The Farm Review

420 pages

Life was different in the Before: before vampires began devouring humans in a swarm across America; before the surviving young people were rounded up and quarantined. These days, we know what those quarantines are—holding pens where human blood is turned into more food for the undead monsters, known as Ticks. Surrounded by electrical fences, most kids try to survive the Farms by turning on each other… And when trust is a thing of the past, escape is nearly impossible. Lily and her twin sister Mel have a plan. Though Mel can barely communicate, her autism helps her notice things no one else notices—like the portion of electrical fence that gets turned off every night. Getting across won’t be easy, but as Lily gathers what they need to escape, a familiar face appears out of nowhere, offering to help… Carter was a schoolmate of Lily’s in the Before. Managing to evade capture until now, he has valuable knowledge of the outside world. But like everyone on the Farm, Carter has his own agenda, and he knows that behind the Ticks is an even more dangerous threat to the human race...

Review:
I rarely get tired of dystopian vampire novels and this is not an exception. This is an interesting twist on typical vampire lore which makes for an exciting story. Imagine communities being built within fences where after a certain age you are fed to vampires to keep them satisfied. This new world is a harsh one where all kind of atrocities are committed in order to survive. This story is mostly told from Lily's point of view, also alternating between Carter and Mel. Lily, quite honestly, gets on my nerves. She never listens and is extremely stubborn when she's wrong most of the time. Mel is interesting as an autistic character since to others she seems like she doesn't see much but really she notices way more than most. Carter is such a great guy although he has his own motives behind his reappearance in Lily's life. There are a lot of secrets and mysteries to be solved about the truth behind the vampires destroying most of the human race. There is plenty of action that keep this story going at a great pace. I definitely recommend reading this if you like dystopian vampire novels.