Review: Monument 14! Emmy Laybourne

 

Monument 14

Monument 14 #1

Emmy Laybourne 

Goodreads Page

Purchase on Amazon

My rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

Synopsis: 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.

When Dean raced out the door to catch the school bus, he didn’t realize it would be the last time he’d ever see his mom. After a freak hailstorm sends the bus crashing into a superstore, Dean and a group of students of all ages are left to fend for themselves.

They soon realize the hailstorm and the crash are the least of their worries. After seeing a series of environmental and chemical disasters ravage the outside world, they realize they’re trapped inside the store.

Unable to communicate with the ones they love, the group attempts to cobble together a new existence. As they struggle to survive, Dean and the others must decide which risk is greater: leaving… or staying.

Review:

    Characters: 

        Dean (Main character/writer of the "book")

                Dean is the writer behind the book as it's a journal and he's the one writing it, which he mentions a few times in case you ever forget. Not much to say about his personality, he's a typically teenage boy, obsessed with an older lady, whom just happens to get stuck with him in the store, how convenient for him *eye roll* he's a bit impulsive and does things just to look good in front of said girl, or picks options where he doesn't have to do shit, or if it makes it easier on him, he'll go with that, so again, typical teenage boy. 

            Alex (Dean's younger brother)

                    Alex was a real MVP in this book, he focused on thinking part and figured out how to make sure these kids could survive the longest and in the best shape. He needed more "screen" time, luckily book 2 is where he's writing the journal/book! 

            Jake/Brayden (dumb old kids)

                    They spent a lot of time high and drunk, so great role models. 

            Josie/Astrid (semi ok old kids)

                    Josie had a rough ass start, was in shock for a solid 2 days, but stepped up and became a "mom" to the younger kids. Astrid had a decent start, then when the compounds took hold of her and she found out she was type O (more on that later), she went AWOL, and her plot twist is decent? 

            Niko (old kid/boss)

                    Niko was elected boss halfway into the story, he was a boy scout yet still the kids were like nah dog we want the cool kids (jake/brayden) to be in charge, freaking idiots. He was decent, created a schedule, made the little kids go to school, took stock of everything, just really got them into a good place. if it was me thou, i wouldn't have never let those adults in, idc what they had to offer, fuck them. 

            Little Kids

                    We have like 6 or 7 little kids stuck in the store as well, most don't add much to the store at all, like the twins who lived next to Dean/Alex, most are just annoying, which i mean they're little kids dealing with no adults and the world ending, they acted better than i expected. 

    Plot: 

        Gist of this story, some kind of solar flare or some shit i don't remember, causes some major issues, first we have hail; The rocks of ice were all different sizes. Some little round marbles and some big knotty lumps with gray parts and gravel stuck inside them. Quickly it takes out the big kids buss, and the driver of the little kids bus, which she is another role model of mine, just straight up drives into the front of this grocery store to save her kids, freaking badass, and if that wasn't enough, she then backs up and saves most of the older kids. The older kids see some shit, their driver is killed, another kid is killed, Josie's friend hence why she goes into shock. Once the kids are semi settled into the store, and the alive driver goes in search of medical help, we get earthquakes, which messes up the store pretty bad. Last but the most important issue is when the chemical warfare plant in town cracks open and starts seeping chemicals into the air. These chemicals affect according to blood types so we have: 

        People with blood type A will develop severe blisters on all exposed skin. After prolonged exposure, the internal organs will begin to hemorrhage, leading to organ failure and death.

    People who have type AB blood suffer from paranoid delusions and possible hallucinations.

    There is confusion as to the effects on people with type B blood. It is possible they will suffer from long-term reproductive difficulties and sterility. But there is hope that people with type B blood suffer no consequences from exposure.

    People with type O blood, which is the most common blood type, will become deranged and violent. Avoid these people at all costs. Containing them in a closet or basement is advised, if possible.

Our main character Dean is type O, as is Astrid, and little Chloe. Alex and Jake are type B (which it mentions long term difficulties but Jake can't even get it up a few days after being exposed to the gas for a few mins, so they greatly underestimated that issue.) The twins are AB. Brayden is type A. They might have mentioned more but that's what i remember. 

This gas is bad, and according to the news it was disperse in 3 to 6 months, which freaks out these kids, but we're told later on by Alex that they can live in the store for 20 to 24 months! Even is Alex is wrong and they have just like 12 months, they're still so much better off just staying in the store and waiting for the gas to go away so it'll be so much safer for them to go out and find their families (if they're even still alive, i mean, shit got bad out there). 

So why didn't this kids stay in the store, well lets go over that. First some grownups show up at the back door wanting in, Mr. w/e his name, and Robbie. The kids vote to let them in, why, well simply because they have "information". WHO DA FUCK CARES ABOUT INFO RIGHT NOW. like legit, you can just take trips up the roof, like send Jake or Alex since they're the best off going out into the gas, and watch what's going on out there. Alex makes a video walkie talkie, you can totally go out and place it somewhere and watch the feed for a few days so you can get the feel for outside. Or even better yet, you can just stay inside and live there just fine until the damn gas goes away, these kids are idiots. So anyhow they let them in, which ends badly for them, as Sasha (a middle schooler i think, she's only freaking THIRTEEN), Robbie claims she throws herself at him, she says otherwise, she has spent the entire book trying to get every male in this book to notice her, like giving herself a wet tshirt without a bra on type things. Sasha claims Robbie tried to rape her. So Robbie and Jake start fighting, a gun gets thrown in and Robbie is shot, he dies, but also Brayden gets shot, in the shoulder, it's pretty bad, becomes infected. Oh and the other adult Mr w/e his name dies as well, i would assume from blood poisoning based on his symptoms. The kids are super worried about Brayden, they send Jake out to find help, hospital is abandoned, but he finds a note on the wall that Dean and Alex's parents left saying they're in Alaska, Jake abandons them, big shocker, so Niko freaks out and wants to leave right away. When Jake was out, he took the video things, he left it sitting outside when he left, the freaking smart thing for Niko to do is watch the feed for a few days, see how bad it was outside, then plan out a way to get to Denver, but nah, he wants to leave 10mins after Jake leaves. 

Astrid and Dean want to stay behind because they're O and will maybe kill the kids in the bus, they keep Chloe too, which makes no sense, she's like 5yrs old, she's drugged and tied up, you have 4 teens on this bus, they can easily hold her down and drug her more during the trip, it makes no sense to leave her behind, i don't get it. You find out Astrid is 4 months pregnant and she is scared if she goes, the baby will be affected by the gas, which newsflash, you already exposed it when you went ape shit in the bathroom earlier but you do you. Also the twins stay behind because they "know" Dean, but like Alex left, and they knew him too, and they spent the whole book wanting their parents, so why stay? 

Overall i really like this book, i only lowered my rating because the way Dean talked about Astrid and how he was written sometimes, like this line;  Her shirt rode up during the scuffle and I caught sight of her lower back. Tan, muscled, gorgeous. (which how are lower backs "muscled") or this one; In the ruse of brushing away water, I ran my thumb over her eyebrow. It was a marvel of God, how perfect it felt under my thumb. It's an eyebrow dude like the fuck, and he also watched her try to have sex with Jake, which ick.