Salt and Stone by Victoria Scott

February 16, 2015     erinbook     Book review

Salt & Stone by Victoria Scott


Release Date: February 24, 2014
Publisher: Scholastic Press
320 Pages
Received: From Publisher
Format: ARC


Rating:
DNF









Description: What would you do to save someone you love?


In Fire & Flood, Tella Holloway faced a dangerous trek through the jungle and across the desert, all to remain a Contender in the Brimstone Bleed for a chance at obtaining the Cure for her brother. She can’t quit–she has to win the race, save Cody, and then fight to make sure the race stops before it can claim any more lives. In the next legs of the race, across the ocean and over mountains, Tella will face frostbite, sharks, avalanche, and twisted new rules in the race.

But what if the danger is deeper than that? How do you know who to trust when everyone’s keeping secrets? What do you do when the person you’d relied on most suddenly isn’t there for support? How do you weigh one life against another?

The race is coming to an end, and Tella is running out of time, resources, and strength. At the start of the race there were one hundred twenty-two Contenders. As Tella and her remaining friends start the final part of the race, just forty-one are left–and only one can win.

Review: Oh man, am I disappointed. I have been dying to read this book since I finished Fire and Flood earlier this year but I wanted to wait until closer to the release date. Maybe if I had read them back to back I would have been able to finish this book, but probably not. There were a few things that I just could not get past.

Let’s start with the big one. There are a few lines in this book that I can’t believe even made it into print of any form. Things like Tella trying to be a tough guy and using terms that should never come out of any character’s mouth (because they don’t sound tough at all). I’m sorry Tella, you are not a tough guy. Why are you acting this way? The way she talks about lusting after Guy is weird in more than one instance. Forgetting the weird popsicle analogy she uses at one point, some of the things she has said about Guy are kind of weirdly violent. It’s both ridiculous and terrifying at the same time. It’s certainly not sexy. The things she says are not the way you talk about people, it’s the way you talk about food or a cute pet. There were certainly some weirdly phrased parts of Fire and Flood and I thought they were fun and quirky. These are not fun, they make me uncomfortable.

Which brings me to the romance itself. I used to really like Guy in Fire and Flood. I’m really not sure what happened but I started to really resent the whole romance. Part of it is that Tella just became really annoying whenever she thought about Guy. Then Guy started being really annoying in how he was talking to Tella. At that point I just said forget it, resisted the urge to throw the book, and put it away.

I didn’t even make it halfway. There were too many silly lines that took me out of the story and killed the mood, too much petty weirdness between Tella and Guy, and too many other books to read that I know I’ll enjoy. Sorry, this one’s not for me.

What did you think of Salt and Stone? Share in the comments.

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2 responses to “Salt and Stone by Victoria Scott

  1. I enjoyed it. But I agree that it was harder to like Guy this time around. Sorry you didn't enjoy it as much. I think maybe because I'm so awkward myself that the strange lines she said didn't bother me. I feel like sometimes really random thoughts like that pop up in my head, and I try not to share them out loud because people might think like you did. 🙂 You can check out my review HERE.

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