SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
SLJ Blog Network +
  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About TLT
  • Reviews
    • Book Reviews
    • A to Z Book Lists
    • Book Review Policy
  • Teen Issues
  • Middle Grade Mondays
  • Programs
    • TPiB
    • Tech Talk
  • Professional
    • Teen Services 101
    • Things We Didn’t Learn in Library School
  • MakerSpace
  • Projects
    • #SVYALit
    • #FSYALit
    • #MHYALit
    • #Poverty in YA Lit

February 19, 2014 by Karen Jensen, MLS

Book Review: Fire and Flood by Victoria Scott

February 19, 2014 by Karen Jensen, MLS   Leave a Comment

Tella and her family have moved to the middle of nowhere because of her sick brother.  Tella is bored, and sometimes resentful, but then she remembers why they are there and she manages to keep it in perspective.  One day, a blue box arrives with very obscure instructions.  She sees her father try to destroy it but it appears indestructible. There is a secret in that box . . .

Tella has been invited to participate in a race known as The Brimstone Bleed.  One winner will win a cure to any disease.  So of course Tella signs up, she loves her brother and who could resist an opportunity to save someone you love?  The race takes place over 4 terrains, with the first two being covered in Fire and Flood.  Their is thrilling action, character growth, a little bit of romance, deception and backstabbing, peril and death, and so much more.  It’s a little bit of Hunger Games with some His Dark Materials thrown in as each contestant is paired with a genetic enhanced Pandora that has special powers that may help them during the course of the race.

SCROLL TO KEEP READING THIS POST

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Tella is an interesting main character.  She is girly (she sometimes really laments the inability to get a nice manicure in the midst of the race) and yet strong and formidable when she needs to be, well mostly.  In fact, Tella is a very realistic depiction of an ordinary girl plucked from her every day life and thrown into a life or death race:  sometimes she whines, sometimes she is overwhelmed, but ultimately she keeps pressing on and rises to the occasion because what choice does she have. This, for me, was one of the best parts of the entire thing: Tella.  In her complexity and contradictions she is real, relatable, and you can’t help but root for her.

 Read About Victoria Scott Discussing Femininity in Young Adult Litearture

F&F is also really cool because although there is a guy – whose name is conveniently Guy – and they do have an attraction to one another, even Tella periodically questions whether or not the attraction is because of the dire circumstances they find themselves in or if they would still be attracted in their real life.  And this is not the driving force of the narrative, but an additional element.  In fact, Tella forms an alliance with several members of the race who are pretty fully fleshed out and they all have meaningful interactions and back story.  Plus, there are the Pandoras, which are pretty cool.

One of the elements that initially bothered me about F&F was the fact that Guy seemed too good at the race, which was very convenient and sometimes took me out of the story, but eventually there is a good discussion about that which reveals important things and everything is golden.

The bad guys are epically bad, there is an interesting reveal about the race itself, and the action is intense and engaging.  There are some uniquely new approaches to some familiar themes in current ya, the main character is uniquely realistic and relatable, and the action is nonstop – readers will be very engaged and satisfied, chomping at the bit for the next book. Highly recommended, I seriously enjoyed this book.

Coming February 25th from Scholastic.  ISBN: 9780545537469
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Filed under: Book Reviews, Fire and Flood, Victoria Scott

SHARE:

Read or Leave Comments

About Karen Jensen, MLS

Karen Jensen has been a Teen Services Librarian for almost 30 years. She created TLT in 2011 and is the co-editor of The Whole Library Handbook: Teen Services with Heather Booth (ALA Editions, 2014).

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

December 2013

10 Titles to Look for in 2014 - Karen's Most Coveted

by Karen Jensen, MLS

April 2013

Book Review: The Collector by Victoria Scott

by Karen Jensen, MLS

January 2023

Book Review: Play the Game by Charlene Allen

by Karen Jensen, MLS

January 2023

Book Review: The Davenports by Krystal Marquis

by Karen Jensen, MLS

January 2023

Post-It Note Reviews: A mayor dog, a bunch of Big Bads, a mobster, and more!

by Karen Jensen, MLS

ADVERTISEMENT

SLJ Blog Network

100 Scope Notes

Surprise! Announcing CABOOSE

by Travis Jonker

A Fuse #8 Production

Jump Into this Guest Post by Shadra Strickland About Her Latest Book: Jump In!

by Betsy Bird

Good Comics for Kids

Kiss Number 8 | Review

by Johanna

Heavy Medal

What’s Coming in 2023, A Feedback Poll, and Goodbye for Now…

by Steven Engelfried

Teen Librarian Toolbox

WRITING FOR YOURSELF FIRST, a guest post by author M. K. Lobb

by Karen Jensen, MLS

The Classroom Bookshelf

The Classroom Bookshelf is Moving

by Erika Thulin Dawes

The Yarn

A Book 25 Years in the Making: Marla Frazee Visits The Yarn

by Travis Jonker

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Articles on SLJ

Reinvigorate Library Collections with "Active Nonfiction"

10 Spanish-Language and Bilingual Books for Transitional Readers to Enjoy

With Rampant Book Bans and Free Speech Under Fire, Three Educators Seek Advice | Scales on Censorship

Serving Students in Poverty: 12 Recommended Books for Tweens and Teens

Five Ways to Model SEL Competencies This School Year

Commenting for all posts is disabled after 30 days.

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

Follow This Blog

Enter your email address below to receive notifications of new blog posts by email.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

Primary Sidebar

  • News & Features
  • Reviews+
  • Technology
  • School Libraries
  • Public Libraries
  • Age Level
  • Ideas
  • Blogs
  • Classroom
  • Diversity
  • People
  • Job Zone

Reviews+

  • Book Lists
  • Best Books
  • Media
  • Reference
  • Series Made Simple
  • Tech
  • Review for SLJ
  • Review Submissions

SLJ Blog Network

  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal
  • Neverending Search
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn

Resources

  • 2022 Youth Media Awards
  • The Newbery at 100: SLJ Celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Award
  • Special Report | School Libraries 2021
  • Summer Reading 2021
  • Series Made Simple Spring 2021
  • SLJ Diverse Books Survey
  • Summer Programming Survey
  • Research
  • White Papers / Case Studies
  • School Librarian of the Year
  • Mathical Book Prize Collection Development Awards
  • Librarian/Teacher Collaboration Award

Events & PD

  • In-Person Events
  • Online Courses
  • Virtual Events
  • Webcasts
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Media Inquiries
  • Newsletter Sign Up
  • Content Submissions
  • Data Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Terms of Sale
  • FAQs
  • Diversity Policy
  • Careers at MSI


COPYRIGHT © 2023


COPYRIGHT © 2023