Count Down

by Michelle Rowen

[boghunden]

I just finished this book and now I don't know what to do with my life. It was soooooo good! I need a moment to breathe.

Okay, first of all: Yes, this is very similar to The Hunger Games, yet it's completely different. The story's very fastpaced and you're thrown right into the game from page one. A lot of the world building is spared, instead it's just action, action, action. I like that! I didn't need any more description than what I got.

Let's take a moment to appreciate Kira. What a bad-ass heroine! She's an amazing MC, as well as Rogan is. I feared this would be another swooney lovestory, but fortunately that wasn't the case. Of course there was a bit of romance, but the main focus was on Countdown, the game. It was such a joy to finally read a YA book focusing on other things than love.

As I already said, this did remind me a lot of The Hunger Games, and I can't really point out why it didn't bother me. Sure, it was different at some points, but this "society will kill you if you don't XXX"-plot is such a big part of both books, that it's hard not to compare them. Whether it was the writing style, the characters or the plot itself, I don't know, but one thing I do know is this: it's one of the best books I've read so far this year. You should definitely pick this one up, it truly is an actionpacked book!