Review - Tent City

Tent City by Kelly Van Hull

Age Range: YA

After a plague killed a lot of the American population; seventeen year old Dani and her family live in a very different America. When the news breaks that their new leader is forcing children to move to 'safety camps', Dani's parents encourage her to flee, taking her five year old brother, Brody, and Dani's best friend, Kit with her. 

They seek refuge in the Black Hills of South Dakota; where her family once owned a cabin. However, once they reach their destination they realise that these old cabins have been overrun; the residents in these camp? All teenagers. 

Never out of danger and always on the watch, Dani and the other residents of Tent City must fight in this new world they find themselves in.

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I was given this book by the Author in exchange for an honest review

I just don't know. Been sitting here with a blank screen for the last 10 minutes just trying to write something! That does not mean it was bad, far from it, it means I just don't know how to put this.

I'll try!

At first glance, it's pretty much your basic dystopian package. Once you progress through the novel it becomes very interesting. The explanation to why things are the way they are is fantastic and I found the insert of religious aspects very refreshing. While the book is realistic for the most parts there are a few moments where just that little bit of fantasy is added, however it does not take from the story and you just accept them.

The book had me turning page to page (or more like swiping) and due to this I really did not pick out any errors or typos and from what I can tell; it was fantastically well written.

I thought the descriptions in the book were fantastic and that nothing was over done. There was nothing I wanted more of and by the same token, there was nothing I wanted less of. 

The twists were fantastic and the ending... wow. I had not guessed that! No spoilers in this review, so you must read the book.

My only little issues was the fact there was a bit of a love triangle going on; and the relationship between the two boys was a little cheesy. However, that really is personal preference and it is needed to assist the story and once I had got over it, it worked perfectly. 

The characters for the most part were fantastic, however, I still felt they were for the most part, part of your basic dystopain package. What is it with teenagers and running?

Dani - Normal female protagonist who for the most part was a whiny teenage girl. However, I accept that, it's obvious she's come from a very sheltered background; her five year old brother is still treated like a baby, so her mother obviously wants her children to remain children! Yet, she does grow as a character and she admits that she was useless at the start of her journey and finds herself a lot stronger at the end.

Brody - Dani's five year old brother. I would like to praise the author on how well Brody was written. The fact the author is a mother would have assisted to his character creation. He was perfect and very believable!

 

Kit - Her best friend. What I disliked about her, is the fact this duo set up is so often used. The quiet one who can not talk to boys is best friends with the out going pretty blonde who gets all the boys. As you can guess, Kit is in the latter section. She is loyal to Dani and looks after Brody when needed but I still did not like her. I found her very annoying.

Then you have the two boys, which I did state earlier in my review that I found this rather cheesy; Jack and Bentley, the two opposites. Due to them being such opposites I don't have a preference, they were both well written and stood out individually.

So, I am struggling so give this book a star rating. I really liked it, have nothing bad to say. But, it really was your generic dystopian novel. If you like the genre you'll like this book, and by the same token, if you have never read the genre it's a great book to read.

So I'm going to give it a 3.5 and I hope that the next book continues to grow and that it starts to really stand out. 

Price: £2.68
Buy it: Amazon