Here are some thoughts about this book:

Scary

Disturbing

Interesting

Thought provoking

Hard to put down

Heartbreaking

I could probably think of a few more, but that will do for now. This book is definitely in the top ten best books I have read this year. But it also hard to talk about with out giving anything away. I will say that this virus that attacks the world is unlike anything that I have ever read before. It defy’s what we know about diseases and life forms. There are some chapters that are from the virus’s point of view which are what really sets this book apart.

Leon is the narrator for most of the book. There are some chapters narrated by others or told from their point of view, but we mostly see the world coming to an end through Leon’s eyes. What he and his family goes through is pretty typical of end of world stories, but the reason behind why he and his family survive is different. There are small pockets of survivors by the end but not many. Of course there are the usual awful things that people do to survive that are spread out over the course of the book, but the virus steals the show in awful deaths.

If you like your science fiction, dystopian worlds, mixed in with a little bit of horror and want to read something that is a fresh take on how humans end, then definitely pick this one up. You might want to wait though till the sequel comes out because you are left hanging at the end of this one.

I’ve never read anything by Alex Scarrow. From what I can tell, his background has been in young readers, and non-sf thrillers. Plague Land (also called Re-Made elsewhere in the world) is very much SF.

Strange flakes start falling out of the sky. When it touches living creatures (humans or animals), it dissolves them quickly. It also poisons waters supplies. It’s first seen in Africa, and governments conceal who bad things are until it’s too later. Within a few days, there are very few survivors.

Leon, Grace and their mother, who have been living in London since their parents divorced, get a warning from their father, back in New York City. They try to get out of town by train, but get trapped when all travel is shut down. Within a day, the trio are the only survivors from a packed train. Eventually they come into contact with other survivors, who have figured out how to protect themselves.

Only, the virus, if you can call it, has moved on to phase two. It is using the dissolved organic material to create new creatures to go after the survivors in their haven.

On the one hand, the story hits the parts of me that enjoys zombie novels. However, it also falls into lazy plotting at times. Is the virus alien? If so, why try to recreate Earth animals? For that matter, why go after the survivors? There are far too few survivors to be a danger to whatever plans follow.

As well, there is a couple places that fall into the trap of ‘people do stupid things just so that the plot can be advanced’. That always annoys the heck out of me. And yet, at the end of the book, I do look forward to seeing what happens in the next book when it comes. After all, surely there must be a way of fighting back and surviving.

A book about a intelligent virus spreading VERY FAST around the world and KILLING many people, while the survivors run away from the monster virus so they don't die? Count me in! Little did I know that I had to gather up courage so I could continue reading... and as you can see, I succeeded and finished the book.
When I started to read... I felt a bit scared because the scenes' details were so vivid for me. Of course, I should expect this horror feeling from a post-apocalyptic/sci-fi book, right? (I HIGHLY recommend that you must read when the sun is still up in the sky.. If you read this book at night, you'll have some nightmares, for sure). There were some twists that made me go like, "WHAT, WAIT?". And there's more: the plot is in some way realistic, and I think it is mostly because of the characters: Leon and his sister, Grace... and also Freya.
Well, overall Plague Land was a good book. I only wonder if it's a book that could be categorized as "Young Adult book"...

P.S: I didn't know that there was a sequel coming on (yes, I was a bit shocked when I realized that Plague Land was not a standalone... ), but now that I know, I will wait for the sequels :)

THANK YOU TO: Netgalley, Alex Scarrow, Scorcebooks Fire for this free ARC in exchange for an honest feedback.

HOLY CRAP

I freaking loved this book so much! The only reason I didn't rate this book 5 stars is because the ending was a bit disappointing and left me wanting more, and I cannot wait for the next book. I have been waiting for another gory, horror YA novel to come out that would sweep me away and this one did it. If you're looking for a bit of a fright, then I highly suggest checking out this book!

Truly the goriest, most disgusting, viral-induced death sequences I have ever encountered in YA lit. I've pre-ordered two shelf copies for our Middle School library.

Really good beginning worth 4 stars but disappointed with the ending, still want to read book #2 though.

Plague Land by Alex Scarrow
Read through NetGalley
publishing date December 1, 2017

No spoilers in this review...

Getting this review in under the wire! But.... Plague Land is GREAT! To be honest, I wasn't getting into it at first, but I soon couldn't put it down! And for those of you who don't like cliffhangers, this isn't one; though, it does leave itself open for a sequel!

Just enough science to make it scifi instead of fantasy, it is a story with a wide appeal. While the tension isn't too aggressive to scare off casual readers, avid fans of runaway virus stories won't be disappointed, either. The characters have depth - as far as the typical YA novel where the child is smarter than the parent goes. There is even international appeal as the virus goes, um, viral.

What's really appealing is the great descriptions of the evolving virus. Scarrow's adept as creating vivid images without details that drag down the storytelling.

I will definitely be getting this for my high school library!

Plague Land
by Alex Scarrow
SOURCEBOOKS Fire
Sci Fi & Fantasy , Teens & YA
Pub Date 01 Dec 2017
Courtesy Netgalley

Plague Land is being released on December 1st. If you have a horror fan on your holiday list, I suggest you consider giving them Alex Scarrow’s unique version of the plague. It is unbelievably hard to write this review without spoilers but I will give it the old Navy try as my dad used to say.

Scarrow’s book takes place in modern times in our current global world. The book begins with a teen named Leon, his younger sister Grace and his mother. They recently moved from the United States to England. After divorcing Leon’s father, his mother decided to move them closer to her parents in England. Alex, with his Yank accent, does not fit in and has not made any new friends to replace the ones he was forced to leave behind. Grace, not yet a teen, is having an easier time fitting in. Their mom is totally consumed by working to support them and is missing all the angst in Alex’s life.

When news begins to emerge from Africa about a new contagious disease, Alex is worried. His mother isn’t. After all, they are in England, with its modern medicine and security. As we know now, the price of a global world, is global disease. Nothing is truly quarantined because by the time it is decided to isolate it, it has already spread. What is spreading from Africa, to literally the ends of the Earth, is not the Black Plague, not Ebola, not any previously seen disease. This one kills because this one thinks.

Note: While the book is listed as for age fourteen and up, I would approach that age with care. The book has some graphic descriptions of the plague activity that may unsettle a less mature readers.

Such an interesting concept. Totally something I'd recommend to my students.

I enjoyed the first half of the book... the second half left me a little wanting. Overall it was a good book.

This book was unlike anything I’ve read before. It’s an apocalyptic, sci-fi, horror that kept me guessing the entire time. I can’t believe how creeped out it made me at times! I will definitely be looking forward to the sequel!
Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me a copy to review!

I really enjoyed this book! I probably shouldn’t have read it as I do worry about subjects like this and I may well lose some sleep over it but it gripped me straight away and it’s the fastest I’ve read a book in a long time. I am left wondering how you can possibly carry on from how this book ended, I’ll be waiting for the sequel!

I love post-apocalyptic stories and this one did not disappoint. It’s a mixture of a survival tale with a large dash of horror. The action kept me turning the pages all the way to the twisty ending. I actually stayed up way too late to finish this book and will certainly read the sequel.

I was given the opportunity to read this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Seeing how this was a interesting sounding post-apocalyptic story I knew I had to give it a shot. I'm really glad that I did.
The story starts out in England with the siblings of a recently divorced mother starting over in England after growing up in the United States. Leon is not having an easy time fitting in to his new school but he was always somewhat of an outsider. His younger sister Grace, on the other hand has no problems quickly becoming the new popular girl in school.
Leon sees a story about a virus starting in Africa and quickly becomes obsessed with following the story. Quite quickly they find out that this virus is quickly spiraling out of control as it liquefies it's victims in less than an hour. Leon's father calls from New York to tell them that the virus is airborne and they have to get out of the city as quickly as possible. While they flee the city via train they find out that the virus has already gotten onto the train and is quickly killing everyone.
We also find out that the virus is intelligent and is gathering the DNA to try to reproduce the lifeforms it has been killing. You can tell the virus is quickly developing into something that actually functions like regular life forms on Earth.
Without giving away any spoilers I found that the story line was unique and engaging. The way the survivors have survived the plague is quiet surprising and the ending leaves with a huge cliffhanger. I am very much looking forward to the next book.

I'm not usually into horror or thrillers, but I thought this title looked interesting. I wasn't disappointed. To be honest, I found it pretty scary - but I still couldn't put it down. I'm eagerly awaiting the sequel.

This is the first novel that I have read from this author, and I will definitely be back for more! This was a thrilling tale of fear, family, and what lengths people will go to for survival.

An enjoyable read. An usual twist at the end which made it a worthwhile read.

Plague Land by Alex Scarrow was a totally engaging read. I think read will connect with Leon and his feelings concerning his separated family. The story of the plague was convincing without being over the top. I would recommend this book to my students.

What a really well-written book that really developed an end-of-the-world scenario with finesse. A virus starts spreading across the world - what makes this virus a little different is that is swift and not at all picky who or what it infects. It is all consuming and takes minimal time to devour its victims - dog, bird, cow, human - it is a multipurpose killer. Quite believably it begins in Africa where outbreaks of such viruses as Ebola have been well documented.

The story is built around Leon and his younger sister, Grace, who recently because of their parent's marriage breakdown have moved from America to London. While Leon is actually by birth English, he has lived till now all his life in America and has been finding it difficult to fit into life in London. That is all about to become meaningless when he starts to notice news articles reporting a virus that is affecting people in Africa - within hours he has received a phone call from his father in America warning that this is a serious situation and that his mother, sister and he should quickly escape to the countryside where his maternal grandparents live. They put plans into action but do not get far before the virus is infecting all those in the United Kingdom and their travel by train out of London is disrupted. It is quickly apparent that nowhere in the world is safe.

For a time Leon and his family seem to be surviving the situation but there are more problems waiting for them as the virus appears to be more than just a mindless killer - it is an intelligent life force that is up to something. At this point, the story changes direction slightly as it becomes evident that there are other survivors and there is a reason why some people are immune to the virus. Leon and Grace intersect with these people and the story becomes just a bit darker again as it becomes clear that not only is the virus a problem but maybe humans themselves aren't the nicest when survival becomes paramount.

The pace of this story is fast for the most part which suits the topic and it is just that little bit different to the usual 'the world is not going to make it'storyline. There were a couple of moments that would have benefited from a little editing and felt almost gorily dramatic but overall you connected to the characters especially the central ones. I am very keen to see where the story will go to next as it ends at a point where you really are involved in the outcome for Leon and you just don't know if humans are going to make it at all. Well worth a chance if you like a little gore and horror on top of your apocalyptic novel.

Okay, so the first section was around a 1.5 star, the second a 2.5, and the third a 3. So it got better as it got along, simply because the stakes kept being raised. My main problem is that I never really feared for the characters. there would be some scenes I was a bit worried, but I never was on the edge of my seat. I also didn't care for the characters that much. Whenever someone died (and that was pretty often), I didn't even bat an eye. I wish there would have been more time taken for the reader to become emotionally attached, that way the deaths would have been more effective. The ending, in my opinion, was the strongest part of the novel. I wasn't planning on reading the sequel, but I'm seriously considering it now.

Overall, 2.5 stars! It's not good, but it's not bad either. Plus, the ending was done very well.