Alive by Scott Sigler

"Alive" by Scott Sigler... where to start. I finished this book last night and had to lay in bed and really think hard on how to rate this. I went with 2.5 stars. I also had to find a way to review this book without giving spoilers. The author actually ended the book with a letter stating "please don't give spoilers or the ending away". No joke. As you probably know, I love Dystpoian books as well as Sci-Fi. This book is both. Therefore I should have absolutely loved it. But it was just ok. 

The basic plot is that a group of kids wakes up in an enclosed space with no knowledge of who they are or how thy got there. The main character, a girl named Em, must lead them to find the answers they are looking for. 

This book reminded me of "Lord of the Flies". A group of kids, trying to survive, going through power struggles, arguing over what to do next. That's pretty much the entire book. 

Just when I got tired of reading about power struggles and arguments and what they thought they should do next, the author throws in a horrific occurrence that sucked me back in and made me want to read more. Bravo for that. The plot is definitely interesting (at times) and one of a kind. But I wanted more details of the world described. I wanted less wandering around and more action. It just left me wanting more. It didn't fill me up, it was just barely enough to stop the hunger pangs. Then it seemed it all came to an abrupt end. It seemed to resolve very easily and very quickly. Resolve isn't the right word. There were more questions in my head. Way more. 

That was the huge problem I had. I was left more questions than what the author offered up as answers. How did it happen? What happened after? These, to me, are major things a reader needs to know in a post-apocalyptic, dystopian book. 

I have seen reviews that put down the writing style and called it choppy. It didn't read like that for me. It was easy to read, and flowed nicely. No major issues on descriptions of the scenery, character's looks or what was taking place. 

This is the first book in a trilogy. I supposed all the unanswered questions were a terrific way to get readers to read the next book. I have this "need to know" mentality so I will definitely be reading the next books in the series. I have also seen several websites and reviewers compare this to Hunger Games or Divergent. Not even close. Not even on the same playing field. 

So not to ruin the book I guess my advice would be: Read It! It's not a complete waste of time. It's an original plot. It's actually quite exciting at times! Click here to pre-order this book. 

I received this as a digital copy for free to read and review for Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group- Del Rey Spectra.
 The options are exclusively my own and I was not paid for them.  

***UPDATE*** 
After some thinking I have to raise my rating to 4 stars. I have thought and thought about this book for a few hours now. Which means it impacted me more than I thought, and not in a bad way. Too many preconceived ideas of how it should have been. The author took his own approach and it worked. Though disappointed and full of questions at first, the ending left me wanting more and excited to read the next book hours after finishing. It just had to all sink in.