's action-packed debut novel Monument 14, six high school kids (some popular, some not), two eighth graders (one a tech genius), and six little kids trapped together in a chain superstore build a refuge for themselves inside. While outside, a series of escalating disasters, beginning with a monster hailstorm and ending with a chemical weapons spill, seems to be tearing the world—as they know it—apart.

I can’t believe that I haven’t read this book sooner. Its been sitting on my shelf for a little while now and I finally  took it down and read it.

This is the first book in a three book series and a debut novel.  I have the following reviews coming up next week so be sure to check back for those.

When I first picked up the book to read I didn’t realize that I was going to be sucked in right away. I pretty much tried to read this in a few sittings  but it was hard to do that. I really love reading books like that. Books that will suck you in right away and give you the ride of your life. This was one of those books.

This seems to be one of those series that was flown under the radar because I don’t recall alot of reviews on it or hearing much about it when it came out.

Emmy Laybourne did a fantastic job with the writing. As I was reading it could actually envision this happening in the future with the wonky weather, the chemical warfare and everyone going bonkers due to all the chemicals in the air.

Alex and Dean wake up one morning thinking this was just going to be a ordinary day with going to school and then coming home like normal but they soon realize that things are about to change. On the way to school the weather turns with huge hail falling from the sky. The bus that Dean is on flips over due to the damage of the hail and the size of the hail. The bus that Alex is on manages to follow and rescue the kids. The driver drives her bus into a Greenway, which is a huge grocery store. I should warn you that there is alot of blood and death in the book.

The bus driver leaves the kids (6 high school, 2 eight graders and 6 little kids) secure in the Greenway to go for help and before long the high school kids have taken over to bring some order to the place once the security gates close them off from the outside world. At first its all fun and games but when the teenagers realize that they are on their own with the little kids and its not pleasant outside they all go into survival mode. They seal the gates up properly so that the chemicals won’t enter their air supply. The make the Greenway their home until they get rescued and they realized that someone had to step up to lead the way and I think that worked for them.

It was nice to see how the kids seemed to mature as the book progressed. At times I felt there was too many characters but I think it worked just perfectly with the book granted I had to keep a little note inside the book just so I could remember who was who.

This book was non stop action and sitting on the edge of the seat the whole way through. I had a hard time to put the book down at night. Thankfully the book ended with a cliff hanger so I didn’t have to wait long for the next book because it was sitting on my shelf.

Momument 14 is told from Dean’s writing that he has started inside the store. Its documented daily. Which I have to say I really enjoyed this aspect of the story telling.

Can you image being stuck in a huge grocery store? What would you do first?