Mini Book Reviews: The Wild Robot

The Wild Robot by Peter Brown

Published in 2016 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Genre: Sci-fi, juvenile fiction

Format: Hardcover, 279 pages, library

Rating: 4.5 stars

Roz is a robot who gets stranded on an island with only animals as companions. She raises a goose and learns how to survive in the wild with the help of all her furry friends. Until one day more robots show up to bring her back home. 

I loved Roz and her animal friends. She tries to learn and teach and survive. It's the only way she knows how to do things. But where does she come from? Who are these robots that want to take her to a place she's never known? Who created her and for what purpose? It's a fun ride through the natural world. Brown brings philosophy into his book for young readers. What makes something human? Who gets to decide who lives and who dies? My son and I are looking forward to book 2!

The Call by Peadar O'Gulin

Published in 2016 by Scholastic Inc.

Genre: Young Adult, horror

Format: Kindle, 320 pages, Own

Rating: 4 stars

The island of Ireland has been surrounded by mist and has lost all outside communication with the world. The old fae the Sidhe are coming to take back their island that they lost thousands of years ago. In their revenge they "call" teenagers to their forsaken land. Can the teens survive the hunt of the Sidhe? They have 3 minutes and 4 seconds our time to survive but in the land of the fae it's hours. Now Ireland trains all of their teenagers to survive their time in the land of the fae. Some don't make it back, some make it back seriously injured and horribly misshapen.

It reminded me a little bit of Hunger Games. The teens are survival training. But they're not fighting each other or at least not yet. It's bloody but not gloriously so. Nessa is a great character. She can't use her legs well but she makes up for it in other ways. But she knows when she's called...she probably won't survive. I loved the weaving of Irish myth with dystopia. It's a clever idea and I look forward to the next book.

The Ruin by Dervla McTiernan

Published in 2018 by Penguin Books

Genre: Crime thriller

Format: Kindle, 400 pages, Own

Rating: 3.5 stars

Cormac Reilly was a young cop when he answered the domestic call that found Hilaria Blake dead and her two children Maude and Jack left home alone. Jack was only 5 and his sister a young teenager. She disappeared from the hospital. Twenty years later Jack is found dead in the water from a presumed suicide. His partner Aisling can't imagine he would've done it nor his long-lost sister Maude. Cormac is new to the force since he moved back there with his partner Emma. He's not loved in the department and things are being kept from him. He knows there is more going on. How does it all connect?

I enjoyed the atmosphere and the mystery. The ending fell apart a bit. And the villain was a little too over the top for my liking. Quite the first villain trope. But it's a good debut and I will probably read her next one. I bet this one would be fun to listen to with all the Irish names and accents.

The Call and The Ruin were read as part of the Spring Into Horror Readathon hosted by Michelle at Seasons of Reading.