Review: Great YA Chilling Thriller
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 8, 2014
The Academy gripped me from the start and immediately became a pageturner I didn't want to put down. Pandemics are all too real, and the central character is going through a major rite of passage, so I found myself relating to a lot of the themes, while at the same time being blow away at the twist and turns. Asa has watched his own mother fall to the Wolf Flu, making him a lone wolf in a very real way. His fear and isolation make him a great hero-in-development (at almost 15 years old) as he tries to figure out what is happening to him in a high stakes world full of ominous and life-threatening mysteries where he doesn't know who he can trust.The sci-fi elements of Asa's new world are really inventive, including monkeys in the tundra, underground railways, mysterious flying men, human mutations and experiments. Leito's writing is stellar as he weaves the futuristic details into narrative through Asa's eyes. The suspense pulls the story forward with a great mix of narrative, dialogue with supporting characters, and memories/flashbacks. All told, it's suspenseful, dark, inventive and you'll be rooting for Asa to triumph. I'm definitely hooked!