A Book Review For You…

Framed for murder fourteen year old Alex Sawyer is sentenced to life without the chance of parole in Furnace, a maximum security penitentiary built a mile underground (much like the movie Fortress) specifically for youthful offenders. Watched over by vicious, uncaring, silver eyed guards who are backed up by super dog-creatures (much like things in The Chronicles of Riddick) and a warden who embodies evil there seems to be little hope offered to the inmates until Alex and friends form a daring escape plot.

On the narrative… The book is written in the first person. I rarely like books written from this point of view, it’s often too narrow leaving out parts that could add to the story because the narrator didn’t experience them. Beyond that we have to assume the narrator wins, survives, gets rescued, etc. simply because the manuscript exists.

I found the story line somewhat unbelievable. Children in what has to be the worst prison environment since Andersonville? Fed rotting slop and used for hideous biological experiments? I just can’t see it ever happening.

That being said it’s not a BAD book. It’s unfortunately also not a great book. But it did keep me engaged. I’ll be willing to check out the sequel to find out what happens next.