Recently, I read a young adult novel titled “Armageddon Summer”. The book “Armageddon Summer” is a thriller about two teens brought together by the supposed end of the world.
The book stars Marina, a young girl who has a big family, and more than her fair share of responsibility, and Jed, a boy with a troubled family. Marina’s mom and Jed’s dad are both members of a cult that believe that the world is to end on a certain date, and that date is coming close. So the two teens are all but dragged up the mountain to brave out the end of the world with the nutcases who think that they are going to be saved. Tempers flare by peoplee who aren’t being allowed on the mountain, and the tension in the camp steadily escalates. On the eve of the apocalypse, tragedy strikes, and their own world, on top of the mountain, goes down in flames.
I began this book with a positive outlook, expecting it to be a suspenseful, thrilling, good read. Yet I walked away discouraged. The plot was something that could’ve have been used as a dictionary example of “cliché”. I found myself predicting every one of the plot twists, and was extremely disappointed in the unoriginality of the scripting. As for the characters, they were great. Great for a different book. I think these characters would have been much better in a lighter book, not an end-of-the-world dark book like this. The setting of the book is on top of a mountain, which I think you have to be a little overly imaginative to believe. I wish there was even a definite theme, other than “mountains are good places to hide from the apocalypse”; if there was a good theme, the plot wouldn’t have holes big enough to drive a Mack truck through.
The book may appeal to people who prefer books with less of a suspenseful plot, but for those who want ssomething that will keep you reading. The only thing that kept me hooked was the fact that we had to read it for class. I give it two stars, one for the book itself, one for the sake of my conscience and me feeling bad for the book.
Armeggedon summer is O.K. in terms of writing and detail, but the characters are out of place, the setting is unrealistic, and the plot is flat. I would not recommend this to anyone, unless I had something against them.