Fire and Flood

Victoria Scott

Tella is a Contender. Not that she knows what a Contender is or does. But she is one. She needs to find her Pandora, and go for the race as hard as she can, to save her sick brother. This may mean sacrifices, but at the same time she might gain something else.

There were some really mixed reviews on this novel on Goodreads. Some people compared it to The Hunger Games, and found it lacking, and others really liked. Me? I loved it. I thought it was better than The Hunger Games (my review here).

You know how in the waiting periods of The Hunger Games, there was just nothing going on? Here, there is something going on, and the back story being developed is huge. Sometimes I feel like other reviewers didn’t even get through the whole thing.

Tella is a character anyone can relate to. She doesn’t know what she’s doing, she doesn’t have any great skills, and the only thing she has that might tip the balance is her Pandora egg. Which hasn’t even hatched by the beginning of the first challenge. It’s great to see her character development as she gets more hardened, but also more questioning.

Tella, through her new friends, is able to get a grasp on the external factors. The contestants aren’t all in the dark. Another reason this hits with me, is that the whole situation is actually possible in our world. It’s an average town, with average people, and yet the outside world has other ideas.

I liked the fact that there could be more than one winner. I mean sure, people were dying, but it wasn’t quite so bad. At least they had opted in (with the ultimate price in store), and could opt out at practically any time (I think). Sacrifices needed to be made though.

The ending! Arg! I didn’t want to see the ending! I really really enjoyed reading it. So much so that I actually wrote to the author straight after reading it, and said thank you for producing such a fabulous book. I would recommend this novel over The Hunger Games personally.

I received this novel free as a review copy, but my opinions remain my own.