Review: Fire & Flood

Book: Fire & Flood by Victoria Scott
Publication Date: February 25, 2014
Series: Fire & Flood (#1)
Series: 4 out of 5 stars

Synopsis: Tella Holloway is losing it. Her brother is sick, and when a dozen doctors can't determine what's wrong, her parents decide to move to Montana for the fresh air. She's lost her friends, her parents are driving her crazy, her brother is dying—and she's helpless to change anything.

Until she receives mysterious instructions on how to become a Contender in the Brimstone Bleed. It's an epic race across jungle, desert, ocean, and mountain that could win her the prize she desperately desires: the Cure for her brother's illness. But all the Contenders are after the Cure for people they love, and there's no guarantee that Tella (or any of them) will survive the race.

The jungle is terrifying, the clock is ticking, and Tella knows she can't trust the allies she makes. And one big question emerges: Why have so many fallen sick in the first place?

**I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The fact that I received this for free does not influence my opinion or my review.**


Overall Review: 
So many of my blogging friends have told me that Fire & Flood was beyond amazing and that I'd love it, and I'm so glad they were right! Once I started reading it was down right impossible to put down. So many twists and turns, never a dull moment! So many people have compared it to The Hunger Games and says it's totally coping it, but they're not the same at all except for the fact that the main characters go into this unknown ring to save their siblings. The Hunger Games is a dystopian but Fire & Flood is a mixture of adventure, science fiction, and fantasy. Trust me, Fire & Flood is not like The Hunger Games, though people who enjoyed that series will probably enjoy this one! Fire & Flood is an all out thrill ride with twists and turns around every corner. You'll be thrown all sorts of curve balls and you won't know what to expect! You're not sure who to trust, what to believe, and what will happen next! It's such a fast and all out amazing read, finished it in a day with no regrets! Scott has such an amazing and well drawn out writing style that just sucks you into the pages and refuses to let you go! Not only has she created an amazing world where even people with the best intentions can stray off the path and a competition where you never know what to expect, where you'll play and be played, but she's also created these amazing creatures that you can't help but adore. The Pandoras. They remind me a bit of the daemons from His Dark Materials by Philup Pullman except a heck of a lot cooler. They're honestly my favorite part of the book. Your own animal that protects and looks out for you and you alone, with all sorts of special abilities that normal animals (or specific animals of that species) could never posses. Pandoras are beyond awesome and I want one so badly!

Tella is definitely a very interesting character. She's a heck of a lot stronger than she gives herself credit for and while she has no idea what's going on during the Brimstone Bleed she still keeps her wits about her and tries her best to come up with a way to stay alive and hopefully win the race. She's not the smartest, most athletic or resourceful person out there but she can hold her own like nobody's business! She's a tad bit on the vane side though. Like, it was a race to first get to the location of the Brimstone Bleed and instead of trying to race and get there in time she's more concerned about her hair. She packed nail polish in her survival kit. All the time during the race she was concerned with how she looked and if she looked good enough. Now there's nothing wrong with worrying about your appearance, especially when you're in the middle of who knows where for so long, but I just think there were more important things for her to be worried about than how her hair looked or the color of her nails. It's not a huge deal, really, but when you're trying to survive and win a race to save your brother's life, pretty sure your appearance should be the furthest worry in your head. The best thing about her was the fact that she genuinely cared about her Pandora and the welfare of it. Everyone else saw their Pandoras as things, that they were nothing but a way to get the Contenders closer to winning. Not Tella. She cared about her Pandora, she gave it food and water, named it, protected it when it was meant to protect her. They had a really special bond and it was amazing to see that.

There was a tad bit of romance between Tella and Guy but I personally didn't see the connection much. I wasn't sure how Guy really felt about Tella, especially when in the beginning he looked like he wanted to murder her or something (her words, not mine). He couldn't stand to even look at her half the time but then all of a sudden he likes her? He wants to be with her? Doesn't make sense to me. Especially since even after he almost admits he likes her, he's so topsy turvy. One minute he's into her, the next he tries to avoid her at all costs. It kind of bugged me. I'm hoping in the next book that things are a little better and their relationship more explained. As of right now though, I could care less either way about the relationship.

Fire & Flood was so fast paced and impossible to put down. So suspenseful and action packed, and I never knew what was going to happen next! So many twists and turns, shocking surprises, horrific discoveries, and a story line that made it hard to know what was going to happen next! I easily finished F&F in a day and loved every page of it! Never a dull moment. My favorite part was the Pandoras by far. I have a thing for animals as it is, so to have an animal companion that looks out for you and only you? I want! Tella was a very interesting character. She certainly wasn't very skilled when it came to the race but when push came to shove she could hold her own better than most! She didn't give herself enough credit and she did far better than I ever thought she would. She's definitely a vane person, not to the point where it's like oh my god annoying but I just felt there were more important things going on than her hair or how her nails looked. The romance between Tella and Guy was very iffy for me because their relationship didn't seem to make much sense. First they couldn't stand each other but then all of a sudden, for no reason, they suddenly wanted to be together. It really didn't make any sense to me. I love the title. It's so cool and it's the kind that draws your attention when you see or hear it. And I love that cover. So much. It's so amazing!


Overall Rating:
I give Fire & Flood a 4 out of 5 star rating. I loved reading every page of it, it was so good, but it didn't end up being an all time favorite of mine. I'm so glad I finally got the time to read it, and I'm glad everyone was right about how awesome it was! I would totally recommend this to people who love action packed, science fiction stories. While F&F is certainly not Hunger Games I can definitely see that fans of it would love this book. I can't wait to get my hands on the sequel!!

**I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The fact that I received this for free does not influence my opinion or my review.**

4/5 stars

~Kayla~