Review: The Loners by Lex Thomas

Over the summer the librarian asked me to review the series Quarantine. I read the first book and wrote a review, and I have decided to publish it on my blog (it is also on Goodreads).

 The Loners is a riveting book about everyday people who attend high school, written by Lex Thomas as a young adult book series. Told from the several teenagers’ points of view enables us to be able to understand on a whole different level of what is happening in this messed up state.

   Set in modern day Colorado, it is hard to suspect anything could happen. It is a new school year, with a whole new building also. Enter David. The old quarterback for McKinley’s football team ends up getting into some fights that will put David and his little brother Will into the worst position. The whole school seems to know went down between him and the new quarterback, Sam, at the party. So when an illegally made virus sweeps the department, it’s two brothers up against the rest of McKinley. With an illness fatal to everyone except teenagers, they start to go crazy. The military locks them in to keep it from spreading and gangs are formed. David has a bounty on his head while trying to protect his brother. The same thing happens for months: food drops, try to survive, and avoid Varsity. On top of that, Will does not like David much. They are alone, or so they think. With tensions frequently arising, it is hard to believe these kids are still alive.

   One of the most enjoying matters this book has to offer is how even in a society where betrayal and killing is common, there is a group of people who still care for each other and would probably die for one another. They stick together and are continually fighting to make sure their buddies survive. The two brothers are just one picture of this. Sure, they have their fallouts throughout the book, but they are still there for each other.

   This is a young adult series, and for good reason. No one who is not a teenager or adult needs to read it or anyone who does not understand mature content. Throughout the first half of the book we get cussing in about each chapter. Yes, the teens are figuring out their new world but that is no reason for such language. Thankfully it dies out towards the end of the book. The word porn gets used when referring to a cell phone with pictures of a nude girl. This is not the only time where nudity is mentioned, there are about three others. We also encounter couples going slightly beyond kissing. Though not as bad as the above, the killings mixed with what the virus did were quite repulsive.

   Overall, this was a rather enjoyable book. Good and bad take on alternative viewpoint as to those in series such as Divergent, The Maze Runner or Gone. It showed me how the things that happen in those books are not limited to the future and could happen in our lifetimes. I liked the authors’ writing style and how there is still good, even in the life-threatening. I would not mind reading this book again, though I do not plan on doing so.