Survival Colony 9

By: Joshua David Bellin
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books (Simon & Schuster)
Publication Date: September 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4814-0354-2
Reviewed by: Amy Lignor
Date: June 28, 2014

The world is basically gone – a devastated, desert land where humans have not been able to stay alive. Everywhere you look are vast, endless areas of dust and debris – the only remnants of life left behind. Survival Colony Nine, however, is a band of humans who are striving to not only find food and shelter, but are also guarding against the evil Skaldi that roams the lands, doing their very best to take every human who’s left out of the picture for good. Unfortunately, these beasts can do even more – they can actually take over the body of the human and infiltrate colonies where they can then earn humans’ trust and destroy anyone who may be left.

His name is Querry Genn, and the young man has even more issues than everyone else, considering the fact that he has no memory. Each and every day his father attempts to retrain and reteach Querry all the information he has lost in the depths of his memory banks after an accident. He teaches him how to battle, how to search, and how to protect himself and the group. With his father in charge, Querry also faces the ‘favoritism’ gossip, with a boy named Yov who definitely likes to taunt Querry and put him in his place.

Along with the rest of the group is a girl named Korah. Not only is Querry infatuated and awed by her beauty (even though she is the girlfriend of another member of the group), but he also feels like she is the only person he can talk to. But no matter what seems to happen – from running fast and scared from the Skaldi who are on their trail to discovering an abandoned location where food awaits, Querry’s mind never stops spinning. He knows there is something locked inside his memory that is pushing him away from the group, and if he unearths that secret he may just find himself in unchartered and extremely unfriendly territory.

For those readers who went crazy over The Maze Runner, this is one title that will have you ‘hitting the books’ once again. With the secrecy and the adventure of that title mixed with a bit of the old Thunderdome, this debut novel by Joshua Bellin is most certainly an edge-of-your-seat thrill ride.

Quill says: The action never stops, and Querry is definitely a character you will root for!