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A review by mackle13
The Scavengers by Michael Perry
3.0
I received this book for free through the Goodreads' First Reads program.
Climate change has hit our world badly, sending things into chaos and people into panic, so the government, teeming up with corporations, steps in and makes Bubble Cities. You can live InBubble or OutBubble, but once you make your choice come Declaration Day, there are no take backs.
Such is the world that 12-year-old Maggie, aka Ford Falcon, lives in with her family and nearby friends, Toad and Arlinda. Today they scrape out a life, growing some food, but mostly looking for scrap in the nearby trash heaps which they take to town to trade for what they need.
But they also have to contend with Grey Devils and solar bears, and I don't want to go into what they are too much because, well, some of the most interesting thing about this story is the world building, so I wouldn't want to give too much away.
Ford is a strong and feisty character. Only 12, but often comes across as much older because of the world and situation in which she lives. It is she who goes into town with Toad in their armoured, ox-drawn cart, fighting off the Grey Devils with Toad and Toby, another neighbor, and she who does the trading for her family.
And it is she who has to figure things out when her parents go missing and everything falls apart...
Overall, I enjoyed this story a fair bit. The first half of the story is mostly day-in-the-life type stuff, setting up the world and the characters - and they are interesting characters, though Toad has this weird way of talking he calls spoonerism which go wearisome.
Things did start dragging here or there, but whenever I started wishing something would happen, it did, so cheers on the pacing.
My biggest issue is actually with the ending. The author does that whole coy thing at the end where instead of telling you everything, he purposely holds back information to make the big showdown more interesting.
I kinda always get a bit irked when authors do this, especially when we see every freaking stray thought Ford has beforehand, but, mostly, in this case, it was annoying because there ended up being a lot of exposition during the big showdown.
Yes, that's right. The big standoff between Maggie and her family and the bad guys ended up being lots of info-dumps from dear old dad.
I understand why the author/dad had to hold back some information, but having lots of exposition in climax, especially in a book which has been pretty action-adventurey, is just really unsatisfying.
Also, there are some threads left dangling for a possible continuation of the series, but I'm not sure how invested I am in these characters. While I did enjoy the story, overall, I'm not sure I'm committed to continuing with it if more do come out. I guess we'll see.
Climate change has hit our world badly, sending things into chaos and people into panic, so the government, teeming up with corporations, steps in and makes Bubble Cities. You can live InBubble or OutBubble, but once you make your choice come Declaration Day, there are no take backs.
Such is the world that 12-year-old Maggie, aka Ford Falcon, lives in with her family and nearby friends, Toad and Arlinda. Today they scrape out a life, growing some food, but mostly looking for scrap in the nearby trash heaps which they take to town to trade for what they need.
But they also have to contend with Grey Devils and solar bears, and I don't want to go into what they are too much because, well, some of the most interesting thing about this story is the world building, so I wouldn't want to give too much away.
Ford is a strong and feisty character. Only 12, but often comes across as much older because of the world and situation in which she lives. It is she who goes into town with Toad in their armoured, ox-drawn cart, fighting off the Grey Devils with Toad and Toby, another neighbor, and she who does the trading for her family.
And it is she who has to figure things out when her parents go missing and everything falls apart...
Overall, I enjoyed this story a fair bit. The first half of the story is mostly day-in-the-life type stuff, setting up the world and the characters - and they are interesting characters, though Toad has this weird way of talking he calls spoonerism which go wearisome.
Things did start dragging here or there, but whenever I started wishing something would happen, it did, so cheers on the pacing.
My biggest issue is actually with the ending. The author does that whole coy thing at the end where instead of telling you everything, he purposely holds back information to make the big showdown more interesting.
I kinda always get a bit irked when authors do this, especially when we see every freaking stray thought Ford has beforehand, but, mostly, in this case, it was annoying because there ended up being a lot of exposition during the big showdown.
Yes, that's right. The big standoff between Maggie and her family and the bad guys ended up being lots of info-dumps from dear old dad.
I understand why the author/dad had to hold back some information, but having lots of exposition in climax, especially in a book which has been pretty action-adventurey, is just really unsatisfying.
Also, there are some threads left dangling for a possible continuation of the series, but I'm not sure how invested I am in these characters. While I did enjoy the story, overall, I'm not sure I'm committed to continuing with it if more do come out. I guess we'll see.