Guest Review: Quarantine: The Loners

Reviewed by Tom P

Title: Quarantine: The Loners
Author: Lex Thomas

From Amazon.com, it was just another ordinary day at McKinley High—until a massive explosion devastated the school. When loner David Thorpe tried to help his English teacher to safety, the teacher convulsed and died right in front of him. And that was just the beginning.

A year later, McKinley has descended into chaos. All the students are infected with a virus that makes them deadly to adults. The school is under military quarantine. The teachers are gone. Violent gangs have formed based on high school social cliques. Without a gang, you’re as good as dead. And David has no gang. It’s just him and his little brother, Will, against the whole school.

Quarantine was one of the best books I’ve ever read! It incorporates so many characteristics featured in a well-written novel.

Its suspense is constant throughout and gives just the exact amount of information away to make it entertaining. There were no “boring parts” of the book or sections where you just wanted to skip over completely. Something new is always unraveling from beginning to end and always surprises you. Quarantine is very hard to predict due to the broadness of the plot, but that’s what a real novel should look like. It’s never fun to read something where it’s obvious what’s going to happen next. Lex Thomas did a great job of pacing the story and speeding certain parts up to get to the action and more entertaining events that really defined the book.

The dialogue used in Quarantine was very realistic. Considering all of the characters are teenagers, it’s inevitable that there’s going to be swearing and inappropriate language. However, I like how it captures the situation in a real-world perspective with realistic reactions. I mean, if you were trapped in a school with violent gangs for three years and barely living, you wouldn’t exactly get your stress out by saying, “Gosh darn it!” Along with the captivating phrasing, I also enjoyed how Lex Thomas used description appropriately. Some books either go on and on with endless adjectives and phrases, or there are others that leave you saying, “So what is that?!” This book was definitely an epitome for the usage of description.

Quarantine’s plot is very unique and original. It’s fascinating the storylines people can come up with. This book reminded me of the Hunger Games at parts with it’s unfathomable situations and well-written sequences. I believe Lex Thomas really ended the book with well, incorporating both suspense and reassurance. If the sequel is half as good, I would look for it to still be great.

Guest Review: NERDS: The Cheerleaders of Doom

Reviewed by Keaton

Title:  N.E.R.D.S.:The Cheerleaders of Doom (Book 3)
Author:  Michael Buckley

     From Barnes and Noble, The NERDS series combines the excitement of international espionage with the awkwardness of elementary school as it follows the adventures of a group of unpopular fifth graders who run a spy network from inside their school. With the help of cutting-edge science, they transform their nerdy qualities into incredible abilities, and the results are awesome, inspiring—and hilarious.
This third installment in the series stars Matilda “Wheezer” Choi, the asthmatic who can fly and kick butt courtesy of her nanobyte-enhanced inhalers. Matilda loves pro wrestling and hatesanything “girlie.” Unfortunately for Wheezer, when a former-NERD-turned-villain gets extensive plastic surgery in order to become a cheerleader, Matilda must swallow her pride to successfully infiltrate the squad. The villain with pom-poms, Gerdie Baker, has created a device that opens portals to other worlds, and if Matilda doesn’t find a way to destroy it, the fates of all the worlds will be at stake.

     Book 3 of the N.E.R.D.S series is an action-packed, edge-of-your-seat novel that will leave you hungry for the next few books in the series. The book features agent “Wheezer” Matilda Choi in some pretty tough situations that she will have to lead her team out of. Choppers, or as you may get to know him, Screwball, vows revenge on his former team. He begins his plan slowly in a hospital for the criminally insane where madness outside is already taking place. Outside Gerdie Baker, an ugly cheerleader-wanna-be, begins to construct a device capable of opening portals to different universes. Little does she know about the actual power of her device, it begins to have tears in her world. Things that once were are no more. The Washington Monument (ZAP) gone. The Great Pyramids (ZAP) gone. Gerdie continues to use her bridge device to steal riches from the different universes and soon there won’t be anymore of her world to go around. So, who do you call for an interuniversal crisis? None other than N.E.R.D.S! This is the book for a person who loves action, mystery, and if your just a plain nerd!