Review: Savage Drift by Emmy Laybourne

Title: Savage Drift (Monument 14, #3)

Author: Emmy Laybourne
Publisher: Raincoast

Publication date: May 6, 2014

Genre(s): Young Adult (Post Apocalyptic) 

Source: Publisher

Format: ARC

Pages: 306

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The survivors of the Monument 14 have finally made it to the safety of a Canadian refugee camp. Dean and Alex are cautiously starting to hope that a happy ending might be possible.

But for Josie, separated from the group and trapped in a brutal prison camp for exposed Type Os, things have gone from bad to worse. Traumatized by her experiences, she has given up all hope of rescue or safety.

Meanwhile, scared by the government's unusual interest in her pregnancy, Astrid (with her two protectors, Dean and Jake in tow) joins Niko on his desperate quest to be reunited with his lost love Josie.

I love post apocalyptic novel and truly loved and enjoyed Monument 14 as well as Sky on Fire. I especially loved Monument 14 because I loved the setting.. locked inside a big supermarket where everything is available.. when I was younger, I wished that would happen to me. Anyways, back to the story. I liked this world, I really did, and this is told from two POVs, Dean, our main guy, and Josie, which came as a surprise to me. However Josie is what redeemed Savage Drift for me because I had a ton of issues with Dean.. oh Dean. My Goodreads status updates sort of tell you my feelings towards him. 

I saw that Giselle @ BO-OK NERD CANADA uses her goodreads status updates on her reviews and I think that is a brilliant idea. So I am stealing (and crediting) her use of it. I think Goodreads status say so much about how a book is, especially if you always update, which I do. 

So in order to make this review spoiler free for the whole series, I won't be discussing the events in the book. However I will focus on the characters and their development. The first guy is Dean.. he was the main narrator in Monument 14 and at that time I was able to enjoy his POV.. however his obsession with Astrid, a girl he's always had a crush on, did get on my nerve at times. However it reached an all time high in Savage Drift. He was so immature and everything had to lead back to Astrid and his jealousy. I rolled my eyes so many times while reading this book. I honestly wished the book was told from Alex, his younger brother's POV. 

But like I mentioned before, Josie saved this book. Her initial chapters felt so robotic, and I could truly feel her pain.. her need to not get closer to anyone as well as her need to ignore her emotions and feelings. The things Josie went through were horrific. I loved that even though she's only 14, she is selfless and cares for so many people, even if she never wants to admit it. Her chapters were so thrilling and scary and gruesome at times. She was a perfect narrator.

Lastly, and the thing that also annoyed me, is how so many plot lines were open ended.. loose ends weren't tied and I kept on reading the last couple of pages, trying to see if this plot line was mentioned or this person and his/her whereabouts were given to us.. but nothing. As if, only the original cast are the ones that mattered, and not the ones that we actually met in this third book and actually grew attached with. Still, all in all, while I thought the last book, Savage Drift, let me down a bit, mainly because of Dean, I really did enjoy and loved this trilogy. One of the really good post apocalyptic series out there. 

        Reviews by Juhina for the first three books in the series:

        Monument 14 (Monument 14, #1)

        Sky on Fire (Monument 14, #2)