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X Isle

3.28 of 5 stars 3.28 · rating details · 373 ratings · 82 reviews

Ever since the floods came and washed the world away, survivors have been desperate to win a place on X-Isle, the island where life is rumoured to be easier than on what's left of the mainland. Only young boys are in with a chance, the smaller and lighter the better.

Baz and Ray are two of the lucky few to be chosen, but they soon discover that X-Isle is a far cry from para...more

Hardcover, 476 pages

Published by David Fickling Books (first published July 13th 2010)

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Oct 18, 2010 Afton Nelson rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: juvenile

This book either has one of the most disgusting or most brilliant plot elements ever. I'm guessing if you are female, it's disgusting, but if you are male, brilliant.

Loved the world covered in water and the kids who were trying their best to survive in it. Very much like Holes. The Eck brothers and Preacher John were terrifying, but a bit too detached for most of the book. I would have given this book 4 stars, but at close to 500 pages, I thought it was too long. About halfway through the book I...more

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Nov 28, 2012 Georgina Martin (Bookz and Bitz) rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed

Its rare that I don’t finish a book, I don’t like to give up on things, especially books, as you never know what could be happening on the next page. Sadly X Isle makes it to the short list of books that I didn’t finish.

A promising plot is ruined by bland characters, an obvious twist and rather a lot of fluff, which I suspect was used to fill out the book.

The story is set in the future, as many good YA books are, the worlds flooded and the only hope for a decent life is the mysterious X Isle a p...more

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Oct 21, 2012 04hucklet rated it 2 of 5 stars

Huckle Thorpe
Period 4
X isle
By: Steve Augarde

Your honor I would like to present to you today the book X isle, by Steve Augarde. This is a story written about the Earth. The Earth has had a large change and has become flooded. The people immediately become forced to find a way for survival. They are running out of food and there is no place for shelter. Baz is the main character, his dad gambles for food by playing poker. He is able to put food on the table but it is very difficult. Baz is living...more Huckle Thorpe
Period 4
X isle
By: Steve Augarde

Your honor I would like to present to you today the book X isle, by Steve Augarde. This is a story written about the Earth. The Earth has had a large change and has become flooded. The people immediately become forced to find a way for survival. They are running out of food and there is no place for shelter. Baz is the main character, his dad gambles for food by playing poker. He is able to put food on the table but it is very difficult. Baz is living on a rooftop and really has no promise for any future unless he can get himself to X isle, an island owned by the Eck brothers. Baz’s dad wins two cartridges of gun shells that gets Baz a spot on the island.
At this point I expected this book to capture my interest but found that I was frustrated at the Eck brothers for bringing these young boys on this island to work for them. They basically instill slave labor why they have the adventure of diving into the Ocean and finding food that is preserved in old supermarkets. This book would have been a better story if the boys were the divers, instead of being forced to do manual labor.
The story takes a turn as Baz becomes friends with Ray, who comes to the island with him. It seems that he develops a crush on this kid who actually ends up being a girl. He/she said that they came to the island because his mom couldn’t afford to feed him well enough. All I have to say is the writer is probably some freak. I mean who comes up with that, it is just weird.
Many things happen while stuck on this island I felt as if I was stuck reading a book that was also going nowhere. I will say that getting to the end of the book did bring about some relief, let’s say comical relief on how this island of supposedly young boys find a way to dispose of the Eck brothers. Your honor I would hate for you to suffer as I have trying to read this book but in the end if you need a good laugh and want an idea of an absurd way to end people’s lives it might be worth your time to read.
So I hope that you may agree with me that the whole book was pretty much a mess, and that it was altogether not a good book. Although I think that it could have been a really fascinating story. It would have to have some changes made to it like the story line. It needed more excitement and suspense. Then it could be a good book that I think I would have enjoyed. The ending is the only thing that saves the book. It is a crazy idea, but could actually happen you will have to read X isle to the bitter end if you want any excitement.

(less)

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Feb 04, 2012 Melanie Au rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: boys, bullying, dystopia, ya

In the futuristic world where Baz lives, climate change and terrible storms have flooded his continent -- and from what he know -- the entire world. There's hardly any land left that's suitable for living on -- in most areas all you can see are rooftops and towers sticking out of the water. With the waters completely polluted and nowhere to grow food, everyone is scavenging for supplies to keep themselves alive. There is one place though, that is still above the waters and supposedly has plenty...more In the futuristic world where Baz lives, climate change and terrible storms have flooded his continent -- and from what he know -- the entire world. There's hardly any land left that's suitable for living on -- in most areas all you can see are rooftops and towers sticking out of the water. With the waters completely polluted and nowhere to grow food, everyone is scavenging for supplies to keep themselves alive. There is one place though, that is still above the waters and supposedly has plenty of food: X-Isle. It is controlled by Preacher John and his sons who operate a salvaging business, diving for whatever items have survived the waters and trading with people on the mainland. They come regularly to the mainland to recruit young boys to work for them, taking the ones who offer the best items as payment.

Baz can hardly believe it when he is chosen. He doesn't quite know what to expect, but rumours suggest that it's a much better place and he'll at least get three meals a day. However, when he and another boy, Ray, arrive at the island, they discover things aren't as everyone on the mainland had believed. Preacher John's sons run the island like tyrants and everyone is bullied by two older, favoured boys, Steiner and Hutchinson. They have to fight each other for one can of food a day, carry heavy loads of rocks until their hands bleed and clean dangerous, disgusting filth off savaged items. Preacher John is an enormous, intimidating man who only appears on Sundays to preach a cryptic and terrifying sermon that everyone is forced to attend. There are far fewer boys on the island than Baz expected -- they'd been taking many more recruits to the island and Baz doesn't remember seeing them return to the mainland. He wonders if something sinister is going on and realizes that time might be running out for him and the other boys when Preacher John begins to talk about making sacrifices to God so that the waters will recede.

The plot kept me intrigued for pretty much the entire book. Preacher John is presented as a maniacal dictator with warped religious ideas. This gave him an unpredictability and potential for evil that kept the suspense up. (I really did think that he might do something really terrible...)

A lot of the book focused on the dynamics between the boys and their struggle to survive the abuse from Steiner, Hutchinson and Preacher John's sons rather than efforts to deal with the world disaster. I found that the dystopian setting wasn't crucial -- the story could have taken place in our present world, in any dire situation that might make a person willing to leave family and endure even more trouble.

There were a couple predictable plot points in the book that I thought could have been more subtle, but in general I enjoyed this one quite a bit. Characters and their emotions were believable, and only a slight suggestion of romance at the end. It's one I'd definitely recommend. (less)

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Oct 25, 2011 Carol rated it 3 of 5 stars

There was a series of catastrophic storms that flooded most of the world, severing communications and food-supply lines. The only way to improve upon their situation and to get food in their stomach is to get passage to X Isle. Unfortunately the traders from the mysterious island only take teenage boys. Every time the trading ship comes to the mainland people crowd the shore with their most prized possessions trying to gain passage for their children to the safe haven of X Isle. Thanks to his fa...more

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Apr 16, 2011 NebraskaIcebergs rated it 3 of 5 stars

Most of us have watched at least one natural disaster movie. In X-Isle, Steve Augarde brings the genre to the young adult book world. Yet this isn't just another catastrophe story. As one new situation after another presents itself, Augarde raises ethical questions:
* How much brutality would you accept to protect others?
* Is it acceptable to hurt others, if just on orders?
* How much hurt would you inflict would do to survive?
* Is murder ever right?
By asking these questions and in proving himself...more Most of us have watched at least one natural disaster movie. In X-Isle, Steve Augarde brings the genre to the young adult book world. Yet this isn't just another catastrophe story. As one new situation after another presents itself, Augarde raises ethical questions:
* How much brutality would you accept to protect others?
* Is it acceptable to hurt others, if just on orders?
* How much hurt would you inflict would do to survive?
* Is murder ever right?
By asking these questions and in proving himself a master of description, Augarde elevates X-Isle above the norm.

When the book opens, Earth has been devastated by floods. Everyone on the "mainland" lives in fear and near starvation, clinging to the hope of being rescued by the crew of the only remaining boat. This crew arrives sporadically to trade food salvaged from submerged supermarkets. The survivors also hope that the boat crew will bring them aboard them, take them to X-Isle, and therefore rescue them from their misery. How there ends up being only one boat left in existence isn't explained, but simply is stated as a fact to be accepted. Once you embrace this reality, you are ready to immerse yourself in a strange new world.

The crew of the Cormorant rarely accepts survivors, for what reasons left to be discovered. One particular day though they allow two new boys. Yes, that's right. No girls allowed! Moreover, the boys need to be young. Yes, that's right. Except for the crew, no adults allowed either1 Those who prove themselves candidates must pay for their passage--not with money but with products. Our main character, Baz, begins to lose hope when other hopefuls offer cornflakes and rabbits. Then his dad presents him with shotgun cartridges. These earn Baz his ticket to the island that he soon discovers is fraught with tyranny, brutality, and other unspeakable horrors.

As I indicated above, X-Isle is not just another teen catastrophe story. For one thing, the recruits of X-Isle live by three rules:
* Don't mess with the Eck brothers
* Don't mess with Steiner or Hutchingson
* Don't look at Preacher John
If you think this sounds like a dictatorship, you would be right. Unfortunately, Baz breaks one of the rules on his first day. He throws himself in front of another new recruit to protect him from abuse and finds himself kicked in the jaw and placed on a hit list for his efforts. It doesn't take long for Baz to decide that the key to his survival on X-Isle is to look after himself. When he meets earlier recuits, he discovers some of them prefer instead to watch each other's backs.

Augarde regularly throws such ethical dilemmas at his readers through the situations the "saved" boys face. For example, how would you react if the leaders started talking about some boys being too old to stay and yet you knew that boys kicked off the island never made it home? Or how would you react if Preacher John started declaring the need for living sacrifices? By the book's end, all the boys have to decide what lengths they will go to escape or to survive--which might end up being the same choice.

Apart from creating a gripping story laced with moral undertones, I most admired Augarde's descriptions. In his TouchStone trilogy, I appreciated his portrayal of farm life and boarding life. For both of these, he had been able to draw upon childhood experiences. In X-Isle, he undertakes more ambitious descriptions. He makes real a futuristic flooded world. In every way, he also shows himself a master of his craft in that the boys, men, and buildings all feel tangible. Even things which some authors might not think to describe, such as Baz's confusion over how to operate a dingy, Augarde carefully explains. Yet he doesn't portray them from an adult perspective, but from that of an inexperienced young boy.

I didn't like everything in X-Isle. One of the boys is quickly developed as an eccentric in one chapter and then for no apparent reason commits suicide. The way the boys decide to build a bomb sounds far-fetched, although apparently is credible. Last, the surprise twist at the end seemed unnecessary and so I didn't care for it.

These flaws however do not detract from an otherwise masterful story. Augarde has captured the world of boys. He has probed the practical and ethical dilemmas that might arise from a flooded world. Best of all, he created a book that was difficult to put down and quick to read. What a fabulous follow-up to his acclaimed trilogy!(less)

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Jan 08, 2011 Erin rated it 3 of 5 stars

X-Isle is one of those books that I liked much more in principle than the actual story itself. It's right up my alley -- in Steve Augarde's drowned dystopian future, London and much of the rest of the world is underwater. The disaster that sparked the great flood is never fully described - through the eyes of our narrator, 14-year-old Baz, the event is now insignificant. The desperate reality of day-to-day survival is what's important.

Starvation is a real threat. With so much of the world subme...more X-Isle is one of those books that I liked much more in principle than the actual story itself. It's right up my alley -- in Steve Augarde's drowned dystopian future, London and much of the rest of the world is underwater. The disaster that sparked the great flood is never fully described - through the eyes of our narrator, 14-year-old Baz, the event is now insignificant. The desperate reality of day-to-day survival is what's important.

Starvation is a real threat. With so much of the world submerged beneath murky depths, preserved food from before the floods is scavenged and traded like currency. One of the best ways for a young man to ensure survival is to try to secure work on X-Isle, an island-based recovery and distribution operation run by religious zealot Reverend John Ecks and his savage pirate sons. Baz expects hard labor but knows that the exchange -- three hot, nutritious meals a day and escape from the brutalities of life on the mainland -- will be worth it.

Unfortunately, he finds the reality of X-Isle very different from its promised comfort. Along with fast friend and fellow new recruit Ray, he struggles to avoid the wrath of the cappos, to fight his fellow workmates for paltry scraps of food once a day and to survive the brutal physical work he's forced to do for hours without rest. But even with the best of survival skills, the spiraling psychotic decline of his captor and the constant power struggle of survivors in a post-apocalyptic world is a combination that Baz may not be equipped to survive.

There are things I enjoyed about X-Isle -- the general premise, the gloomy atmosphere and the subtle way the Big Twist plays out in the story, for example. There were also some things that really annoyed me about X-Isle, such as the vernacular used by the author and the homogeny of many of the boys on the island. But my main problem was, I couldn't help but feel I wasn't really the book's intended audience. This suspicion was hammered home around page 250, when the characters set out to build a fart factory to create a bomb in hope of escaping their slavemasters. Yes, you read that right. A fart factory. Points for originility, but gross.

X-Isle was overall a highly original story that seems poised for a sequel, and I might be tempted to read it because of the big twist at the end and my curiosity about how that might play out in the future. If you're looking for an uplifting or happy read, you may want to pass this by -- although X-Isle ends with a ray of hope after lots of pages of suffering and sadness, so I guess that's the payoff. (less)

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Dec 23, 2010 P.M. rated it 5 of 5 stars

Baz is hoping to be chosen to go to live and work on Eck's Isle or X Isle. Together with Ray, a boy of similar age, he is chosen by Isaac Eck and his brothers for the price of two boxes of shotgun shells and a box of cornflakes. This is a very dystopian world because of the floods which covered most of the world. The Ecks operate a salvage company and dive into the sunken cities to loot warehouses and trade with the surviving communities. Baz's father sends him off believing that he has saved hi...more

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Oct 11, 2010 Hava rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: a pre-teen boy

Shelves: children-ya-book, depressing-books, fiction-book

Someone else said in their review that this book was too close to "Lord of the Flies" which I haven't read, but based on what I've heard about "Lord of the Flies," I would say that there's a pretty good chance that that's true. There's certainly a lot of disturbing parts to the book where the main character (Baz) realizes that he's very capable of violence when his life is on the line. He learns that when it comes right down to it, survival is more important than anything, and he doesn't particu...more

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Jul 22, 2010 Alex rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: environmental-dystopian

I was really excited to crack open this book, because I love the premise... major flooding was drastically altered life as we know it, forcing everyone to move together into a small piece and land. There is an island, X isle, where life is supposed to be different, better, without suffering, and Baz and Ray hope to win the lottery to escape life on the mainland.

However things are not much better as they quickly learn at the abusive hands of their captors; food is scarce, the work is hard, and th...more

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Nov 28, 2011 Steel Crom rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Boys age 11-13

Recommended to Steel by: School Assignment

Just so you know from what point of view I am reviewing I am a male in my teens. I read X Isle for a school assignment; truthfully I would have read this book normally. I love books like this. Post apocalyptic worlds fighting to survive. I won’t spoil the story by telling you all the twists but one thing I did like was that it was full of twists. He does well in the sense that all through the book you find clues to some big thing happening at the end but he does well in hiding what that really i...more

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Jul 06, 2010 Yan rated it 3 of 5 stars

There's only one way out of the mainland and that's to X Isle.

A flood overtook the world, killing both Baz's mother and sister, and billions of others in the world. It left towns, cities, and humans submerged underwater cutting the remaining few left alive with basic of basics. Now with just his father, Baz struggles to get by each day where everything has become scarce and pasta has become the newest form of currency. But the stench of the surrounding death and the harsh environment of thievery...more There's only one way out of the mainland and that's to X Isle.

A flood overtook the world, killing both Baz's mother and sister, and billions of others in the world. It left towns, cities, and humans submerged underwater cutting the remaining few left alive with basic of basics. Now with just his father, Baz struggles to get by each day where everything has become scarce and pasta has become the newest form of currency. But the stench of the surrounding death and the harsh environment of thievery is too much to take care not only yourself, but a child at that. Now families send their sons to X Isle, a shortened name from Eck Island, where it is promised to a land of sanctuary compared to the mainland. The only way to get to X Isle is by boat when the crew stops every so often to trade goods.

The boys need to be small and thin and most barter for their voyage for the crew only picks up one, but usually none. They barter with rare items: fresh meat, cartridges, cornflakes, chocolate. The crew this time has asked to allot two boys for this trip to X Isle. The chosen two: Baz and Ray.

Now Baz takes this trip where he hopes will give him a brighter future. That is, before he dies. X Isle is not the land of the promising as Baz slowly realizes when the group of young boys on X Isle show him the ropes and the truth.

Originally published in the UK, X Isle has crossed the small pond and into the hands of US readers. (However, the novel is still quite in its original format so there is still British slang and humor as well as single quotation marks rather than double.) Told in third-person limited narrative, X Isle tells of a dystopia world where the modern world has transcended backwards to the days without the Internet or electricity at that. X Isle is for fans of such novels like Lord of the Flies or The Maze Runner.

Despites its rather large font, X Isle reads like a typical 500 paged novel: long. X Isle focuses mainly on character development and the rules, environment, and daily life of the island. The action, such as human sacrifice, and the giant shocker occurs at the end of the novel so hopes and attention spans do not fear.

The novel is read more in paragraphs rather than dialogues so it quickly becomes mind-numbing. The descriptions go in-depth and while boring may be a strong word to used, the heat wave combined with the words had me struggling to pay closer attention. However, this could easy be a factor because this not my type of novel. X Isle, to me I quickly realized, seemed to be a possible candidate of what I should read for middle grade.

X Isle uses symbolism and motifs/themes quite frequently. The flood, Preacher John, the goat, the two rabbits, the school of mackerels, the fishing spool, and of course the nicknames are all things that can be dissected and scrutinized for their hidden meanings. The characters as well can be torn apart by the teachers and asked to be described by the students in essay form (with proper citation).

But what makes X Isle worth-while and most fascinating to me is the brutality of the "villains". It is the cold heartless actions that I found gripping and the companionship of friends fighting for survival endearing.

Despite my feelings during the reading process, I am left away with a grand sense of satisfaction. X Isle is a hefty read that is suited more to the MG readers interested in Lord of the Flies, The Maze Runner, Holes (ironic in comparison with X Isle isn't it).

P.S. Does anyone else love the title? X Isle ... Exile. This is definitely making my list of favorite titles.(less)

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Aug 07, 2012 Mark Wilkerson rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was a mostly entertaining read that could be seen as YA Dystopian/post-apocalyptic literature. I say "could" in the previous sentence because I think some of the themes of the story could be too dark for young teenagers. Additionally, I am uncomfortable with some of the graphic descriptions that Augarde uses in this novel, particularly the frank talk the characters of the story have regarding bomb-making and weapons. I have no idea if bombs can be made in the way that is meticulously discus...more

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Oct 21, 2010 Tracy rated it 3 of 5 stars

I was really looking forward to this book, so I was a tad disappointed that I didn't like it as much as the review made me think I would. But, as I always love me some end-of-the-world stories, this was entertaining if anything. Flash forward to not so far in the future and the world has been demolished by massive floods. Cities are buried underwater and food is scarce. In one small town, families try to buy passage for their sons onto X Isle, where boys work in exchange for three meals a day. B...more

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Oct 05, 2011 Alice Radwell rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: dystopia, young-adult, adventure

A dystopian premise I haven’t seen tackled in YA fiction before, but I think the blurb is a little misleading. A drowned world is an intriguing notion, but the plot-line could have worked just as well under a number of other circumstances; the flooded environment didn’t feel integral to what was happening, but it made for an interesting angle.

The fact the author has chosen to set his story in the not-to-distant future, where we still eat Cornflakes and ride bikes to school, is a clever and engag...more A dystopian premise I haven’t seen tackled in YA fiction before, but I think the blurb is a little misleading. A drowned world is an intriguing notion, but the plot-line could have worked just as well under a number of other circumstances; the flooded environment didn’t feel integral to what was happening, but it made for an interesting angle.

The fact the author has chosen to set his story in the not-to-distant future, where we still eat Cornflakes and ride bikes to school, is a clever and engaging tactic, which makes both characters and their struggles easy to relate to. There are some areas of the storyline that are ridiculous, if unique, that drive the tension down, and most of the big-reveals are predictable, but somehow this doesn’t distract from the seriousness of the overall themes. I wish we could have seen more ‘mainland’ life before reaching the island. We’re told constantly that it’s worse to be there than at the hill-top building, but never get much of a contrast.

The protagonists are likable. I feel in love with the group of X-Ilse boys, banding together against come-what-may, and acting as boys their age would act even these particular difficult situations. This group of varied young-men are captivating , and will keep you reading. However, the villains weren’t developed well enough for me. They seemed to be ‘inherently evil’ most of the time, with no real motivation between their unsavory actions other than just because they could.

There are some powerful themes woven together in this work, with impressive poignancy. Survival plays an obvious key role throughout, reinforced by death and many cases of dog-eat-dog choices. Baz himself confronts several issues regarding kill-or-be-killed, bringing about thought-provoking ideas about childhood. Perhaps most notable is the constant terror of religious control, something I found highly relevant to the current political struggles facing the world.

X-Ilse is haunting in its premise, and distinctly dark in style, and is a unique addition to the YA dystopia shelf.

(For more reviews visit http://aliceradwell.wordpress.com) (less)

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Dec 21, 2012 Chris rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, united-kingdom, youth, dystopia, middle-grades, young-adult

Warning to parents: If your young teenage son reads this book, there is a very good chance that you will find him in a bathtub full of water trying to capture his flatulence in a bottle. That is just one of the very clever twists in this post-apocolyptic tale. Massive storms have left much of the world under water. There is no electricity, no way to get food, money has no meaning. The people of the "mainland" are completely dependent on the Eck brothers, who live on an island (Eck's Island gets...more

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Jul 20, 2011 Anila rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed, galleys-are-win

Urrrrrgh.

I don't know what to make of this book.

I mean, on the one hand the concept is interesting, and the way people react to the floods which were, for all intents and purposes, the apocalypse seems as realistic as such things get. Unlike many authors, Augarde actually touched on religion's place in this sort of dystopia, which was refreshing, and his take on it was pretty plausible.

On the other hand, most of the characters annoyed me (but then, that could just be because immaturity in genera...more

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May 20, 2012 Randy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: may12, post-apocalypse, science-fiction

The earth has been flooded. Not quite a Noah style flood, but enough that most of the cities are now beneath the waves. The struggle to survive takes its toll and out there, is an island, where life is better. Baz and Ray find themselves on board the boat that will take them to X Isle. The reality of the island is far different from what they had heard. Slave labour, unbearable conditions, and the boys who are there decide that something must be done to save themselves.

I picked this book up beca...more

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Apr 06, 2011 Sab rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-colony, ya-dystopia, ya-economics

This book was freakin' ridiculous, but I quite enjoyed it. Imagine if Ship Breaker had less giant thugs attacking one another and more bottling of one's farts. No, for real.

In a post-flood world where money comes from diving and salvaging, young boys of working age are brought to X-Isle in exchange for some financial support for their families. Once on X-Isle the boys are put to work, and the book takes on the tone of a futuristic, slightly cruel but fully entertaining boys' school adventure, co...more

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May 22, 2011 Trinity added it · review of another edition

Shelves: year9, science-fiction, dystopia

Ever since the floods came and washed the world away, survivors have been desperate to win a place on X-Isle, the island where life is rumoured to be easier than on what's left of the mainland. Only young boys are in with a chance, the smaller and lighter the better. Baz and Ray are two of the lucky few to be chosen, but they soon discover that X-Isle is a far cry from paradise. Ruled by Preacher John, a dangerous religious fanatic, it's a violent, unpredictable place where terrible things can h...more

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May 23, 2013 David Damiano rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: futuristic

X-Isle was a little slow paced and eventually proved not to be worth the wait. The post apocalyptic setting was not at all original in any way and the plot itself was rather bland and uninteresting. However, I read through the book and was left with many mixed emotions about it. For starters, the lack of women, with the exception of Ray, throughout the book was strange. I thought that the authors explanation for this lack of women, (that it was "too dangerous" for them to be in public because of...more

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Dec 09, 2012 Sergei Franson rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: big-vocabulary, disappointing, dystopian, horrible-world-building, huge-cast-of-characters, likable-bad-guys, own

For such a busy and exciting book, I never truly felt attached to anything or anyone. It was a pretty hard book to get into at first but once I got in on the real journey, I still had a pretty hard time imagining people, the setting, and even feeling any feelings good or bad for any of the characters. I personally felt that each character was not new and over done in other books. There was no one that was different. They all seemed the same. The only difference is that either they were nice and...more

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Aug 10, 2010 Beth rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The world is flooded and the only place to ensure a teenage boy gets fed everyday is X Isle. The island sounds like a saving grace to the parents on the mainland. They even offer gifts to have their sons chosen.
But what no one knows is that the island is a living hell. The boys are fed one can of food a day and are physically and mentally abused.
The boys decide to band together to keep each other alive. And things begin to change on X Isle.
I don't want to spoil the book for you; just give to a t...more

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Sep 16, 2010 Sylvia rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fans of post-appocalyptic fiction, teen age boys

This was definitely a boy book. That said, I'm a girl and I liked, so it's a good book in general. I liked how believable and real the characters are. I also appreciated the shades of grey that the author allowed. Things happen that are neither good nor bad or they may be both at the same time. There's also a good sense of the rediculous that is very appropriate for the characters and their ages and circumstances. However, my favorite thing is that this is a post-appocalyptic story that occurs w...more

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Nov 05, 2010 Lesley rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book felt a bit like candy.
Set in a post apocalyptic world with an undefined catastrophe that has covered (presumably) much of the world in ocean, this book promised an interesting plot and experience that it never quite lived up to.
Moment to moment, this book felt interesting and easily readable. But when I finally reached the end, I didn't really feel as though any deeper meaning had been imparted to me. Part of this, I believe, was because the book raised some fairly hefty questions abou...more

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Jan 27, 2012 Barbara ★ rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: challenge-books, young-adult, x-y-z, read-2012, christian-religious, dystopian

I'm not a fan of the dystopian genre as I find it too disturbing to read about what young kids are forced to endure just to survive. It just reminds me of news stories of people trying to survive in third world countries. It's just too damn depressing. In case you're wondering why I read this book considering my views, I needed a book that started with "X" and they are few and far between. That said, I must admit to enjoying this story of Baz and his survival against all odds on X Isle with craz...more I'm not a fan of the dystopian genre as I find it too disturbing to read about what young kids are forced to endure just to survive. It just reminds me of news stories of people trying to survive in third world countries. It's just too damn depressing. In case you're wondering why I read this book considering my views, I needed a book that started with "X" and they are few and far between. That said, I must admit to enjoying this story of Baz and his survival against all odds on X Isle with crazy-ass Preacher John, Isaac, Steiner and Hutchinson.

The entire world was flooded (like New Orleans) from some kind of hurricane/tsunami combo and most people where killed/drowned. The remaining people are fighting tooth and nail to survive in this world without even the most basic of supplies. (Heck they use dry pasta as money!) X Isle is the only surviving area that is above water and there is a free-for-all trading gambit to get your child onto the island. They only accept scrawny boys (because they are cheaper to feed) and the families basically bribe the Eck brothers to get their kid on the boat. When Baz wins his way on board (with two boxes of bullets), he is ecstatic because he thinks life is going to be grand, heck they get three meals a day on the island...or so he thinks. There is another boy that gets selected that day as well, Ray (he used a box of cornflakes). Of course, nothing is what they expect. There are only a few boys on the island (though many have gone before and not returned) and the bosses, Steiner and Hutchinson are brutal and petty. They are expected to fight for their food (once a day) and are locked in their rooms (all together) every night.

Preacher John is the father of the Eck brothers and crazy as a loon. Since Preacher John owns the island, they all take their orders from him and every Sunday, they are all subjected to fanatical religious preaching which get scarier and scarier as the weeks go by. It is more a prison that a refuge and Baz and Ray figure this out real quick and immediately start plotting a way off the island with the help of the other boys. The Fart Club is a typical boy creation and it is surprising what they eventually are able to accomplish with this simple youthful endeavor.
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Dec 21, 2010 JC rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, checked-out, my-firsttime

This book was a longer rougher version of The Maze Runner by James Dashner (also check out Lord of the Flies). An island of boys that have to work and keep things up has already been done and the book itself was a bit too long (nearly 500 pages). I stumbled upon this book at the library in their featured books section and it looked and sounded interesting so I went ahead and took it. I enjoyed the story and how Baz and the other boys work on the island, but it was just a bit too rough for me to...more

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Dec 04, 2012 Danny rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-books, ya, favourite-covers-titles, 2012-standouts

X Isle is a brutal tale, packed with action, plotting and survival of the fittest.

In X Isle we are introduced to the tightnit community of their workers on the island. The author does a great job of gradually getting us to learn the different characters. They each had distinct personalities apart from Natalie and Steffie who I never really clicked with. Baz, the main character, has a strong work ethic and values. He was a great hero and it was nice to see him slowly kind of change like all the o...more

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Aug 18, 2012 Jen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: dystopian-speculative-fiction

This book was obviously written by a male for a male audience.

The premise is good. The floods came and basically destroyed the world. Those left are struggling to survive and wish for the chance to go to X-Isle, an island they believe is rich in food and a better place to be than wherever they are.

X-Isle is run by Preacher John and his sons and every so often they travel to the mainland looking for boys to come to the island. The mainlanders compete with goods to get their boys chosen.

When Baz...more

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Sep 08, 2011 Jenben8426 rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: abc-book-challenge, young-adult

The floods have come and millions lie beneath the water that won't recede. Perhaps those are the lucky ones, because above the water has become almost unbearable. There is little food, and hardly any protection from the thieves that threaten the survivors. Baz and his father know that there is only one way that Baz can survive and that is to find a way to get to X Isle--an island that is rumored to be better--where young boys can hire on and work for the Eck family, get fed three times a day, an...more

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About Steve Augarde

I began writing children's books when I was at art college, which means that I’ve spent over thirty years as a children's author. Must be nearly time to grow up. About eighty titles published to date, I think. These include story books and pop-ups for younger readers, as well as my more recent novels for older children. I'm also an illustrator and paper-engineer, and you can see examples of this t...more

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