The Survival Game
Author: Nicky Singer
Publisher: Hodder Children's Books
Release date: August 2018
Pages: 384 pages
R.R.P: $16.99
In a world full of checkpoints and controls, can love and hope defy the borders? A searing, timely story, as arresting as it is beautiful.
Mhairi Anne Bain owns only two things: a gun with no bullets and her identity papers.
The world is a shell of what it once was. Now, you must prove yourself worthy of existence at every turn, at every border checkpoint. And if you are going to survive, your instincts will become your most valuable weapon.
Mhairi has learnt the importance of living her own story, of speaking to no one. But then she meets a young boy with no voice at all, and finds herself risking everything to take him to safety.
And so Mhairi and the silent boy travel the road north. But there are rumours that things in Scotland have changed since she has been away. What Mhairi finds there is shocking and heart-breaking, but might finally re-connect her to her sense of self and to the possibility of love.
An extraordinary story about survival and what it costs, about the power of small kindness to change everything.
My Review
Thoughts on the book: The Survival Game is the new YA dystopian novel from Nicky Singer centred around 14 year old Mhairi Anne Bain. In this world unless you have papers your not going to get very far in life and it's even better if you have a weapon and are open to stealing things. This is how Mhairi has survived this long in this new world. Once upon a time she did have a friend with her but something happened to him that she has locked in the 'Castle'. She is slowly making her way to Scotland to live with her grandmother and where it's safe. She will no longer have to scrounge for food and be able to live a normal life with family. But while making her way there Mhairi comes across a older man and a young child. The old man passes away and the boy is left to fend for himself and by fending for himself he follows Mhairi. Mhairi swore that she would never help anyone else in this new world but it seems she finds something in the boy that resonates with her. They both start to travel to Scotland together leaving a trail of deceit on every place they stop. But when they get to Scotland will it be in one piece and will they actually be allowed inside the country itself with these new laws in place?
Thank you to Amy from Hachette Australia for sending me a copy of The Survival Game to read and review. I was so excited to reciev this and start it as I had such high hopes for it. But they all came crashing down rather quickly. I struggled so much with The Survival Game and nearly DNF'd it a few times but I persisted and did finish it. I didn't connect with Mhairi at all and was often confused about what I was reading and what was actually happening. I don't know if I was supposed to be reading between the lines or I just wasn't computing the information at all and that's what caused my lack of figuring out what was what. I think if it wasn't for the last 50 pages or so I would have given it one star. Those last pages saved it for me and held me captivated to see what was going to happen and how it was going to end (which wasn't how I expected it to at all).
Rating: 2/5
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