Happiness is...a good book. (Summer Reading edition #23)

Fugitives (Escape From Furnace series #4)
Author: Alexander Gordon Smith
Published: 2012
Pages: 270
Age Range: 13-18
Genre: Sci-fi (dystopia)
Cover Score: ***
Overall Score: **
Rating: R (violence and mayhem)

First Sentence: I wish I could tell you that my story ended here.

Incarcerated in Furnace Penitentiary for a crime he didn't commit Alex has spent his time fighting the system and looking for a way to escape. But now he's becoming one of the monsters who have held him prisoner and although he and his friends have escaped it's only a matter of time before he loses himself to a place he'll never be able to return from.

Perhaps it’s because this was the first of the series I’d read, or because I’d read so many rave reviews of the other 3 so I would know what was going on in this one, but I just didn’t love it.  It was okay and it was filled with action but I found the writing to be tedious in places (though how many ways can you describe bulging muscles, towering infernos or the end of the world?) and inconsistent.

And there's very little hope.  I like a dystopia/apocalyptic story probably more than the next guy but there’s got to be some hope somewhere, and something more than just revenge steering the action. Again, maybe there is an overarching theme to the series that just fell out of this installment  but it was far too bleak for me.

On the plus side, there's a super high body count and non-stop destruction that boys will appreciate!

Don't discount it just based on my opinion, and at least start with the first in the series but be forewarned it's super bleak and bloody.