Alive

Scott Sigler does it again! He always writes a book I can\’t wait to finish. My heart races a great deal of the time, I talk out loud to the characters, I shiver from the images drawn in my head with words. I love anything he writes. YA worried me a little, I thought I might not love it as much. I bought the hard cover for my teen who loves dystopian teen novels, bought the audio for myself. I\’m 2/3rd\’s of the way through ( bought it this morning) already I\’m anxious I have to wait a year for the next one. It\’s gonna kill me. I\’m dying to understand what is really going on. 1000 guesses and 2 more years to wait to find out why these people are in the situation they in. I know they\’re kids but after a short while they are just people, not children I can\’t relate to. Yeah some teen like feelings they go through, but truly, what would I do in their position? What would any of us do looking differently than we remember with no memory of who we really are, wearing clothes that don\’t fit, trapped in a world we don\’t understand. I really want the DoD (Scott\’s business partner A. Kovacs) to drive him mercilessly to write more. I want the movie! I need the WHOLE story. Try Scott Sigler, he is so deserving of your time and money. He\’s a story teller extraordinaire!

No Spoilers here: It is not often that an established author with a firm command of a particular genre of writing and a rabid fan base in that genre attempts a new venture. To my knowledge, it\’s ever more rare to see that author take on a new publisher AND a new genre simultaneously. But Scott Sigler is not unfamiliar with trying new things and this time I\’d say it\’s done with great success. Fans of Scott Sigler will already know that his books tend to follow common themes and also know that much of his work exists in what he calls the Siglerverse. I\’m already scratching my head trying to envision where this intended trilogy will fit into the world of Sigler. Science fiction, monstrous enemies, uncommon heroes, and antiheroes as well as inexplicable symbology is just some of the hallmarks of his writings. This book is not a departure from those comfort foods. What is a departure is the usual shock and awe that comes with a steady helping of horror and plot-furthering gore. This story has that gore and shocking images for sure. It wouldn\’t be a Sigler book without that. But what is new is the first person voice he chooses to write in. I consider first person to be the most challenging form of writing for two reasons: one, the reader literarily has no more knowledge of what\’s going on than the griot and two, the mystery of whether that character survives or not is removed. That means the author MUST make the surprises happen from other sources and in a convincing way. Not. Easy. At. All. But once again, Scott defies the odds. This first person narrative immediately places the reader in panic mode because the main character is also in a panic. And for good reason. Soon we learn that this will not be the last moment of panic. I saw, as the story went on, discovery of self and of surroundings, exploration of others, of the past and the future all from a single characters point of view. Most interestingly this character sees this same kind of development occurring in others and that is what I liked the most in this story. It\’s not something I normally have a chance to see. I also loved seeing the dawning wisdom we see or hope to see in others we interact with was used as a means of learning about and caring about other. No character just appeared to be a red shirt (Star Trek) but instead we come to care about them as people. Dare I say a certain level of affection for them when the craziness comes. I am going to recommend this book to fans of Wall-E, Quarantine #1 The Loners, Stargate and your better written dystopian future genre novels. This book is said to be about teenagers in a dystopian situation. It\’s not that simple. This book is said to be about said teenagers being trapped. That too is too simplistic a nutshell to describe who is trapped and who is trying to be free. This book will ask you how far would you go if mortality was an option? I can only imagine how far the main characters will go in book two to find out.

A young woman awakes suddenly. She is trapped. She cant see anything. Her hands are held at her sides by some kind of straps. Her feet cant move either. Something is trying to bite her neck. She must get free. She struggles and is able to break one hand free. She grabs the snake and then bites its head off. But she is still trapped. She has to escape. She doesnt know why she is here. She doesnt know who she is. She just knows that she needs to be free. Thats how Alive begins. You are seeing the panic and horror through her eyes. You will discover who you are and where you are, but before you can figure anything out, you need to escape. You have many more puzzles to figure out. The story is one of discovery. Everything is unknown. Scott Sigler is beginning a new Young Adult series. This is a well written firsthand account of M. Savage. She is the person you see, and the story unfolds from her point of view. You get to know her as she gets to know herself, since she has no idea who she is, where she is, or why she is there. There are more people, but they are as lost as she is. The story is their story of discovery. I enjoyed this book. Its a very quick read, partially because its a short book, but also because the book is very hard to put down. It is definitely the first book in a series, but since there is some plot resolution, Im not labeling it a serial, even though you will be anticipating book two. I hope it comes out soon. I give Alive 4 1/2 Stars out of 5 and a Big Thumbs Up! You should read Alive, if you want to get in on a new, exciting young adult series. If you would like to listen to the FREE audiobook of Alive, its available at Scott Siglers blog. He is podcasting the whole book. A new episode is out each week! Scott Sigler podcasts all of his books for free! I received a Digital Readers Copy from the publisher.

Alive is a brilliant story, it is so carefully crafted that each section keeps you moving to the end. There are plenty of surprises and I had no idea where the characters were, I guessed but I was wrong and it was a complete surprise that was amazing but at the same time made complete sense when I reviewed all the clues after I finished the book. The author asked for any readers that write reviews to leave them spoiler free so all I will say is that this is similar to other YA books I\’ve read but also completely different and now I\’m dying to find someone else who has read it so that I can find out if they had the \”Oh yes\” moment I did when I found out what was going on. A little gory but so worth the read, Alive is one of the easier books to get lost in that I have read this year and I can\’t wait to read Alight when I have got a few more books off my TBR list.

Alive is an easy book to enjoy because it is fast, you never quite know what\’s coming next and so you\’re always biting your fingernails after every chapter nervously anticipating what\’s going to jump out next. But I did struggle to connect with the characters, because there are many who suffer from poor fleshing out and this makes them hard to care about. Equally, some of the characters more at the forefront of the book suffer more from a lack of a strong, likeable voice and so the plot has to do all of the work to make you love this book. The premise is brilliant and is executed really well. Em wakes up trapped inside a coffin, alongside many other coffins containing who knows what or who, and somehow can\’t remember anything about her life – all she knows is she is 12, and that her initials are inscribed on her coffin. What\’s even more interesting however is that Em isn\’t 12 at all, and neither are the other people she rescues from their respective coffins, who feel exactly the same, with the same age and same Birthday as her. So of course you are hooked from page one and so you tumble down the rabbit hole along with Em and her crew. It\’s a gripping page turner without question. However I found Em, and sometimes her childlike mentality and decision making, frustrating ultimately and so I couldn\’t connect with her. Considering we have no idea of her back story, you might think that is the reason she didn\’t initially appeal to me but actually it\’s that she just loves to justify her actions and build her own ego, as the chosen leader naturally, instead of the reader having chance to decide they love her by themselves. I like to be lead into liking a character, but I almost felt like I was told how great she was before I\’d even decided for myself. Nevertheless, Em keeps it interesting because she is full of surprises and has some shocking moments throughout the book – and let\’s face it, who wouldn\’t want to find out why they\’re there, why they don\’t remember their names and ultimately what on Earth is going on? A fun, gripping read that could have shone with slightly stronger characters.

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