3.5 Stars

I mean high school was bad..but it wasn’t anywhere near this…

This book really wasn’t “bad,”but it wasn’t that great either. This book was truly Lord of the Flies meets the warriors..as I will explain…

The book takes place at McKinley High School,where brother David and Will are already outcasts due to their social status and tendency to breakout in seizures,respectively. Then all hell breaks loose! Literally an explosion next door, (who puts an experimental lab next to a school? Let’s be real now)rocks the school and releases a virus that kills adults instantly, but allows kids going through puberty to live. It bummed me out that the virus was so limited and so not possible, but hey it’s a book anything can happen right?

From there the kids all go pretty psycho forming their own gangs according to social status and who talks to who, or as I like to say, they went “Mean Girls” on this school! A whole assortment of cliques are created leaving student “loners” like David and Will to fend for themselves.

One day when David and Will are out and about throughout the school, trying to avoid David’s rivals in the evil mega group “varsity,” they come along a girl in trouble. Without giving anything away.. from there the book got slightly more exciting. David and Will became the hunted and in a smashed and beat to crap school, there aren’t many places to hide.

Growing up I read “Lord of the Flies” and I watched the movie the “Warriors.” I loved both to be honest and back then I didn’t like much with that much violence. This book is basically a mash up of them both. The Loners has tons of violence and really showed the evil side of kids trying to survive especially when revenge is on the mind. I liked how,similar to “The Lord of the Flies” the kids had to fend for themselves within the school. They had really like there own world in this pretty big school, and without adult supervision, things got real. I liked how the authors did this even if the reasons why they were like this or why the explosion happened..were left unknown through most of it. It honestly seemed all like a conspiracy to me, so we will see in later books, whether I’m on to something.

Back to the Warriors comparison, that movie represented a whole bunch of different gangs, basically decided by social status or ethnicity. Late in the book,like late in the Warriors movie, the main characters are on the run and have to deal with all the different gangs to make it to their destination…it just seemed eerily similar, but nonetheless was thrilling and a good way to incorporate all the gangs one more time.

There were virtually three main characters throughout, the brothers, and Lucy. Lucy complicated the book, since both boys particularly Will, had a level of romantical interest in her. I’m not one to complain about love or romance in books, but in this case Lucy was a tad bit annoying. She was not a character that did too much and when fights broke out..she tended to run or disappear rather than fight like the other.She was kind of ignorant in her romantic standing with one of the brothers, as well. It kept making me wonder..how does she NOT know what he feels for her, why is she playing along with this? I did enjoy her more though as the book went on including her relationship. Will bothered me a bit as well in the middle of the book. He got all moody (for I guess good reasons) and started thinking only about himself..which didn’t work out well for him.

It was definitely a dark book with violence throughout, and unruly situations for teenagers. I really did like the involvement of different gangs within the school, I think that added a certain element to the story. I really dug a lot of the “underdog” loners that weren’t necessarily main characters…except the creepy twins..never again..

All in all, not bad, but not great either. Regardless, I should be back for the sequel. If you liked what I previously mentioned..then you might like this. It is for the most part a “boy book” though, the added romance only can save so much…