Welcome to my stop on the Blast Book Tour hosted by YA Bound Book Tours! Click here to follow along with the full tour schedule.
Author: Sarah Perlmutter
Release Date: 12/15/14
Pages: 200
Source: Copy for review
Purchase: Amazon
Summary
After a series of blasts force Beatrice Hicks and her family into their prepper bunker, they emerge to discover they are among the survivors of a nuclear apocalypse. Fighting against rogue groups and coping with deaths are just some of the adjustments Beatrice must make to survive, but how will she maintain her humanity after the blast?
Praise for THE BLAST:
"This is the most impressive and heartfelt apocalypse story I've ever read in my life!"
"A real tour de force... [It's] refreshing to have a YA book which focuses on the important things in a person's life - family, love and death."
"What a beautiful story. A wonderful look at the human ability to survive, rebuild, and grow through survival."
"One of the best post-apocalypse stories I have read."
"This book easily stacks up against my favourites and has an originality that many books seem to lack these days. [The] writing style is impeccable and this book is utterly breathtaking!"
The Blast is a fast-paced, post-apocalyptic young adult novel with a very young heroine, Beatrice, at the core of the story. After the blasts force Beatrice, her younger brother Henry, and their parents into their bunker, things are never going to be the same for them again. Lucky for Beatrice, her parents prepared for an emergency such as this and had made and stocked the bunker with all kinds of supplies.
The Blast had some major surprises in store. The grittiness of the world after it goes to crap is so realistic, it feels like it could really happen. In a situation like this, where your life changes forever, bad things are bound to happen, and Perlmutter doesn't shy away from from those kind of things happening. I knew life wasn't going to be pretty for this family, but I had no idea they were going to go through so much grief. What really helped them out was the preparation Beatrice's parents had done in case something like this happened.
The nuclear winter was really freaky. The description of what it was like when the family went out scavenging for supplies with ash surrounding them and completely frigid temperatures making it impossible to venture far from home was so realistic. It was just like I imagined a nuclear winter to be like, and it gave me chills!
As I mentioned before, The Blast was very fast paced, taking place over five years, but I wished the pace was slower, taking its time a little more. The story is so rich with so much potential it felt a bit rushed at times. I wanted more!
Beatrice is literally just a kid at eleven-years-old, yet she's had to kill people to protect her family. She isn't even a teen at the beginning of the novel. The things she's had to do for herself and her family to survive keep haunting her, and are things no kid her age should have to see let alone do. Though it was necessary, it changes her forever. There's no going back. She's forced to grow up quickly.
There's foreshadowing here and there of things to come, but the way those events unfold is what will keep you riveted. I couldn't put this book down! The Blast is the kind of story I read in one sitting because I couldn't put it down. I was pulled in right away, and the suspense and grittiness of this new world post-apocalypse had me enthralled.
The Blast had some major surprises in store. The grittiness of the world after it goes to crap is so realistic, it feels like it could really happen. In a situation like this, where your life changes forever, bad things are bound to happen, and Perlmutter doesn't shy away from from those kind of things happening. I knew life wasn't going to be pretty for this family, but I had no idea they were going to go through so much grief. What really helped them out was the preparation Beatrice's parents had done in case something like this happened.
The nuclear winter was really freaky. The description of what it was like when the family went out scavenging for supplies with ash surrounding them and completely frigid temperatures making it impossible to venture far from home was so realistic. It was just like I imagined a nuclear winter to be like, and it gave me chills!
As I mentioned before, The Blast was very fast paced, taking place over five years, but I wished the pace was slower, taking its time a little more. The story is so rich with so much potential it felt a bit rushed at times. I wanted more!
Beatrice is literally just a kid at eleven-years-old, yet she's had to kill people to protect her family. She isn't even a teen at the beginning of the novel. The things she's had to do for herself and her family to survive keep haunting her, and are things no kid her age should have to see let alone do. Though it was necessary, it changes her forever. There's no going back. She's forced to grow up quickly.
There's foreshadowing here and there of things to come, but the way those events unfold is what will keep you riveted. I couldn't put this book down! The Blast is the kind of story I read in one sitting because I couldn't put it down. I was pulled in right away, and the suspense and grittiness of this new world post-apocalypse had me enthralled.
About the Author
Sarah Perlmutter is the Wattpad featured author of THE BLAST, a young adult post-apocalypse novel.
Outside of the young adult genre, Sarah has published poems and flash fiction through Mash Stories, Millennial Garbage, the Pittsburgh History and Landmark Foundation, and the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project.
When she is not writing, Sarah enjoys spending time with her husband and cat, cooking food that is far too spicy, making arts and crafts, and teaching high school English.
For more information about Sarah and her writing, check out her website.
Connect with the Author
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This definitely sounds like my kind of read. I like that one person said it focuses on the really important things like family. Sometimes that seems to be left out of YA stories.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Lisa. This book does focus on family, and I think that does get left out in YA quite a bit.
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