Review by Jessica
December 2012 by Berkley Trade
420 pages
Amazon + Good Reads
4/5 stars
"Life was different in the Before: before vampires began devouring humans in a swarm across America; before the surviving young people were rounded up and quarantined. These days, we know what those quarantines are—holding pens where human blood is turned into more food for the undead monsters, known as Ticks. Surrounded by electrical fences, most kids try to survive the Farms by turning on each other…
And when trust is a thing of the past, escape is nearly impossible.
Lily and her twin sister Mel have a plan. Though Mel can barely communicate, her autism helps her notice things no one else notices—like the portion of electrical fence that gets turned off every night. Getting across won’t be easy, but as Lily gathers what they need to escape, a familiar face appears out of nowhere, offering to help…
Carter was a schoolmate of Lily’s in the Before. Managing to evade capture until now, he has valuable knowledge of the outside world. But like everyone on the Farm, Carter has his own agenda, and he knows that behind the Ticks is an even more dangerous threat to the human race..."
The Farm took me completely by surprise. I had not really heard anything about the book so I honestly didn't have high hopes for it because of the synopsis. It's a dystopian thriller with a virus that turns people into vampire type things, I mean to me that sounds like most books that have been released since The Hunger Games and Warm Bodies. So I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this book.
For starters, the book switches bares rations between three different people. I always love that, but what it even better was that one of those people were autistic. It was really interesting seeing the author's take on how an autistic person sees and interprets the world around them. I have never read anything like that before, and ended up looking forward to those narrations the most.
Another great thing about the book that I love and don't see often enough is how much detail the author put into the story. The entire book spanned only a few days, but was still fast paced and exciting enough that it never dragged on. I love when author's are able to write out whole days of a character's life and make it interesting instead if just skimming over most of their lives and only showing small moments.
The paranormal aspect of the book was very interesting. I wasn't expecting it with the science fiction and dystopian themes already so strong in the book, but I really enjoyed it and though the author handled it well. With the way the book ended I am super impatient to get the next book to see what happens since the driving force of the book is shattered in a way. I wonder how the story will continue on, and can not wait to find out.
I highly recommend this book. It's a very good story with great characters, an amazing plot, and a romance that had me on the edge of my seat. I was very surprised by how much I loved this book, and hope that more people will read it and give the series a chance.
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