""I'll tell you a weird thing about apocalypses - a thing I didn't even know until I was in one: they seem pretty bad, don't they? Well, take it from me: they can always get worse."
Three months after the killer rain first fell, Ruby is beginning to realise her father might be dead . . . and that she cannot survive alone. When a chance encounter lands her back in the army camp, Ruby thinks she is safe - at a price. Being forced to live with Darius Spratt is bad enough, but if Ruby wants to stay she must keep her eyes - and her mouth - shut. It's not going to happen. When she realizes what is going on - the army is trying to find a cure by experimenting on human subjects - Ruby flips out . . . and makes an even more shocking discovery: she's not useless at all. The Storm begins . . ."
H2O is a favorite book of mine. I love its thrilling action, its high stakes, and the creepiness that sent me underneath the blankets and shivering for warmth (and fearing the rain that was terrorizing me for the last few days or so). I was so desperate to find out what happened next that I was tempted to put the book on hold at the local library. (But I wasn't that desperate. Not yet.) But one day, the book was in and I checked it out.
And there it was. The Storm.
Surprisingly, I find myself to be bored by it all.
Let's start with the story. There is something missing in the book. It isn't the lack of action. It isn't the lack of characters. But I suppose it is the lack of tension and its too obvious foreshadowing. (Of course, that isn't all and I'll explain in the paragraphs below. See what I said about the villain of the novel.)
The voice of Ruby doesn't stick as clearly as it used to. Back in H2O, I was happy with her different tone and the writing style present in the book. It's much different than everything else. An unusual tone. Some uniqueness. But after reading The Storm, I find it dull and boring. All the parts are there, but it is missing the spark that is evident in H2O. It's as if the author threw a lot of the good stuff for the first book, and then the second book stalled because of lack of material and twists. (Interesting twists, I mean. There are twists, but they aren't as the first book's stunning, biblical-level revelations.)
Ruby herself is kicking butts and is still being awesome, but towards the ending, I'm really scratching at my head. I feel like I'm missing a logical step or as if I've been watching a DVD with scratches. Logic fails, and even when I go back, I can't make left or right of it.
The villain ends up disappointing me. Some hype makes me excited for a little bit until... Wham. (No, I will not spill spoilers.) I expected some big climax, but instead the ending goes by too quickly. (Not enough words!)
Overall, The Storm is a disappointing sequel that doesn't follow through on H2O's heels. It's just not as interesting, and the plot is much more wonky than the previous book.
Rating: One out of Five
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