The Farm, Review + GIVEAWAY!

The Farm
Emily McKay
420 pages
Released: December 4, 2012
Publisher: Berkley
Source: the publisher
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

Lily and her autistic twin sister, Mel, live on the Farm.  An old school campus that was quarantined for teenagers after the Ticks, a dangerous breed of vampire, started devouring humans across the country.  Told they were being placed there for their own good, the Farm is full of teenagers, some of whom must breed.  But Lily knows the truth.  Instead of protecting them from the Ticks, it seem the Farm is being used to produce food for the Ticks...

The Farm is a whole new breed of dystopian novel.  Why?  There's a whole new breed of paranormal being - the Ticks.  Seemingly made of pure bloodlust, Ticks are undead and out for one thing and one thing only - human blood.  They don't just bite their prey and suck them dry like a vampire, they rip them open and gorge themselves.  Disturbed yet?

The Farm was an intense novel that, despite the fact I couldn't sit down and devour (har har) it like I wanted to, held my attention throughout.  From the beginning I was truly distressed for Lily and Mel.  Mel made the story feel so human.  I often read dystopian novels, dozens over the past few years, but I cannot recall one instance where there was a main character with a disability.  Mel's autism, and the chapters from her point of view in particular, really set The Farm apart and made it a unique story.

I really enjoyed the world building Emily McKay did in this novel.  Imagine a world in which the government tells you you'll be safer if you're quarantined, but ultimately it's not in your favor.  Internment, but with flesh-eating monsters on the other side of the fence.  McKay did a great job describing the grounds and the conditions on the Farm to the point where I really felt like I understood what was going on.  As a result, I felt Lily's plan to escape very brave.  It just goes to show how a sister's love can overcome even the worst hardships.

Of course, the action in the subsequent parts of the novel, particularly the very end, was literally a nail-biter for me.  What happened to Mel was a shocker and I cannot wait to see how that plays out in the next novel, The Liar, which is due out sometime in 2013.  I'll be waiting for it!

Four stars!  In a dystopian rut?  The Farm will pull you out of that.  It's a beautiful new breed of YA vampire fiction that will leave you at the edge of your seat.  Enter with the Rafflecopter below for a chance to win your own copy.  US only, 13+.

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