ARC Review--Fire & Flood by Victoria Scott

A modern day thrill ride, where a teen girl and her animal companion must participate in a breathtaking race to save her brother's life—and her own.

Tella Holloway is losing it. Her brother is sick, and when a dozen doctors can't determine what's wrong, her parents decide to move to Montana for the fresh air. She's lost her friends, her parents are driving her crazy, her brother is dying—and she's helpless to change anything.

Until she receives mysterious instructions on how to become a Contender in the Brimstone Bleed. It's an epic race across jungle, desert, ocean, and mountain that could win her the prize she desperately desires: the Cure for her brother's illness. But all the Contenders are after the Cure for people they love, and there's no guarantee that Tella (or any of them) will survive the race.

The jungle is terrifying, the clock is ticking, and Tella knows she can't trust the allies she makes. And one big question emerges: Why have so many fallen sick in the first place?

I received this ARC from the publishers in exchange for an honest review, I was in no way compensated for this review.


Victoria Scott's newest series starts off with a bang with Fire & Flood! Told in a very different kind of place from her Dante Walker series, here we follow Tella and her journey going through dangerous escapades in order to find a cure for her brother who's dying. Only thing is, there are other people in this competition all fighting for the same thing...the cure.

Fire & Flood is yet another amazing read, proving how truly awesome Victoria Scott is! At first, Tella kind of bugged me, just as Dante did. She was a little spastic with some of her thoughts, randomly bringing something up in her head and thinking sarcastically. At times, it was funny, others I felt like asking her to just calm down. And yet as the book progresses and the danger grows more dire, she does settle down, a lot in fact. She transforms into an entirely different girl fighting with all she has to get to a cure that over a hundred people want but only one can win.

Tella isn't completely alone, she ends up teaming up with a few other people, everyone here has a common cause. Someone they love is dying and this cure can help them, heal them completely. Joining them also, is an "animal friend". No, these aren't the talking animals of Disney, instead they are animals that look ordinary but have an incredible powers that can help their human gain victory. Tella, though, is a little unsure of her tiny, gray fox looking animal, but Madox--as she names him--proves he's worthwhile!

Friendships are made, enemies are made...and people die! Seriously, I wasn't expecting such tragedies in book one! But Victoria continues to blow me away with what she does! There's also a bit of romance, and go Victoria for going the buildup way! Yes, it's not an insta love connection at all. In fact, I was wondering how these two were even going to get along since the guy (heh heh!) barely speaks to her and gives her these frowny looks.

Guy, as he's named, is truly a remarkable surprise and I felt myself swooning a little. Seriously, where were these YA books when I was a teen? I feel so deprived of more attainable fictional guys! Moving on...;)

Guy proves to be a remarkable asset to helping Tella get through the challenges. There are four of them and we manage to get through two of them in this first book alone! And we learn quite a bit about this organization that recruited these people to participate, but there is still more yet to learn and I am eager for more!

The pacing was pretty good. Not too rushed or too slow. The beginning gets a little tripped up because you're getting to see who Tella is and what her family situation is like and then BAM! The adventure starts and the first piece of the puzzle is presented to us before she even begins! Seriously, you guys, I want MORE and this is me reading the book a month and half before its release!!

Fire & Flood is the perfect action/adventure YA read with a bit of a mystery/conspiracy going on, and I mentioned those bizarre animals. It has comedy, romance, and terrorizing moments where you're holding you're breath and waiting to come back down from the thrilling high, and by the end...you're kind of still hanging there, but it's breathable, but yeah, you definitely want more!


Overall Rating 5/5 stars