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3.43 AVERAGE
3.43 AVERAGE
dark
slow-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Originally reviewed on A Reader of Fictions.
Like its cover, Emily McKay's The Farm is exceedingly dark and creepy, filled with the kinds of vampires that are never going to make swoon-inducing heroes. The Farm reminded me somewhat of The Passage and of The Immortal Rules, both in tone and vampire-ness.
In The Farm, the world has been overrun by Ticks. No, not the bugs. Humans-turned-monsters that feed on human blood. As is the case in roughly 37% of post-apocalyptic fiction, scientific research intended to help humanity accidentally got loose and turned some of the population into man-eating monsters. Oops! The road to hors d'oeuvres is paved with good intentions, right?
Like in The Passage, the humans have consolidated into walled communities, carefully defended from the monsters roaming the majority of the world. Thankfully, the Ticks are not as clever as the creatures in The Passage. The difference, though, is that the humans are not behind the walls united to fight against the monsters. The people under eighteen were rounded up and stuck into these Farms, ostensibly because young, hormonal people are the most delicious and thus the most endangered. They are fed up, fattened up, and required to go for regular blood draws, this and the crazy, out-of-control vamps outside the city reminded me heavily of The Immortal Rules.
Lily and her twin sister Mel are about to turn eighteen. Unconvinced that what will happen on their birthday will be at all pleasant (nobody knows what becomes of the people who 'graduate' from the Farms), Lily determines that they will escape. She prepares to trade for the final items necessary to complete their withdrawal from the camp. Everything's planned; she can keep Mel safe.
Lily lives her life for Mel, her mother's last words having been an invocation to protect her sister. Mel has autism, which has not been improved by the collapse of the world as it once was. In high school, Mel was relatively high-functioning, but, now, she can no longer speak in anything but nursery rhymes, something she did as a child. Lily's love and care for Mel is powerful and touching, definitely the most powerful aspect of the book for me.
Just when they're about ready to escape, enter the love interest, Carter, the only crush Lily has ever had. He was the typical bad boy and Lily's lab partner. He now seems like he could be their deliverance, if only she could trust him, which she can't do, since he obviously wants something. Though this won't make sense if you haven't read it, I have to state that I'm really not a fan of the abductura angle of the story, especially if this book is a standalone.
McKay uses three perspectives to tell the story: Lily, Carter and Mel. The bulk of the narration is Lily's in first person. She has a powerful voice, and is one of those heroines that manages to be likable but not all that nice. Her sections really worked. Mel's sections, also in first person, were perhaps my favorites and I really wish that they had been longer. Mel has a unique way of perceiving the world that I found utterly beautiful. Unfortunately, she receives only about ten pages. None of her sections are above two pages.
Where things go wonky are Carter's bits. For some reason I cannot even begin to fathom, Carter's sections are told in third person. This threw me out of the story every single time, because everything else was in first person and I expect that to continue. Choose one! As a result, I also didn't have as strong of a sense of Carter's character. Actually, I don't really think it was entirely necessary to have him as a POV. I think The Farm would have worked better as all Lily's narration or a more-balanced narration with just the two sisters.
If you enjoy post-apocalyptic horror novels, The Farm will not disappoint. From what I can tell (aka Goodreads), The Farm is a standalone, but I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that more books are coming. It could really go either way, I think, but there are subjects that have scarcely been touched on, such as the folks orchestrating the Farms (and what precisely happens there) or where all the adults are. I personally hope there's more.
Like its cover, Emily McKay's The Farm is exceedingly dark and creepy, filled with the kinds of vampires that are never going to make swoon-inducing heroes. The Farm reminded me somewhat of The Passage and of The Immortal Rules, both in tone and vampire-ness.
In The Farm, the world has been overrun by Ticks. No, not the bugs. Humans-turned-monsters that feed on human blood. As is the case in roughly 37% of post-apocalyptic fiction, scientific research intended to help humanity accidentally got loose and turned some of the population into man-eating monsters. Oops! The road to hors d'oeuvres is paved with good intentions, right?
Like in The Passage, the humans have consolidated into walled communities, carefully defended from the monsters roaming the majority of the world. Thankfully, the Ticks are not as clever as the creatures in The Passage. The difference, though, is that the humans are not behind the walls united to fight against the monsters. The people under eighteen were rounded up and stuck into these Farms, ostensibly because young, hormonal people are the most delicious and thus the most endangered. They are fed up, fattened up, and required to go for regular blood draws, this and the crazy, out-of-control vamps outside the city reminded me heavily of The Immortal Rules.
Lily and her twin sister Mel are about to turn eighteen. Unconvinced that what will happen on their birthday will be at all pleasant (nobody knows what becomes of the people who 'graduate' from the Farms), Lily determines that they will escape. She prepares to trade for the final items necessary to complete their withdrawal from the camp. Everything's planned; she can keep Mel safe.
Lily lives her life for Mel, her mother's last words having been an invocation to protect her sister. Mel has autism, which has not been improved by the collapse of the world as it once was. In high school, Mel was relatively high-functioning, but, now, she can no longer speak in anything but nursery rhymes, something she did as a child. Lily's love and care for Mel is powerful and touching, definitely the most powerful aspect of the book for me.
Just when they're about ready to escape, enter the love interest, Carter, the only crush Lily has ever had. He was the typical bad boy and Lily's lab partner. He now seems like he could be their deliverance, if only she could trust him, which she can't do, since he obviously wants something. Though this won't make sense if you haven't read it, I have to state that I'm really not a fan of the abductura angle of the story, especially if this book is a standalone.
McKay uses three perspectives to tell the story: Lily, Carter and Mel. The bulk of the narration is Lily's in first person. She has a powerful voice, and is one of those heroines that manages to be likable but not all that nice. Her sections really worked. Mel's sections, also in first person, were perhaps my favorites and I really wish that they had been longer. Mel has a unique way of perceiving the world that I found utterly beautiful. Unfortunately, she receives only about ten pages. None of her sections are above two pages.
Where things go wonky are Carter's bits. For some reason I cannot even begin to fathom, Carter's sections are told in third person. This threw me out of the story every single time, because everything else was in first person and I expect that to continue. Choose one! As a result, I also didn't have as strong of a sense of Carter's character. Actually, I don't really think it was entirely necessary to have him as a POV. I think The Farm would have worked better as all Lily's narration or a more-balanced narration with just the two sisters.
If you enjoy post-apocalyptic horror novels, The Farm will not disappoint. From what I can tell (aka Goodreads), The Farm is a standalone, but I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that more books are coming. It could really go either way, I think, but there are subjects that have scarcely been touched on, such as the folks orchestrating the Farms (and what precisely happens there) or where all the adults are. I personally hope there's more.
This was another impulse grab at BEA and is the first book in a series. It's definitely a fun book but also dark. (Obviously, because the world is overrun by these vampire-esque creatures called Ticks---which is such a gross image, you know? But also very evocative because you sort of know exactly what these creatures are like, you know? They're sort of mindless and just...hungry.)
I fell into the story almost immediately, but as it progressed it became increasingly harder to put the book down. The last few pages...wow. And of course there's a cliffhanger of sorts.
This is an incredibly creepy novel, too. There aren't that many parts that are really scary, per se, but just because the world is so incredibly dark, it makes everything creepier than it would ordinarily be.
Recommended.
I fell into the story almost immediately, but as it progressed it became increasingly harder to put the book down. The last few pages...wow. And of course there's a cliffhanger of sorts.
This is an incredibly creepy novel, too. There aren't that many parts that are really scary, per se, but just because the world is so incredibly dark, it makes everything creepier than it would ordinarily be.
Recommended.
Life was different in the Before: before vampires began devouring humans in a swarm across America; before the surviving young people were rounded up and quarantined. These days, we know what those quarantines are—holding pens where human blood is turned into more food for the undead monsters, known as Ticks. Surrounded by electrical fences, most kids try to survive the Farms by turning on each other…
And when trust is a thing of the past, escape is nearly impossible.
Lily and her twin sister Mel have a plan. Though Mel can barely communicate, her autism helps her notice things no one else notices—like the portion of electrical fence that gets turned off every night. Getting across won’t be easy, but as Lily gathers what they need to escape, a familiar face appears out of nowhere, offering to help…
Carter was a schoolmate of Lily’s in the Before. Managing to evade capture until now, he has valuable knowledge of the outside world. But like everyone on the Farm, Carter has his own agenda, and he knows that behind the Ticks is an even more dangerous threat to the human race...
The Farm actually reminded me a lot of Blood of Eden - at least with regards to the world-building. The USA is overrun with mutated vampire-like creatures called Ticks and teens are being herded into quarantine zones called 'Farms' where they are protected as livestock to supply for the Ticks. It has been orchestrated by a vampire who wanted to change the world. Lily and her twin, Mel are stuck at one such farm and when they turn 18, that is when their future will become uncertain. Lily wants to escape before they become victims to the Ticks but she doesn't count on an old crush coming into the Farm. Carter knew her two years back and although they weren't the best of friends, he is caring about her and helpful. Even though her brain says to not trust anyone, she can't help but fall back into the old feelings. Carter, however, has a reason for being here and that reason is Lily, which makes things quite complicated since she has Mel foremost on her mind. Add to it two other 'friends' from the farm and a vampire ally Sebastian, they all set out to break out from the Farm and make it to a safe place. The path is filled with perils including the Ticks that seem to be drawn to them and the Dean of the Farm who realizes the value of Lily and Mel.
Plot-wise, this book is a roller-coaster. It is thrilling, exciting and interesting to read. The quips taken at other vampire stories and Lily's dry humor keep things light. She is a likeable heroine - smart, cunning, loyal to a fault and morally pointed to her autistic sister. The POV is mainly focused on Lily but also shifts to Mel and Carter at times. Mel's POV usually just hints at darker undertones of the plot and the insinuation that Mel was actually the one with the real insight. Carter is a great guy, just not so great with explanations. :D His and Lily's scenes are high on the sexual tension and the chemistry is off the charts. It wouldn't seem like a high stakes story like this would have much room for romance but it forms a crucial part of the story. Sebastian is another interesting character that I really wish had at least one POV chapter. Finally, the other two characters - Joe and McKenna - well, the story didn't do them much justice in terms of resolution.
While I loved the book, I found some plot holes and inconsistencies that kept nagging at me. First of all, the system of the Farms isn't fully explained. How exactly did they feed the Ticks? Did they just toss out blood bags they filled up from the kids out and hoped they stayed away? Or was the blood harvested for the actual vampires? Secondly, why have pregnant girls? If progesterone meant that they couldn't use the blood, why let the girls get pregnant in the first place by stopping all means of birth control? What exactly did they want with the kids? While these questions could probably be answered in the subsequent books, one thing that nagged me was how did the Dean Tick-proof the church in such a short time? The bodies they found strewn were a few days rotting so where exactly had he nagged rotting corpses on such a short notice? See, these were the things that kind of put a damper into the experience of such a good book.
And when trust is a thing of the past, escape is nearly impossible.
Lily and her twin sister Mel have a plan. Though Mel can barely communicate, her autism helps her notice things no one else notices—like the portion of electrical fence that gets turned off every night. Getting across won’t be easy, but as Lily gathers what they need to escape, a familiar face appears out of nowhere, offering to help…
Carter was a schoolmate of Lily’s in the Before. Managing to evade capture until now, he has valuable knowledge of the outside world. But like everyone on the Farm, Carter has his own agenda, and he knows that behind the Ticks is an even more dangerous threat to the human race...
The Farm actually reminded me a lot of Blood of Eden - at least with regards to the world-building. The USA is overrun with mutated vampire-like creatures called Ticks and teens are being herded into quarantine zones called 'Farms' where they are protected as livestock to supply for the Ticks. It has been orchestrated by a vampire who wanted to change the world. Lily and her twin, Mel are stuck at one such farm and when they turn 18, that is when their future will become uncertain. Lily wants to escape before they become victims to the Ticks but she doesn't count on an old crush coming into the Farm. Carter knew her two years back and although they weren't the best of friends, he is caring about her and helpful. Even though her brain says to not trust anyone, she can't help but fall back into the old feelings. Carter, however, has a reason for being here and that reason is Lily, which makes things quite complicated since she has Mel foremost on her mind. Add to it two other 'friends' from the farm and a vampire ally Sebastian, they all set out to break out from the Farm and make it to a safe place. The path is filled with perils including the Ticks that seem to be drawn to them and the Dean of the Farm who realizes the value of Lily and Mel.
Plot-wise, this book is a roller-coaster. It is thrilling, exciting and interesting to read. The quips taken at other vampire stories and Lily's dry humor keep things light. She is a likeable heroine - smart, cunning, loyal to a fault and morally pointed to her autistic sister. The POV is mainly focused on Lily but also shifts to Mel and Carter at times. Mel's POV usually just hints at darker undertones of the plot and the insinuation that Mel was actually the one with the real insight. Carter is a great guy, just not so great with explanations. :D His and Lily's scenes are high on the sexual tension and the chemistry is off the charts. It wouldn't seem like a high stakes story like this would have much room for romance but it forms a crucial part of the story. Sebastian is another interesting character that I really wish had at least one POV chapter. Finally, the other two characters - Joe and McKenna - well, the story didn't do them much justice in terms of resolution.
While I loved the book, I found some plot holes and inconsistencies that kept nagging at me. First of all, the system of the Farms isn't fully explained. How exactly did they feed the Ticks? Did they just toss out blood bags they filled up from the kids out and hoped they stayed away? Or was the blood harvested for the actual vampires? Secondly, why have pregnant girls? If progesterone meant that they couldn't use the blood, why let the girls get pregnant in the first place by stopping all means of birth control? What exactly did they want with the kids? While these questions could probably be answered in the subsequent books, one thing that nagged me was how did the Dean Tick-proof the church in such a short time? The bodies they found strewn were a few days rotting so where exactly had he nagged rotting corpses on such a short notice? See, these were the things that kind of put a damper into the experience of such a good book.