Cover Love: I like how it is simple but eye catching. Appealing to many readers.
Why I Wanted to Read This:
This one actually flew under my radar until I was offered a chance to participate in the blog tour. I looked up the synopsis and decided I wanted to give this one a try.
Here it is from GoodReads:
In the vein of The Outsiders and the early Western novels of Elmore Leonard, this inventive debut novel, a cross between the cult classic Mad Max movie series and Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, blends adrenaline-fueled action with an improbable yet tender romance to offer a rich and vivid portrayal of misfits and loners forced together in their struggle for a better life.
Adam Stone wants freedom and peace. He wants a chance to escape Blackwater, the dust-bowl desert town he grew up in. Most of all, he wants the beautiful Sadie Blood. Alongside Sadie and the dangerous outsider Kane, Adam will ride the Blackwater Trail in a brutal race that will test them all, body and soul. Only the strongest will survive.
The prize? A one-way ticket to Sky-Base and unimaginable luxury.
And for a chance at this new life, Adam will risk everything.
Romance?: Not really, although Adam does have a crush during the book.
My Thoughts:
Dystopian books used to be my absolute favorite genre. There have been some great ones--The Giver, The Hunger Games, Unwind, The City of Ember. The problem is that The Hunger Games was so successful that the genre got diluted for awhile there. (This doesn't count the books I consider "apocalyptic," like Rot & Ruin and The Knife of Never Letting Go). So I have kept away from them for some time. When I got a chance to be part of this blog tour I read the book synopsis and decided I wanted to give this dystopian book a chance.
And I am glad I did! It set up a very interesting world, one that I want to learn more about. Not necessarily the world of the "Left-Behinds" on earth, but the world of the Sky-Base. That place sounds both amazing and awful. I have a feeling that anyone who wins the right to move to the Sky Base don't really get to be part of the Sky Base. I bet there is a lot of dystopia on the Sky Base. I wouldn't mind a prequel book either.
Back to the story, each person involved in the race own a byke/motorcycle. But they are made of a material that seems to remember previous riders and that adds to the abilities of the current rider. Winners of the races win a ticket to Sky Base and the second and third place riders earn points that they can save up to eventually purchase a ticket.
The world Adam lives in before the race is awful and crazy and bleak. Basically people can be miners (I can't remember the name of what is being mined, but they are pulling it from the earth's core) or have a job in town (and by town I mean old Western type town). If you are young enough you can ride in the race. This race reminds me of a novella I read a long time ago that was written by Stephen King back when he wrote under the pen name of Richard Bachman called The Long Walk. It was the story of boys who walked, just walked, but if you fell or stopped walking you were shot and there could only be one winner. Not everyone dies, but a lot of people do and it's ok to try and kill other riders. The strong survive and all of that.
Adam literally doesn't have anyone. He has no family and no friends. However, a strange rider named Kane enters his life early on and although they don't connect right away, Kane soon becomes someone Adam realizes he can trust--warily.
The one thing that didn't quite jive with me is that Adam has no confidence, yet he is a really good rider. One that many consider the one to beat. And he knows he's good, he feels it. That should give him some confidence, but he has a hard time making decisions.
To Sum Up: This is a book that would appeal to many YA readers, especially those that like dystopian. I have many questions about this world and look forward to book 2. I will be adding it to my order for the fall!
I am giving away a copy of Stone Rider to one lucky reader from the US or Canada. Please fill out the form below and I will inform you if you win. Contest ends on August 12.
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