Fire & Flood by Victoria Scott, Blog Tour: Book Review

Welcome to the second part of today's Fire & Blood blog tour. Be sure to check out my interview with Victoria Scott & enter to win HERE. Now I'm excited to share my review for Victoria's recent release. 

About the Book

By: Victoria Scott
Published: Scholastic
Released On: February 25, 2014
Series: Fire & Flood #1
Source: arc from publisher to review
Rating: 4.5 Stars - I Really Enjoyed It!
Pre-Order It From: Amazon, Barnes & Noble
Add It To: Goodreads

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?

An action packed, suspenseful read that kept me hooked from beginning to end. Fire & Flood kept my heart racing, and left me wishing book two was already in my hands. I need to know what happens next!!

I really enjoyed this book. At first, I was wondering what the heck Tella was getting into to, but it didn't take long for story's fast pace storyline to pick up, and it didn't slow down until the book ended. Sure, at first there were a lot of similarities to The Hunger Games, but not long after I thought that, I realized this may have some similarities, but it's definitely NOT The Hunger Games. This story quickly turns into something that is action packed, suspenseful and all it's own. Trust me, I wouldn't have read it other wise. 

Yes, this book is about survival, and there's a race to get to the end, but that's where the similarities end. Forced into a race no one wants to be in, these competitors are left with limited supplies, an egg (yep you'll find out why this egg is so important) to aid them, and put in the middle of a jungle/desert, and are given two weeks to make it to base camp. First one to base camp wins a certain prize, and can  decide if they want to go on competing to win the grand prize, or, walk away now. Remember that came capture the flag? Yeah I loved it as a kid. Well like that game, contenders are on the hunt to find a flag. Whom ever finds a flag first is on the right track to finding base camp, that is if you make it there alive. You never know what dangers are lurking in these dangerous settings.  

There's a catch to this game. Each person racing is doing it for a family member who is dying and needs a cure. The winner of the entire race gets that cure. This race is seriously like Hell on earth. There were many times when Tella questions things, that I myself was wondering "What Would I Do?".  It's not a race to the death, but not everyone will make it out alive. Seriously, I felt the character's anxieties and fears in this book. The conditions these characters have to deal with are like Survivor Mets Man Vs Wild. Only there's no one there to help these contenders out excerpt for themselves. Scott's vivid descriptions made it extremely easy for me to see myself there in the lush, harsh jungle and the hellish desert settings. It also brought out my squeamish side. I'm just saying when there's a scene with gigantic fire ants attaching Tella, yeah, I might have freaked out a bit. If there had been those freakishly huge spiders found in the rain forest I would have thrown the book. I already had a hard time getting some images out of my head. *swats around for ants*

I loved the characters in this book. Scott made it so easy for me to understand each of their motives, and decision making, except for one of them. Scott wrote the characters in a way that made me cheer each of them on, and also had me understanding them, and sympathizing with them. Usually I don't find myself doing that when there's a large group of characters like there is in this book. Maybe it had to do with the fact that the characters ended up dividing into teams, and worked together. Even though they know that decisions would be made, that in the end only one person could win. Over all they did care about each other. Don't get me wrong, there are some dangerous characters and they definitely add to the suspense and chilling things that happen in this book. 

Tella was great. I admired her for her reason to race, not like she really had a choice. I liked that there are times she thought things out, and learned to pay attention to things that were happening around her, vs just doing things for the sake of being told to, or because everyone else was doing so. I loved how strong she, and the strength she found as the story continued. I really liked the chemistry that was there with her and Guy. I want to know a lot more about him. Through him, Scott was able to infuse the story with plenty of twists, turns, and shocking truths behind The Brimstone Games. 

 Much like what Guy does with Tella, Scott does with her readers. Tella finds out just enough to get her curiosity going, and it makes her think, and it challenges her. She knows enough, but she wants more. There is a lot to this story, and I love that Scott reveals things little by little as the story goes on, but never once giving away more than necessary  I realized when I finished that she only told me enough of what I needed to know, to hook me. There are so many more questions I have, that I know Scott will reveal in the next book. Which is why I want it now. haha. I love that this book is part action/adventure, and SciFi all wrapped up into one.  Fire & Flood is book definitely worth picking up! *There is some mild language in this book.