Review Detail

When Reese, her debate partner David and their teacher are in the airport trying to head back to California, things start getting weird. Reese sees birds fall to the ground outside and then the news starts to light up. Planes are crashing, all over North America, after running through flocks of birds. The government grounds all planes until they can figure out what is going on. This doesn't leave Reese's party much choice, but to rent a car and drive home. When a carjacking goes wrong though, Reese and David find themselves alone and traveling on the Extraterrestrial Highway. When a bird flies at the car, Reese swerves to avoid it and ends up getting into a terrible accident. The next few days are fuzzy put she wakes up in a government medical facility. They have her sign a confidentiality form and then send her home. Reese feels like something isn't right though. Somehow she's not getting the full story. The only person she can talk to about it is David, but he doesn't know any more than she does. They are going to have to dig deep to find out what is going on. Everything they thought they knew is wrong and the government can't always be trusted.

I went into this novel not knowing anything about it, besides the fact that it was written by Malinda Lo. This was way more weird than I had expected. Weird in a good way though. I really liked trying to figure out what had happened and what was going on with Reese and David.

Reese was a very confused character. She just wasn't sure what she was feeling or what was going on. As soon as she met Amber, it was like BOOM chaos-brain. Amber was an odd character, and I'm still not sure how I feel about her. I wish we got to know David a little bit better. He was nearly a main character, but I feel like I don't know him at all. I know Julian much better. He was fantastic. Julian was my favorite character, even if at times he sounded crazy. He just had such a level-head about him. Even when the words he was saying sounded crazy, the way he said it made me think that it was the completely logical explanation.

I was so creeped out in the beginning of this novel. The birds! Malinda Lo just nailed the beginning. She made it eerily realistic and every time I heard birds outside I felt creeped out. This novel takes place in 2014, so a not too distant future and a totally believable one...mostly. I think it's a believable one, but the more skeptical might disagree.

Definitely check this book out if you're looking for something a little creepy and very different. I was satisfied with how this book ended. It was a great first novel. I can't wait to see what happens in the sequel.

First Line:
"The birds plummeted to the tarmac, wings loose and limp."

Favorite Line:
"Amber smelled like cupcakes, and long after she had waved and headed off in the opposite direction, the scent lingered in Reese's memory: buttercream, and the sweetness of sugar."