I loved this novel. Loved it! It is thoroughly weird, beautifully written and I'm going to miss spending time with these characters now that I'm done. I read it slowly, savouring it. I found it moving and so incredibly sad at times, but it is a novel with such a big heart that I also laughed at other times.

This is post-apocalyptic fiction at its very best. At times you aren't quite sure what you're reading, but this is a quest book, trust the author, he is going to bend your mind and break your heart. Nico is wonderful, a character I just totally loved. When she meets a group of kids who have a history that ties them together, you just know that this is going to be a wonderful lot of relationships. Kit, my heart belongs to Kit, a treasure of a character. A ragtag group of kids facing danger, trying to survive a pandemic, killer flies who carry people off by sheer numbers lifting them up and carrying them away. It is horrific! I love the use of cinnamon as a deterrent to the flies.

There is so much, so very many ways that this book is amazing. It confirms that David Almond is one of my favourite authors for young people.

Thanks so much to Text for giving me access to this wonderful book. I loved it.

ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

I just read 430 pages and I still don't know what happened in this book.

I felt like I was waiting and waiting for something, for some action or drama to happen and once it did happen (about 350 pages later) I just wasn't hooked into it, I wasn't invested at all. It wasn't the fact that it was a "bad book" per se but rather, it just wasn't the book for me. That being said, I know so many other readers who I think would really like this book.

I think the people who would love The Electric Kingdom are those readers who prefer philosophical reads that are more so focused on the journey rather than the end if you know what I mean. I felt like there was such a strong focus on survival, humanity and its exploration in a world ravaged by a fly transmitted virus that there was a very loose plot line. There are some occasions and instances where I don't mind loose plots but I just wanted something to happen in this book that would've piqued my interest. I felt like I was just waiting for something that never came.

The book is told in three different perspectives: Nico, Kit and The Deliverer. Out of the three, only Kit's and The Deliverer's interested me. I found that I just wasn't invested in Nico's who was the main protagonist of the story and who's perspective dominated the rest of them. I found that the story focused on getting to safety and trying to survive the flies. That being said, I felt like the flies had less of a presence and I thought that if the flies were a bigger part of the novel, there would've been more action and I think I would've enjoyed the book more.

All things considered, I did enjoy the writing style and I genuinely loved the prologue bit of the story with the birth and the traffic jam but it was after that that the story fell flat for me and it just felt way too slow. On the contrary, I felt like there were some parts that felt way too fast paced such as the romance which kind of appeared out of nowhere and didn't feel that built up.

That being said, I would recommend this book to other people if I feel it would suit you and your bookish tastes. I would suggest you read this book to formulate your own opinion since this review is highly subjective.

ACTUAL RATING: 2.4 STARS

This book was dystopia with spice! The storytelling was attractive, the world scary and realistic and the characters adorable. Arnold is an exceptional writer and doesn't just tell you a story but he shows you it!

Thank you to the author and Netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.