Fire & Flood

This book shares a lot of similarities with other YA dystopian books but it was different and creative enough to pull off original characters with some really entertaining and thrilling writing.

The characters, especially the main characters, are what pushes the plot along and I highly enjoyed reading about their antics. The main character, especially, was quirky and had a great sense of humor even in the middle of the race. The only thing that bugged me about her in the beginning was that when she met another young teenage girl in the race who was blond and blue-eyed, she thought she would have to kill her. Obviously, she was joking but I'm getting sick of reading about girls hating other girls because they perceive them as more beautiful than themselves. Why does the reaction always have to be anger or hatred or any combination thereof? Anyway, besides that, I really did enjoy the MC's personality and courageousness even when she didn't know what the heck was going on.

I would call this a Hunger Games set in the modern world. There are a lot of similarities between this book and The Hunger Games but I'm happy to say that I would highly recommend the former even if you've already read the latter. (Maybe just not immediately after you've read The Hunger Games though, otherwise it will probably cause too many analogous comparisons in your head.)