Amelia is a tough kid and she is going thru a lot, her parents just got divorced, she moved from New York City to a small town in Pennsylvania, and she is trying to navigate a new school. Amelia isn't perfect, she has selfish moments and generous moments. She makes new friends who help her deal with bullies, gym class, and family trips.
I really enjoyed this book. Amelia goes through tough times, and she shows real emotions and feelings. Her character isn't sugar coated or made to seem perfect.
Kids will recognize parts of themselves in this book, and realize that others are going through similar experiences.
People thought life was a miracle, but it wasn't. Life was everywhere. The miracle was knowing you were alive. Sentience. Mind. That was the rare, precious gift.
What an absolutely creepy, crazy, and fantastic read. I don't think I have ever used the highlight feature on my Kindle as much I have while reading this book. I had so many quotes that I wanted to start this review with that I had to really narrow it down. I just want to start this review off by saying that I highly recommend this book, even if you think that this isn't the type of book that you would enjoy. I went a bit out of my comfort zone by reading this book and I managed to find a really awesome book.
When the book first starts everything is normal and readers are introduced to a few parents and a pediatrician. Readers get to see what their lives are normally like. Normal doesn't last too long in this book when suddenly all the children of the world are die from Herod syndrome. Everyone is struck with grief until the children come back to life. Parents realize that in order for their children to stay as how they were before their deaths they need one thing, blood. How far are these parents willing to go to save their children?
This book tended to alternate between being really creepy and at times terrifying to being just plain insane. It pretty much started off being creepy when the children were dying and then coming back to life and then after that everyone just went batshit crazy. The insanity in this book just kept building and building and I was completely hooked. I could feel my adrenaline running while reading this. Half the time I couldn't help but yell out loud at some of the characters.
I really enjoyed that the point-of-view switched between the parents and the pediatrician, David. It definitely made the story that much more interesting getting to see the events from different perspectives and getting to see how the characters dealt with those events. Some of these parents were absolutely insane (I'm looking at you Ramona) but I just couldn't get enough of it.
Craig DiLouie did a great job mixing the right amount of creepy with the right amount of crazy. I would definitely be interested in reading more from DiLouie. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the galley.
One more quote before I go...
Herod's syndrome had afflicted the parents worse than the children. Herod had the entire world dancing to its crazy tune.