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3.43 AVERAGE
3.43 AVERAGE
I liked this book a lot. I think I really enjoyed the complications and storyline. I think some back story might have helped a little more but once I got a feel for the pace and characters it was great. I am excited for more!!!!!
I liked it. A little contrived and unexpected at the same time. Loved the "current" references (Do Vampires sparkle?) but it might date itself in the future.
An eye catching cover. A simple title surrounded by a horrifying premise. It sells the promise of terror and carnage, and then you open the book. The Farm is none of these things. Teenagers are being farmed for their blood, just as cows are milked. Yet, throughout the 400 and some pages, you never once witness one person "donating" their blood, or anyone coming to pick up the blood. I never once felt the despair of the teens living at the converted college, nor did I feel the fear of the unknown of what happens to the teens who age out. The plot had so much promise, and instead just skimmed the surface. Lots of telling and little connecting the readers to the characters or the plight they find themselves in.
Redeemable Quality:
Mel. Mel is what saves this book. She has autism, and I love Emily McKay for giving us a character who sees the world in music, and moves through life in what we without autism would think of as being trapped. Yet, Mel is smart and her ability to puzzle out problems in her own unique way becomes the key to her survival. However, her chapters are far too short.
Honestly, I'd skip buying this one and borrow from the library.
Redeemable Quality:
Mel. Mel is what saves this book. She has autism, and I love Emily McKay for giving us a character who sees the world in music, and moves through life in what we without autism would think of as being trapped. Yet, Mel is smart and her ability to puzzle out problems in her own unique way becomes the key to her survival. However, her chapters are far too short.
Honestly, I'd skip buying this one and borrow from the library.
Plodding & tedious. Another wanna be dystopian with too much emphasis on romance and not enough world building, plot, or character development. Vampires and Ticks, zombie like creatures with bloodlust.
Like a lot of other reviewers here, I can't really make up my mind on The Farm. It started out really well - young people being held in blood farms, to feed the ever growing "Tick" pandemic on the other side of the walls. I loved the idea of it, and the setting for the story was well thought out. I enjoyed reading from different perspectives; in particular Mel (I wish she had more input throughout the book).
Problems started for me, in the same place as others - when Carter suddenly appears on the Farm and starts wreaking havoc. Don't get me wrong, I didn't mind the introduction of a new "hero" character, but got fed up with reading about Abducturae over and over again. I feel that the story lost a lot upon Carter entering the mix.
All in all, I liked The Farm, but I feel it could have been more. I will be purchasing #2 in the series, purely so I can follow what happens to Mel.
Problems started for me, in the same place as others - when Carter suddenly appears on the Farm and starts wreaking havoc. Don't get me wrong, I didn't mind the introduction of a new "hero" character, but got fed up with reading about Abducturae over and over again. I feel that the story lost a lot upon Carter entering the mix.
All in all, I liked The Farm, but I feel it could have been more. I will be purchasing #2 in the series, purely so I can follow what happens to Mel.
2.5 stars. **There are some minor spoilers in this review.
The Farm started out great. It might have stayed that way if it would have just been what it sounded like it would be. In the beginning Lily and her autistic sister Mel are trying to escape a "farm" where their blood is being harvested to feed vicious vampire-like creatures called ticks. The Farm is a place where teens are taken until they are 18. There is a lot of mystery about what happens after everyone at the farm turns 18. They disappear and Lily is sure nothing good happens to them so she decides she and her twin sister Mel need to escape before their 18th birthday. And along the way they meet a boy named Carter who helps them.
Unfortunately the story takes an unexpected turn. Once we find out why Carter is really there I thought it veered off in the wrong direction. I mean did we really need another book with the girl who is special trope? I also felt like there was no good reason for Carter to have hidden things from Lily in the beginning. Why couldn't he have been upfront with her about what he was doing there, at least about the helping her get out part? And he was so convinced that she was what he thought she was, but the reasoning behind it seemed pretty flimsy to me.
Since it's a vampire apocalypse type story, I was expecting a lot of creepiness, maybe something a lot more like The Hallowed Ones by Laura Bickle. Now that was a creepy YA book! Unfortunately the creatures in this book weren't creepy at all. They even sounded like Sasquatches the way they were described, which I thought was weird. Also the whole reason for the ticks existing didn't work for me either. A regular vampire decides he wants to rule the world so he ends up creating some sort of virus with his venom in a lab that turns people into these vicious, mindless vampire-like creatures. I would have liked it much better if the regular vampires had been left out and the monstrous vampire-like creatures had been the only ones.
Honestly though, all of those issues were small compared to my main problem with this book. And that is I have a real problem with a book that breaks its own rules, and that's exactly what The Farm does repeatedly. If an author is going to set up rules to their book mythology it's a good idea to stick with them, otherwise why bother with making the rules in the first place? We have the ticks in this book that are supposed to only be active at night, only to suddenly find out they are out in the daytime now too. They are supposed to avoid churches or holy ground, only to find out that there is an exception to that rule as well. And they are supposed to be afraid of fire, but surround an entire burning building! At the end of the book (and yes I did see that little twist concerning the sisters coming a mile away) I already know which rule will probably be broken in the sequel.
Even with all of the problems I had with the book I still found myself kind of wanting to find out what happens next, mainly with Mel, but in the end I decided to just look up spoilers instead of read the next book.
Review also posted at Writings of a Reader
The Farm started out great. It might have stayed that way if it would have just been what it sounded like it would be. In the beginning Lily and her autistic sister Mel are trying to escape a "farm" where their blood is being harvested to feed vicious vampire-like creatures called ticks. The Farm is a place where teens are taken until they are 18. There is a lot of mystery about what happens after everyone at the farm turns 18. They disappear and Lily is sure nothing good happens to them so she decides she and her twin sister Mel need to escape before their 18th birthday. And along the way they meet a boy named Carter who helps them.
Unfortunately the story takes an unexpected turn. Once we find out why Carter is really there I thought it veered off in the wrong direction. I mean did we really need another book with the girl who is special trope? I also felt like there was no good reason for Carter to have hidden things from Lily in the beginning. Why couldn't he have been upfront with her about what he was doing there, at least about the helping her get out part? And he was so convinced that she was what he thought she was, but the reasoning behind it seemed pretty flimsy to me.
Since it's a vampire apocalypse type story, I was expecting a lot of creepiness, maybe something a lot more like The Hallowed Ones by Laura Bickle. Now that was a creepy YA book! Unfortunately the creatures in this book weren't creepy at all. They even sounded like Sasquatches the way they were described, which I thought was weird. Also the whole reason for the ticks existing didn't work for me either. A regular vampire decides he wants to rule the world so he ends up creating some sort of virus with his venom in a lab that turns people into these vicious, mindless vampire-like creatures. I would have liked it much better if the regular vampires had been left out and the monstrous vampire-like creatures had been the only ones.
Honestly though, all of those issues were small compared to my main problem with this book. And that is I have a real problem with a book that breaks its own rules, and that's exactly what The Farm does repeatedly. If an author is going to set up rules to their book mythology it's a good idea to stick with them, otherwise why bother with making the rules in the first place? We have the ticks in this book that are supposed to only be active at night, only to suddenly find out they are out in the daytime now too. They are supposed to avoid churches or holy ground, only to find out that there is an exception to that rule as well. And they are supposed to be afraid of fire, but surround an entire burning building! At the end of the book (and yes I did see that little twist concerning the sisters coming a mile away) I already know which rule will probably be broken in the sequel.
Even with all of the problems I had with the book I still found myself kind of wanting to find out what happens next, mainly with Mel, but in the end I decided to just look up spoilers instead of read the next book.
Review also posted at Writings of a Reader
Actual rating: 3.5 stars
It's weird, I didn't really like the main characters Lily and Carter. I did like Mel and Sebastian though, and McKenna kind of too so I guess that helped me like this book a bit more.
I really loved the whole world McKay created, the whole Farm and Ticks, etc.
Lily annoyed me quite a lot though, and Carter did too.
I also really don't like whatever there was between Carter and Lily.
But overall, I sort of did enjoy reading it so..
And somethings I want to say:
*SPOILERS*
First of all, it annoyed the crap out of me that Carter kept putting the blame on Lily being the abductura for his 'feelings'.
I also disliked the fact that Lily kept saying that Sebastian was a monster, I very much disliked that she kept being angry at Joe and McKenna (even though she kind of realised after a while I guess? But it wasn't enough for me).
I just didn't quite like Lily.
One thing I did really enjoy, were Mel's pov's. I loved how everything was said, how everything got connected with melodies and such.
It's weird, I didn't really like the main characters Lily and Carter. I did like Mel and Sebastian though, and McKenna kind of too so I guess that helped me like this book a bit more.
I really loved the whole world McKay created, the whole Farm and Ticks, etc.
Lily annoyed me quite a lot though, and Carter did too.
I also really don't like whatever there was between Carter and Lily.
But overall, I sort of did enjoy reading it so..
And somethings I want to say:
*SPOILERS*
First of all, it annoyed the crap out of me that Carter kept putting the blame on Lily being the abductura for his 'feelings'.
I also disliked the fact that Lily kept saying that Sebastian was a monster, I very much disliked that she kept being angry at Joe and McKenna (even though she kind of realised after a while I guess? But it wasn't enough for me).
I just didn't quite like Lily.
One thing I did really enjoy, were Mel's pov's. I loved how everything was said, how everything got connected with melodies and such.
So this book is chimed as "equal parts Resident Evil and Hunger Games" on the cover.
Nope. It's Twilight. A better written, less mushy more gritty Twilight, but Twilight all the same. Will I read the sequel? Probably. But I won't have any illusions about what it is, and those illusions were probably what made this such a slow read for me. But, that being said if you're going to steal a story, you should at least have the dignity to make it better, and McKay did that. Lily was much more tolerable than Bella, and Carter, though not quite a heartthrob, was less girly than Edward. So a solid middle of the road for The Farm.
Nope. It's Twilight. A better written, less mushy more gritty Twilight, but Twilight all the same. Will I read the sequel? Probably. But I won't have any illusions about what it is, and those illusions were probably what made this such a slow read for me. But, that being said if you're going to steal a story, you should at least have the dignity to make it better, and McKay did that. Lily was much more tolerable than Bella, and Carter, though not quite a heartthrob, was less girly than Edward. So a solid middle of the road for The Farm.
More like 3.75 stars
Liked the relationship between the sisters and the world (the farms and the ticks are very interesting). Enjoyed the fact that the story was told from 3 different point of views.
But I didn't like the romance in this book between one of the main characters and another character. It didn't feel real. And a lot of the time nothing was happening except for characters keeping information hidden from our main character or lying to her. That annoyed me after a while but overall I enjoyed this book.
Watch my full review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6Li3iWbOrg&list=UUR0w5o1RSTQnM1phx46F2Jw
Liked the relationship between the sisters and the world (the farms and the ticks are very interesting). Enjoyed the fact that the story was told from 3 different point of views.
But I didn't like the romance in this book between one of the main characters and another character. It didn't feel real. And a lot of the time nothing was happening except for characters keeping information hidden from our main character or lying to her. That annoyed me after a while but overall I enjoyed this book.
Watch my full review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6Li3iWbOrg&list=UUR0w5o1RSTQnM1phx46F2Jw
This totally would have been a 4 star if it wasn't for ONE thing that messed with the horror vibe and turned into something more paranormal. To me, the best thing this story had going for it was the creepy, gory, psychological, scary stuff. But then this mind-controlling thing is thrown in, permeating the rest of the story, and brought my opinion of it down a notch. I wanted sci-fi/PA/horror and I got an infusion of paranormal, and, though I really liked the story otherwise, I feel a tad disappointed because I think it would have worked better without that. As soon as it came up in the story (which was fairly early - the first Carter chapter), my interest went from a 10 down to a 6 or so. I'll read the next one because I did really enjoy the rest of it and the end was pretty crazy.