Salt and Stone by Victoria Scott

Review by The Mole

The second book in the Fire & Flood series (with Fire & Flood also being the title of the first).

The story starts halfway through the brutal, cruel and deadly race (the Brimstone Bleed) where each contender is racing for a chance to get the cure to a disease that each has a different relative dying of. They didn't choose to enter the race because it's not a coincidence that their relatives are infected and can they survive the race, let alone win it?

This is very much a sequel and it's important to start reading from book 1 to get the full understanding of where the story starts and how we got to where we are.

The story is told from Tella's point of view so it's a safe bet that she'll make it to the end but Scott is not above killing off characters so assume nothing about anyone. I'm also not sure that Scott likes her main character anymore so the race is not getting any easier on Tella and if it's one thing a character needs then it's got to be an author on their team!

In book 1 I suggested that I found Tella too needy and that she wasn't a strong character - well that's all changed. She's now a strong character binding and leading a group and competing with Guy as leader - and winning.

Tense to the end - and not the end I had expected - we are left wondering about book 3. There has to be a book 3? But can the direction change as much as we are led to believe and how can the author convince me, the reader?

Publisher - Chicken House
Genre - YA dystopian, action adventure

Fire and Flood by Victoria Scott

Review by The Mole

With her brother dying of cancer Tella is offered a chance to win a cure for him by entering a race called the Brimstone Bleed. Knowing nothing whatsoever about this race she takes up the challenge to save his life. But she doesn't know how much she is risking her own to save his.

Clearly Tella is the heroine - the first chapter tells us that - so we expect her to be with us at the end, particularly as this is a series although I did find myself wondering how she could have survived to page 366.

The summary automatically had me thinking "Hunger Games" but here the scenario differs in that it's not last man standing, rather first past the post. But sometimes there are conditions to getting past the post...

Each competitor gets to choose an egg at the start and from that egg comes a "companion" or protector to help them through the race and this part had me thinking "His Dark Materials", particularly Tella's cute little fox. But each has additional capabilities that the animal can not do naturally - like a fire breathing lion. The animals are created by genetic engineers and so there is nothing magical or fantasy about this story - just sci-fi - in fact the reader ends up suspecting that her brother's cancer is no accident.

One thing that did bug me big time was the love aspect (or is it lust?)... I like my heroes/heroines to be strong, to be needed, supportive and focussed but Tella was too needy and school-girl-crushy for my taste.

That to one side, the book was an excellent read with elements from other stories combined to make a unique and original story that was extremely compelling, fast and tense.

Publisher - Chicken House
Genre - YA dystopian, action adventure

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