Book Review: Lockdown

3 out of 5 cookies.

Last night I finished Lockdown by Alexander Gordon Smith. In the great scheme of dystopian novels it was okay. Isn't it funny how a book can hook you and you keep reading it, even late into the night, but when you are done, you think it was just okay? That's how I felt about this book. In fact, I am not even sure what the target audience would be--readers who like Darren Shan for sure and 7th and 8th grade boys probably.

Lockdown: Escape from Furnace takes place in a future where young adults who commit crimes are locked away for life in a prison called Furnace. The horrors heaped upon them in Furnace are huge. These boys fight for survival everyday of their time in Furnace. Our hero is named Alex Sawyer, who is sent to Furnace for a murder he didn't commit.

Three reasons I picked it up:
1. I like the cover.
2. I love dystopian novels
3. It mostly got good (4 and 5 star) reviews on Goodreads.

Here's why I was unsatisfied: Alex was set up for a murder he didn't commit. A lot of the boys at Furnace were set up for crimes they didn't commit. The book never answered the question as to why Furnace needs boys so much that they keep setting them up to be sent there. I don't mind when books are clearly written to be the first of a series (so far three have been published in the UK), but I am not sure I want to read through more of the plot and horrors that Alex will have to endure before I find the answers to some of the questions posed by the first book. The series might be one I will continue sometime in the summer when I have more reading time, but my to-read list is too long to read more right now.