Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Virulent Books 2 & 3 by Shelbi Wescott

   After reading the first one in the Virulent series, I had to read the other two to find out what happens to Lucy, Grant, and the others.  So I am taking the time to give you a little idea of what books 2 and 3 are like. Part of what I love about the series is how the background information about some of the key players is slowly told.  No one's story is just immediately out there for everyone to see and just understand.  It requires careful attention and it requires you reading all three to really understand the reasons behind some of the things happening in the series.  Motive is a big deal in a book.  Without it, the book can turn out boring.  But this series has some powerful motives behind it.

The System: Book 2

   Grant and Lucy left in a hot air balloon to find the rest of the King family.  Lucy has no idea what she expects to find when she reaches the coordinates that her dad left as a clue.  Meanwhile, they are traveling the best that they can.  They find cars with gas still in them and drive as much as possible, but otherwise they are on foot.  The sight they see outside of their own town makes them realize just how bad things are.  This is basically the apocalypse, and possibly the end of most of humanity.  Grant and Lucy wonder if there are any others out there that survived since Grant did.  Grant was never immunized against the virus that swept through the entire world.  But he survived while everyone else died.
   Scott King's directions lead Lucy (his daughter) and Grant to Brixton, Nebraska.  Literally a town with only a handful of people.  But what they find is not what they expected.  They start finding bodies that were dead way before the virus, all of them executed.  A whole town was wiped out.  When they find the secret underground lair of Huck Truman (the man in charge of the virus and everything underground now), things get even more dangerous, especially for Grant who is an anomaly.  He is proof that others could have survived, and that goes against Huck's plan.  What's worse is that when Lucy is reunited with her family, they seem different.  They seem to be trying to settle into this new life under Huck's rule while Lucy hates it down underground.  And it puts her at odds with Huck and his family as well as her own family.
   Meanwhile, Ethan is still back at home waiting to see if Lucy and Grant will bring back people to rescue them from their situation.  Ethan's crushed legs have gotten worse and he is fighting for his life.  The doctor there is doing what she can, but she can only do so much when they have limited resources.


The Variables: Book 3

   Lucy and Grant are finally together after having a hard time freeing Grant from her own father's experiments.  Huck wanted to know as much as possible about why Grant was immune so that another virus could be created to kill those immune to the old one.  Although Scott King seems cold and distant, he is trying his best to keep his family protected.  Being protected means going along with whatever Huck wants or else.  Lucy is still at odds with her parents over how they are acting about their new home and is constantly fighting with them about it.  To make matters worse, Huck has started his reign of terror in Book 3.  He wants absolute power and for no one to question him so he starts making examples of people with the new virus Scott made.  Ethan is back with his family as well as the boy Teddy.  While Teddy is living with the Kings, his future is uncertain as well.  There is another within the system wanting to raise the boy and they may very well get their wish.  In fact, in this book the fate of the whole King family is in a precarious position.  Circumstances have put them in all in danger.  Everyone in the family is also unhappy with the happenings around them, causing even more tension.
   While the Kings are underground, Darla (Teddy's mom) and Dean (Grant's dad) are making their way to Brixton to find their children.  When help came for Ethan, everyone else in their little group was killed besides them, Ethan, Teddy, and Ainsley.  Ethan is Ainsley's only friend.  Her mom was the doctor tending to Ethan.  She was killed during the "rescue".  The three of them are going to face harsh circumstances themselves.  They can only hope to get to Brixton in time to save everyone before the underground group is relocated to their permanent residences.



 

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