Book Review: Fire & Flood by Victoria Scott

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Fire & Flood
Fire & Flood #1
Author: Victoria Scott
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Released: February 25th 2014
Review Source: Scholastic Press

A modern day thrill ride, where a teen girl and her animal companion must participate in a breathtaking race to save her brother's life—and her own.

Tella Holloway is losing it. Her brother is sick, and when a dozen doctors can't determine what's wrong, her parents decide to move to Montana for the fresh air. She's lost her friends, her parents are driving her crazy, her brother is dying—and she's helpless to change anything.

Until she receives mysterious instructions on how to become a Contender in the Brimstone Bleed. It's an epic race across jungle, desert, ocean, and mountain that could win her the prize she desperately desires: the Cure for her brother's illness. But all the Contenders are after the Cure for people they love, and there's no guarantee that Tella (or any of them) will survive the race.

The jungle is terrifying, the clock is ticking, and Tella knows she can't trust the allies she makes. And one big question emerges: Why have so many fallen sick in the first place?

Fire & Flood totally took me by surprise, in a good way. Tella Holloway, a 16 year old girl, who has the chance to save her brother’s life. Tella’s family has moved from Boston to the middle of nowhere in Montana so that her very sick brother, Cody, can have the fresh air. Cody is dying and the doctors have no idea what is making him so ill. Until one faithful day a gift has arrived telling Tella she has a chance to save her brother and obtain the Cure. She must enter the Brimstone Bleed, a race to survive through four terrains; jungle, desert, mountain, and ocean.

I absolutely fell in love with Tella from the very beginning, her personality is so big and bright it just grabs you straight from the page. She isn’t painted as a heroine, at first, she’s just a normal 16 year old girl, but very headstrong. When she finds out there is a chance to save her brother’s life she doesn’t hesitate and heads straight to the join the Brimstone Bleed. Before the race begins each contestant gets a Pandora, an egg, which hatches when the race begins. The Pandora is their biggest source of protection throughout the race. Tella’s Pandora turns out to be just as entertaining as she is. I would love to see this movie be optioned for film just so I can see the Pandora’s in real life.

Eventually Tella finds a group of contestants that are traveling the race together and plan on splitting up at the end of the race, but can she really trust these people? Everyone is here to save someone they love and who knows if they’ll take all the necessary precautions to obtain the Cure.

So generally I would definitely recommend this, especially if you’re a fan of The Hunger Games. Tella’s personality is what drew me in, but then everything begins to unfold during the Brimstone Bleed making you want more. I know I cannot wait to find out what happens in the sequel to Fire & Flood and what they’ll uncover.