The Farm (The Farm)

by Emily McKay

[jeannamichel]

In the Before, everything was like it is now in the real world. Vampires sparkled in movies, instead of chowing down on human flesh in real life. But, now, monsters known as Ticks have taken over a nation in less than six months. Teenagers reside in Farms, where they are fattened like cattle to bleed dry for the Ticks outside the fence. Lily and her autistic twin, Mel, intend to escape before their 18th birthday. When Carter, a familiar face from Before, shows up and offers a way out, they take it. Now they just need to survive.

When I read what The Farm was about, I was ready to dive right in. As much as I wasn’t sure if I wanted to read another vampire book, there was something about this one which made me want to read it right away. It sounded so similar to The Daybreakers, a film made in 2009, about vampires taking over the world. In the movie, just like this book, the vampires farm the humans for blood. As much as the movie was just okay, the concept of farming humans and vampires taking over the world seemed very promising. The Farm was different in the way that it was in the perspective of one of the farm occupants. The Daybreakers trailer is below.

Emily McKay created this world filled with vampire lore. One of the most fantastic storylines with vampires I have heard in a long time. She calls them Ticks (and Tocks), just the title makes them sound remarkably unique. Her writing blew me away, from beginning to end. I wanted to continuously jump ahead because I almost couldn’t stand not knowing what was going to happen next.

Alternating point of views are sometimes not the best, if written the wrong way they can easily be confusing. However, with The Farm, the narratives were written nicely and I didn’t get lost at all. It was interesting to read about and get in the mind of an autistic girl. There are too few novels with main characters who have autism. Carter was the cliché hot boy of the group but McKay wrote him in such a way that made him seem much more than that. He was compelling and I wanted to know more about him. I enjoyed Lily’s narration the most; she would doubt herself often which was a fantastic way to get the reader to doubt what was happening as well.

The plot flowed at a good pace, not too fast and not slow at all. However, it was the action packed scenes which kept me reading for more. There were a bit of twists in The Farm but the most anticipated twist was predictable. There was a superpower talked up throughout the entire book but one minute I would understand it and the next something would throw me off. Something didn’t add up with it. The ending upset me. It seemed too rushed and I felt McKay could have slowed down in the plot. However, I am anticipating the release of the second one because McKay left it off at such an agonizing point.

The Farm was a magnificent take on vampires. As much as the vampire era is leaving for a while and dystopia has taken the world by storm, make sure you read this one. The Farm is fresh, unique, and action packed.