Review ~ Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne

Monument 14 (Monument 14 #1)
by Emmy Laybourne
YA Dystopian
Published: June 5, 2012 (I read a newer edition published in May 2013 with bonus content)
Goodreads Link

Blurb: 

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.

My Review: 

**3.5 Stars**

So, I actually started reading Monument 14 while I was waiting for the Fierce Reads tour to start; which Emmy Laybourne was apart of. In the 15 minutes before the event started, I think I breezed through about 25 pages or so. I didn't want to put it down. I was actually kicking myself for not having started it sooner so I could have asked proper questions.

I love the fact that Monument 14 is written from a guy's perspective. Majority of the YA books out there are from a girl's perspective, and it is such a refreshing change. I really found it interesting how the volcano eruption and crazy weather is what started the "apocalypse", but it was really what we as humans created that made it worse; at least in Colorado. All the weird changes are due to a chemical weapon we created. I love how the author made it based on a person's blood type. If you are A - this happens to you, B - this happens, and of course, O is the worst. Which is kind of ironic as O is generally thought of as the best blood type to have - and it is the most common.

Did I like all the kids? No, but I did like Dean, Alex, and Nico. A few of them were annoying, and you would think that they would get over their differences in a time of trouble, but I guess some people still have hang-ups.

I look forward to reading the next book (which I already own). The only thing I am nervous about is that it seems like book two will jump between Dean and Alex, and I am not a huge fan of character jumps.