The Loners by Lex Thomas
My rating: 4/5 cats
i was very prepared to dislike this book. this is not the same as expecting to dislike it, mind you—i was hoping to like it, but i was bracing myself for it to be bad, because i am a realist. because as much as i love these kinds of books, plenty of them are lackluster and very samey: Trapped, The Way We Fall, No Safety In Numbers, etc.
and this one is not without flaws, but they are the kind of flaws where the sheer fun of the book dwarfs the flaws.
that is the only time i will use a kitten to demonstrate a “flaw.”
did you like Divergent? were you able to enjoy the pacing, the action, the characters, the rainbow of violence, without falling into the “wait, but why…” intellectual knee-jerk mode that is so natural, but detrimental to the enjoyment of dystopian YA lit? if you did, you will have no problems enjoying this one.
quick breakdown—so there is a virus, yeah? and it turns teens into weapons. and every adult that goes near them will start to twitch and then BLOODILY VOMIT OUT THEIR ORGANS.
well, shit.
so this high school (somehow) gets quarantined. i understand the mechanics of the quarantine—tent, guards with rifles, etc, but not how quickly the response was carried out. all of a sudden, a teacher was puking out his insides, and then—bam!—helly-copters and quarantine. but who cares—this is pretty cool. and so a year passes…
…and the kids have arranged themselves into factions. the virus has made their hair fall out and then grow back white, and in order to differentiate themselves, they dye this white hair into different colors, with available materials, signifying their gang affiliations: yellow for the pretty girls, red for the sluts, black for the nerds, blue for the freaks, etc etc. and these gangs protect their own, fiercely, and compete for the food and supplies that are air-lifted into the courtyard by helicopters. and the competition is brutal. varsity gets the most of the food—all the asshole jocks shoving the freaks and the skaters and the geeks and the nerds out of the way, and claiming lovers from the pretty girls. it’s pretty gross.
but apart from all these groups, there are the outcasts. the scraps. and that is where we meet our hero david, and his younger brother will.
and there is an incident that catapults david into the center of awareness, and makes him a hero. and most of the scraps come out of the shadows and stand with him, and they form their own gang, the loners.
and then stuff really starts to happen.
as an added complication, the virus seems to only affect teens until they turn 18. and if they turn 18 while in the proximity of a younger teen, they too will start vomiting up their organs, so a booth is established which tests an individual for the virus, and once they have aged out, they are allowed passage to the outside world. you know, so they can keep their organs inside where they belong.
please do not spend one hot second thinking about the “science” behind this. it will just make your head angry.
this book is strong because of its depiction of high school, amplified. the cliques are there, only more apparent and more vicious. its sibling rivalry is also perfect, and throw in the obligatory love-triangle, and you got yourself a book!
this one is on the higher-end of the teen scale for content. if you are a delicate flower, torn to shreds by naughty language, and human sexuality and serious violence View Spoiler », then you best step back and read something else. this one is full of gross realities. and gross unrealities. and a ton of loopholes and unexplained stuff and overlooked stuff, but it is such a fun ride, unless you are the most critical reader without a heart built for fun, it shouldn’t matter.
also, today is my birthday, and you don’t need to wrap votes!
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