BOOK TITLE: PODs
ISBN: 9781937053284
AUTHOR:
Michelle Pickett
GENRE: Fiction
NUMBER OF PAGES: 288
FORMAT: Kindle
ebook.
SERIES / STANDALONE: PODs
#1
REVIEW BY: Dhivya
Balaji
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/20539669-dhivya-balaji
HOW I GOT THIS BOOK: The
author sent us a gift on kindle. This is part of the blog tour.
REVIEW:
What happens when a deadly virus
threatens to destroy people? What steps must the government take to prevent
this from happening? Will these steps be effective? What happens to the
families who are ripped apart? These are the questions dealt with in this
novel. Michelle Pickett has given us a few pointers to think about in this
novel.
Evangeline is a teenager and only
daughter. Her parents try to protect her from all the evils of the world, but
one day, the news of a deadly virus that has no cure breaks on television.
Evangeline is terrified, of dying, of having to lose loved ones, of leaving her
parents and friends, of leaving the comfortable life that she leads. With
terror in her mind, Eva waits for the miracle cure to appear. But she is sorely
disappointed when the government announces that the cure is impossible.
The government chooses to save a
select few citizens and quarantine them until the virus decimates the nation or
at least until a cure is found. Evangeline finds herself one of the (un)lucky
few to be chosen in the raffle to be kept safe at the Populace Obliteration
Defence (POD) system. Is she lucky to have her life saved? Is it necessary at
the cost of leaving her parents forever? Evangeline’s moral dilemma is brought
out well. But she chooses to go ahead on her parents’ insistence.
But once under scrutiny, Evangeline
finds that all is not what it seems in the government scheme. The raffle is
allegedly rigged to choose a unique set of people. Shut with like minded people
in a POD, Eva starts forming a reluctant bond with those people. They form a
group of sorts only to be brutally divided. When Eva is allowed back into the
country a year later, she finds that the virus is still existent and all that
protection would be continued.
In the tale of love, loss and
melancholy, Eva finds herself getting close to a POD occupant and aches for him
after the separation. She settles reluctantly into a new life when she finds
her first love again. Is she ready to forego her new found life to get back
with him? Eva’s decision helps clear her mind and she sees the world is not
what it seems. Outside the protected communities, the virus has mutated into
worse forms. Eva, being our heroine, tries to fight against the mutant humans,
who were once her friends and who are now ready to rip her throat. Along with
her love, Eva journeys in search of safety. Whether she perishes or lives to
tell the tale forms the rest of the plot.
Given an interesting story line, the
book could have been made a bit racier. A little extra concentration on the
fates of the side characters involved would have given a better closure. And it
is a point worthy of note that the story does not actually make the reader
realise the magnitude of the virus.
We are only given a take on the virus and its mutation in thoroughly non
medical terms. Readers can research mutation while reading this book to have a
better experience and understanding of why the characters are subjected to the
various horrors.
As a summary, the book is a good
concept handled slightly way off the mark. It is like food that is bland, it
doesn’t taste wrong, but there can be a little more spice. And the
predictability could have been skirted around. For a strong topic such as
government oppression (the book starts heavily with it) the book seems to lose
heart midway and steer off topic sometimes. Otherwise, it is a perfectly
relatable read for a relaxed holiday.
WHAT I LIKED: The
new concept, the practicality of the story
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER: There
is a noticeable emphasis on the lead character’s inner turmoil, teenage trouble
and raging hormones rather than other things that matter.
VERDICT: Go
for it if you like novels to be midway between light and heavy.
RATING: 4/5
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Michelle is a reader, writer and
mother of twin eight year old daughters and a twelve year old son. Between
helping her kids with their homework and being a football mom, she writes young
adult fantasies, science/fiction and paranormal romances and has recently
started dabbling in young adult and new adult contemporary romance.
She has an obsession on Reese’s peanut
butter cups and writes only when she has hoodies on. She loves watching cooking
shows but swears that the closest she will get to being a gourmet chef is to
make her lead character one!
She was born and raised in Flint,
Michigan. And she now lives in a sleepy suburb of Houston, Texas with her
extremely supportive, not to mention gorgeous husband, three school-aged kids,
a 125 pound labradoodle that thinks he’s a lap dog, and a very persnickety cat.
Her
work includes:
Milayna,
March 2014
Milayna’s
Angel (Milayna #2), September 2014
The
Infected, a PODs novel, November 2014
The
Innocent (Milayna #3), April 2015.
She
always loves to hear from readers, bloggers and other authors!
Find her here.
Goodreads: http://goodreads.com/michelle-pickett
Buy
Links for PODs:
Buy Links for Milayna:
EDITIONS AVAILABLE:
Digital, Paperback
PRICE: Rs
318 for a Kindle edition
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