Title: Countdown
Author: Michelle Rowen
Publisher: Harlequin Teen Australia
Release Date: 1st October 2013
Source: Bought
Rating: 3 out of 5
Description:
3
seconds left to live. Once the countdown starts, it cannot be stopped. 2 pawns
thrown into a brutal underground reality game. Kira Jordan survived her
family's murder and months on plague-devastated city streets with hard-won
savvy and a low-level Psi ability. She figures she can handle anything. Until
she wakes up in a barren room, chained next to the notorious Rogan Ellis.
1 reason Kira will never, ever trust
Rogan. Even though their lives depend on it. Their every move is controlled and
televised for a vicious exclusive audience. And as Kira's Psi skill
unexpectedly grows and Rogan's secrets prove ever more deadly, Kira's only
chance of survival is to risk trusting him as much as her instincts. Even if
that means running head-on into the one trap she can't escape.
Countdown wasn’t the heart-pounding, edge of the seat
story that I was expecting. Instead, Countdown was an enjoyable book comprising
of a very interesting plot, a mixture of genres and very fierce characters. Countdown
is very reminiscent of many dystopian novels like The Hunger Games in which
teenagers have to compete in a deadly game to survive. Excluding a few issues
with world building and romance, Michelle Rowan has combined a mixture of
genres right from dystopia, paranormal and science fiction to create an enjoyable
quick read.
Kira and Rogan
are forced to compete in a top-secret reality TV show called the Countdown.
They have to complete six dangerous levels in order to win or they get eliminated
from the game, meaning death. Both Kira and Rogan have complicated pasts. Kira’s
a thief and Rogan’s a murderer but now they have to rely on each other to
survive. The actual story surprised me. I thought that the entire book would
focus on the Countdown but I was pleasantly wrong. The story deviates from the
game in the second half of the book and certain events were very fascinating.
The second half of this book is where this story takes off despite its
predictable nature. Right from the
beginning the story is very straightforward to follow. The book jumps immediately
into Countdown and the story unravels from there. The artificial intelligence
aspect of this story was my favourite bit. The drones, implants and AI
technology were well incorporated into this story and made up an essential
aspect of the plot. All of the artificial intelligence was very fascinating to
read about.
The world building
was quite simple to follow but not detailed enough of me. I would have liked a bit more
background information about the society, plague and colony. The colony was one
aspect that was eluded to but not really explained in detail. The one thing in
this book that was disappointing was that there was quite a bit of telling and
not enough showing. Due to the way the game was introduced and played there
needed to be a lot of information provided about the characters and the game
itself and as a result that lead to a bit of information dumping. I do
understand why the book was set up this way but I still would have like a bit
more showing vs. telling. There were
also moments when characters needed answers and someone else provided them
making the proceedings seem a little bit too convenient. The levels in the
Countdown started of easy and progressively got harder. The latter challenges
were well through out and brutal with their tasks. The earlier levels could
have been a little harder in my opinion.
The characters
in Countdown were also a highlight. Both Kira and Rogan were stubborn, fierce
and funny. Kira was smart and street savvy with a very haunting past. She
always stood up for her self and fought for what she believed in. She always
trusted her instincts. Rogan was confident and cocky. Kira and Rogan together had a lot of
chemistry with plenty of banter. Their back and forth conversations made be
laugh. However their romance felt a little rushed for me especially since there
was a lot of distrust in their relationship. I felt like they didn’t know each other long enough to really
start falling for each other, especially since the story only takes place over
a couple of days.
Countdown was
an enjoyable read despite a few minor problems. If your looking for a fast fun read than this might be it.
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