Monument 14

I have an odd liking for series where kids handle apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic situations that goes back to my first read of Battle Royale. That's still the best, hands down. Higson's The Enemy series is by far the best "zombie" series I've ever read. That one involves no adults. 

Monument 14 is almost entirely about kids, though there is more potential for adult survival than there was in The Enemy. 

The premise is that a volcanic eruption in the Canary Islands triggered a massive tsunami that struck the US East Coast and somehow led to a series of weather disasters. The first one is a catastrophic hailstorm that leads to our 14 kids taking shelter in Greenway, which is like a Target or Walmart. 

Somehow there are no employees present, aside from a few bodies outside that were killed by the hail. This seems very unlikely, considering stores like this should definitely have staff present at the same time kids are on their way to school. But we'll just write it off a little, shall we? It's more like Target in that there's no humongous food section with a deli or bakery, which is where a lot of those early employees would be. 

So our cast is six high schoolers, two eighth-graders, and six elementary age children. 

They're stuck in the store because the "riot gates" come down outside and now no one can get out or in. Thankfully, one of the high school girls (Astrid) worked in the Pizza Shack at the front of the store, so she's able to make food for them. Another high schooler (Niko) is a Boy Scout who works with one of the eighth graders, a tech genius, to figure out the best way for them to survive. There are two goof-offs. One's a popular jock (Jake) and the other more the popular bad boy type (Brayden). The second girl (Josie) is traumatized for the first half of the book or so, then goes into Mom mode and takes care of the little kids. The final high school age character is Dean, our POV guy. He's a writer with a crush on Astrid. Alex, his younger brother, is the tech genius. Sahalia is the other eighth grader, who tries really hard to act older than she is. 

The little kids are decent characters, too. Chloe is the oldest. She's in 3rd grade and pretty much a brat. Batiste is a 2nd grader who comes from a very religious family and tells everyone they're sinning. He's an annoying character at first, but comes into his own later on. I didn't like that Dean described him as "vaguely Asian." I get not knowing what he is, but the author could have had him mention it casually later on. Max and Ulysses are in 1st grade. Max has Seen Some Shit. He's hilarious. Ulysses is Hispanic surrounded by people that don't speak Spanish, so you feel bad for the little dude. Twins Caroline and Henry are Dean's neighbors, so they know him. They're the youngest at 5.

Most of the book is the kids figuring out how best to live in a giant store. They can't go outside because, guess what, a huge earthquake that hit the second day triggered friggin' chemical warfare. NORAD is nearby and it's leaking chemicals that have different effects based on blood type. Type O people become ragingly violent. Type A develop blisters that bleed and this can get so bad that they die. Type AB become paranoid and hallucinate. Type B has no outward effects but basically suffer reproductive failure. There are two incidents where the kids are exposed to the compounds, including one where it's apparently in the water system and they can't use the bathrooms now. I thought that was a bit much. Oh, and the lice outbreak was also unnecessary. 

One thing this book has that others that are similar tend to gloss over is a sexual element. There's a scene where Astrid and Jake are about to have sex and Dean spies on them. He didn't mean to stumble upon them in the dark so I'd get if they played it where he was scared they'd hear him so he was stuck nearby, but he watches for a bit. I won't be surprised if they end up making Dean and Astrid a couple eventually, but I didn't care for this bit of Dean's character. Then there's Sahalia. She's trying to be cool enough for the older boys, but they're paying attention to the older girls, so what does she do? Wears shorts you can see up and then does a wet t-shirt contest moment while everyone is washing their hair with lice shampoo. She does get the interest of the popular boys, but that's put a stop to by Josie. However, there's a horrible scene later on after two actual adult men come and one of them almost rapes her. SHE'S THIRTEEN. I actually find Sahalia really interesting as a character and I'd like to get into her head, but I will be glad if they get rid of this sexual element that surrounds the poor girl. 

Oh, speaking of sex, when the others all try to get to Denver airport where people are being evacuated, Astrid can't go...because she's fucking pregnant. Ugh. She and Dean are Type O so they turn into the rage monsters and it makes sense they stay at the store, but also she's afraid the baby might somehow be hurt by the chemicals. So at the end, the pair of them stay, along with Chloe, who's also Type O. Then Henry and Caroline run off the bus and stay, too. The next book I think is going to be split into at least two POVs.

I liked this book, but some of it was definitely overkill. The chemical agent getting into the water. The lice thing. The pedophilia. A lot of bad shit happened and it would have been enough without those incidents. I definitely got into it and I want to see what happens in the next two. I have less attachment to the characters though. Like there were characters in Battle Royale with two-page scenes that I cared about more than any of these kids. I'm hoping that improves in the next two books.