Burn Out by Kristi Helvig and Endangered by Eliot Schrefer REVIEWS!

If you have not checked out Burn Out by Kristi Helvig, you are missing out. And I know no one has checked out the library copy--it's just sitting there. I started this book the night before I left for my Young Adult conference last Thursday...by the time my plane landed in Texas the next day, the book was finished.  It was so fast paced, you don't know WHO to trust, it's SUCH a wild ride. And for me, the best part was that I met Kristi Helvig, the author, at my conference! She is an incredible nice and polite woman, and she even snuck me the second book of this series that won't be released until next year!

I also read Endangered by Eliot Schrefer, which is particularly near and dear to my heart, because while I did not live amidst a civil war in Congo, I stayed in another African country were poverty, disease, and starvation runs rampant.  Much of the physical layout of the area is similar, and I was able to relate to that portion of the story...

So, my summary and review of Burn Out!

It is decades into the future, and there is nearly no one left on Earth.  A meteor aimed at Earth was redirected by the U.S., but this particular meteor had lots of black matter, so when the meteor collided with the sun, the lifespan of the sun sped up, heating the entire surface of planet Earth dry, desolate, and capable of killing any human without the proper sunsuit.  Fortunately for the rich, they had money to relocate to a new planet where there is water and plant life.  

However, Tora is still stuck on Earth.  She does not have the resources or money to get herself to the new planet.  Her whole family is dead, either murdered, or killed by the sun.

Her father helped create bioweaponry that the government wants. Now. But only Tora (due to the vibrations of her body) can pull the trigger on the weapons. When Markus, a supposed friend, comes to visit Tora, she opens the door to an ambush.  Markus, along with a few comrades, want to take the guns by force to sell to the government.  When loyalties turn, and Tora is left alone, but must remain alive to work the weapons, she must accompany the band of misfits to find out how to escape the planet, and find out what REALLY happened to her little sister, and everything her father was hiding from her.

Burn Out is fast-paced and incredibly engaging.  The plot is similar to many books such as Enclave by Ann Aguirre or The Maze Runner trilogy by James Dashner (scorched Earth), but with some crazy plot twists that have yet to be seen in Young Adult Fiction.  Helvig creates relationships between her characters, but develops them piece by piece, that you must keep reading to find out exactly what drives each person, and what their end goal is.  How far will they go to reach it? Who will they kill? Readers will not be disappointed.  Helvig definitely sets the story up for a sequel--SOOOO many questions unanswered in the first book that you will be dying to learn in the next installment!

Endangered by Eliot Schrefer

In a country with civil unrest, diseases and poverty around every corner, and lack of support from the government, Congo is a dangerous place.  Yet Sophie visits her mother at the Bonobo refuge every summer.  When Sophie sees a man trying to sell a young, sick Bonobo, Sophie cannot say no to buying him.  But what she doesn't realize is that this will reignite the interest in killing or enslaving more of the Bonobos when locals realize they can get money out of them.

Sophie must deal with the repercussions of her decisions, but she finds solace in her new friend Bonobo, she names Otto.  Otto is, at first, sick, but Sophie is able to nurse him back to health and they become the best of friends.

When a civil war breaks out, Sophie is on her way to be sent back to the States to be with her father...only she cannot take Otto.  When Otto becomes distraught and suicidal seeing Sophie leave him, Sophie jumps out of the truck and begins a trek lasting months in the wilderness to save herself, Otto, and the last of the Bonobos of her mother's sanctuary.

This book is heart wrenching.  You realize just how close humans are in our DNA to Bonobos, and why the emotional connection between us is so dynamic and strong.  You begin to believe Otto is a child Sophie must save.  Schrefer captures the civil war of Congo in a way that readers can understand exactly what happened in Congo, but not relaying so much of the gory details.  It is an educational book in all forms--Congo history, science, Bonobo relations, human emotion and evolution.  This book will not disappoint.  In fact, you may want to go hug and play with a Bonobo yourself the moment you read the last page.