Scan barcode
abaugher's review
5.0
Good one! excellent dystopian story: a kidnapped twin, a massive unbreachable wall, a poisoned and barren earth, overcrowding, disease, poverty, and the other extreme for a few extremely wealthy parasites. but the POV is from the kidnapped twin, Ellie, and her brother, Mika, who has been left behind to deal with his sister's supposed drowning. But what really happened is far worse...or better.
A fight-n-flight simulation video game takes hold of the London ghetto and kids get into as if it's their lifeline...which it is, considering that winning to a higher level of competition gets prizes of hover cars, credits, real food (not mold shaped and colored to resemble food), and a chance to move to the Golden Turrets, the height of living in the city.
For Mika, the game takes on an even greater significance, as he's given the chance to see Ellie again.
This could be for a high reading level middle school audience, or an older crowd. There are a few minor stutters in the story, where a seemingly important character gets pushed aside without any explanation, or something that should be a thread throughout the book doesn't get the proper buildup and tie-in. but, then, that could be my faulty memory.
Also, the end is a TOTAL cliffhanger. There is a definite sequel. Aside from there still being a lot of loose ends, the world that Clayton built is just too rich to keep in only one book.
A fight-n-flight simulation video game takes hold of the London ghetto and kids get into as if it's their lifeline...which it is, considering that winning to a higher level of competition gets prizes of hover cars, credits, real food (not mold shaped and colored to resemble food), and a chance to move to the Golden Turrets, the height of living in the city.
For Mika, the game takes on an even greater significance, as he's given the chance to see Ellie again.
This could be for a high reading level middle school audience, or an older crowd. There are a few minor stutters in the story, where a seemingly important character gets pushed aside without any explanation, or something that should be a thread throughout the book doesn't get the proper buildup and tie-in. but, then, that could be my faulty memory.
Also, the end is a TOTAL cliffhanger. There is a definite sequel. Aside from there still being a lot of loose ends, the world that Clayton built is just too rich to keep in only one book.
jgintrovertedreader's review against another edition
4.0
In the Earth of the future, an Animal Plague has led humans to destroy most of the planet. The entire population is now crowded behind a wall surrounding the top third of the world. There are no animals, there is very little sunlight unless you're rich, there isn't real food to eat, and everyone feels pretty hopeless and helpless. Ellie and Mika live in this world. Ellie was kidnapped about a year ago. She has learned to do fabulous things, but she still only wants to go home. Her parents believe she's dead, but her twin brother, Mika, feels that she's still alive somewhere. He's getting teased at school, frustrating his parents, and just generally being miserable. One day, his gray, damp, moldy classroom is lightened up with cupcakes and balloons. They are starting the Fit for Life program, sponsored by the Youth Development Foundation. Mika is suspicious of the program, but eventually goes along because he believes he might learn what happened to Ellie. As part of the program, the kids play a video game called Pod Fighter that can lead to fabulous prizes for them and their families. Everyone rushes to compete, but Mika has a feeling there's a lot they aren't being told.
From the beginning with Ellie's heart-pumping race to freedom, to the ending where you can't believe there just aren't any more pages, the action is almost non-stop in this book. It's a pretty long middle-grade novel at 488 pages, but those pages fly by. I can't wait to read the next one!
I like Ellie, Mika, and Audrey a lot. I'm curious to find out more about Leo and even to find out what's going on with the jerk, Ruben. But Mika really stood out for me. The story is told mostly from his point of view and his reactions all feel real. He wants to be good for his family, but he isn't stupid and he knows the government is covering up something. When he has the chance to find his sister and help improve the family's lives at the same time, he pours his heart and soul into the effort.
This is a dystopian novel, and I can have trouble with those, but I obviously ate this one right up. It was a world that I, scarily enough, found very believable.
For a fast-paced adventure story for both boys and girls, give this one a try. Young readers (and not-so-young readers, for that matter) should love this one!
From the beginning with Ellie's heart-pumping race to freedom, to the ending where you can't believe there just aren't any more pages, the action is almost non-stop in this book. It's a pretty long middle-grade novel at 488 pages, but those pages fly by. I can't wait to read the next one!
I like Ellie, Mika, and Audrey a lot. I'm curious to find out more about Leo and even to find out what's going on with the jerk, Ruben. But Mika really stood out for me. The story is told mostly from his point of view and his reactions all feel real. He wants to be good for his family, but he isn't stupid and he knows the government is covering up something. When he has the chance to find his sister and help improve the family's lives at the same time, he pours his heart and soul into the effort.
This is a dystopian novel, and I can have trouble with those, but I obviously ate this one right up. It was a world that I, scarily enough, found very believable.
For a fast-paced adventure story for both boys and girls, give this one a try. Young readers (and not-so-young readers, for that matter) should love this one!
bennibarzy's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
meghan111's review
4.0
Set in London several decades after the Animal Plague, in which all animals on Earth were destroyed after a disease made them turn against humans, this is incredibly similar to [b:Ender's Game|375802|Ender's Game (Ender's Saga, #1)|Orson Scott Card|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1214413570s/375802.jpg|2422333]. Earth's most talented children are forced into a video-game like training program for an ultimate end that might not be what they expect. Mika is a middle-school student who for years has refused to believe that his twin sister Ellie is dead, and once he begins the mandatory training program, he feels himself getting closer and closer to finding her again.
kawarwick's review
4.0
A good read. Not something normally I would pick but it was a Lone Star book so I gave it a shot. Good story. My students really seem to like it. I would like to see a sequel.
bookgirl4ever's review
4.0
Ellie was kidnapped from her dismal home in London and taken to a space outpost and experimented upon. She has some gifts that are inexplicable by science. She makes the attempt to escape and return home to her family but is caught. Meanwhile her twin brother Mika is sure Ellie is still alive, but his parents and classmates believe her to be dead. One day at school, a new program is instituted where the twelve and thirteen year olds have to drink a new concoction that will promotes health and mental wellness. The young teens are also introduced to a pod racing virtual reality game that is highly addictive. While Mika refuses to drink the strange Fit Mix, he excels at the racing game. He enters a pod racing competition believing winning it will lead him to find Ellie. Little does he know the powers behind the scenes have a horrible motive for training the children.
An interesting sci fi/dystopian mix that is reminiscent of Ender's Game and Mazerunner.
Middle school.
An interesting sci fi/dystopian mix that is reminiscent of Ender's Game and Mazerunner.
Middle school.
asimilarkite's review
3.0
So I listened to this book, which means it took me a long time to read (I had it on CD and I don't drive that much, which is the only time I listen to CDs) -- but man, it took me a LONG TIME. For other reasons too.
1. This book is really long. Too long. There were a lot of things that could be taken out.
2. I didn't really care about any of the characters, or what happened to them.
3. I was just apathetic about most things about this book.
The one thing I DID really like about The Roar was the setting. It was a pretty unique dystopia (I liked the ideas of the animal plague, and the wall keeping everyone close together, and the Ender's Game-like pod fighter game, and the mutants with special powers), and I liked it just enough to not just give up entirely.
While I would normally probably give this book 2 stars, I really really think that kids will like it. They'll like the action and the setting, and if I were twelve I probably would've given this book four or five stars. So I bumped it up to three :)
1. This book is really long. Too long. There were a lot of things that could be taken out.
2. I didn't really care about any of the characters, or what happened to them.
3. I was just apathetic about most things about this book.
The one thing I DID really like about The Roar was the setting. It was a pretty unique dystopia (I liked the ideas of the animal plague, and the wall keeping everyone close together, and the Ender's Game-like pod fighter game, and the mutants with special powers), and I liked it just enough to not just give up entirely.
While I would normally probably give this book 2 stars, I really really think that kids will like it. They'll like the action and the setting, and if I were twelve I probably would've given this book four or five stars. So I bumped it up to three :)
milkweedwitch's review
4.0
On a future version of the Earth where nature and animals are not revered and respected, but instead feared and destroyed, the entire planet’s population lives behind massive concrete walls to protect them from the Animal Plague. Into this dystopian world, in dreary future-London, twins Mika and Ellie are born and raised in the damp, moldy lower level of the city until one day Ellie goes missing. Everyone but Mika believes that Ellie is dead. When the Youth Development Foundation begins running a contest using video games, Mika knows that winning the contest is the only way to rescue his twin from the clutches of sinister Mal Gorman. As Mika moves through the contest levels, he discovers secrets that were never supposed to be revealed. Secrets that change lives and shake the very foundation upon which life behind the wall has been built.
The Roar by Emma Clayton is a fast-paced futuristic adventure with likable characters and an interesting setting. The Sci-Fi aspects are non-technical enough to appeal to those opposed or unfamiliar with the genre.
The Roar is a very kid-centric novel, which is a large part of its appeal. Parents take a back seat and while some might bristle at the portrayal of the parents as uninterested, naive, and oblivious, with the parents out of the way, the kids can take a more prevalent role, allowing them to not be in positions where adults can rush in and save them. This is a kids against the world story and that’s what makes it fun.
The Roar is also a nice social commentary on the treatment of the natural world, the influence of the media, and classism.
This entertaining novel has a wide-open ending, ripe for a sequel.
The Roar by Emma Clayton is a fast-paced futuristic adventure with likable characters and an interesting setting. The Sci-Fi aspects are non-technical enough to appeal to those opposed or unfamiliar with the genre.
The Roar is a very kid-centric novel, which is a large part of its appeal. Parents take a back seat and while some might bristle at the portrayal of the parents as uninterested, naive, and oblivious, with the parents out of the way, the kids can take a more prevalent role, allowing them to not be in positions where adults can rush in and save them. This is a kids against the world story and that’s what makes it fun.
The Roar is also a nice social commentary on the treatment of the natural world, the influence of the media, and classism.
This entertaining novel has a wide-open ending, ripe for a sequel.