Monument 14: Sky on Fire

Author: Emmy Laybourne
Goodreads Rating: 4.17
Pages: 212
Format: ARC from the Publisher

The world hasn't ended...yet.
In this sequel to MONUMENT 14, the group of survivors, originally trapped together in a superstore by a series of escalating disasters, has split in two. Most of the kids are making a desperate run on their recently repaired school bus for the Denver airport where they hope to reunite with their parents, be evacuated to safety, and save their dying friend.

But the world outside is dark and filled with dangerous chemicals that turn people into bloodthirsty monsters, and not all the kids were willing to get on the bus. Left behind in a sanctuary that has already been disturbed once, the remaining kids try to rebuild the community they lost. But when the issues are life and death, love and hate, who can you really trust?

I’m not sure if I can call this book the last book, because the ending leaves it open potentially for a third book. I enjoyed Monument 14 because it was a quick read with a concept that I have always considered, what would I do if something awful happened. Where would I go? This book was, for some part, the best case scenario, it was also pretty bad with the whole air making people crazy and whatnot, but still a really great concept. When we ended the last book, the group had decided to split up with most of the group going to attempt to make it to Denver and the rest staying in Greenway. Dean gave his brother Alex a notebook to tell the story of the group that traveled to Denver.

Everyone sort of guessed that Alex would be telling the tale of the group that left, and that was exactly what happened. We were given this glimpse into what was going on with them, and they did not have it easy as they tried to escape. I didn’t find it that shocking that they were naïve about everything because, lets face it, they were kids, and there is only so much forward thinking that they were able to do and only so many variables that they were able to take into consideration. I wish that Alex’s tone had differed more from Dean because they both seemed to write the same way. There were some differences like that Alex was a little more blunt about things.

In this book we did get the added benefit of a romance kindling. Astrid and Dean were seemed the Mommy and Daddy of the group for the little ones. I felt that there wasn’t enough for me to feel like their relationship had any solid ground to stand on. There was Dean’s long time crush and then Astrid was just a bitch about everything. It was like one minute she was telling him that she had no interest in him and then the next, she wanted to be with him. I totally get pregnancy hormones, but really girlfriend? I feel like if there had been more time with them getting to know each other, I could have been more accepting of them.

This book was also action packed and constantly moving with different things going on. There were more new characters who made brief appearances and added to the mix. We even got to see some characters from the first book again which was pretty great. It offered a really great conclusion, but also left it open to the possibility of a third book which I would like very much (although I do feel that these kids have been traumatized quite enough). I loved that Emmy included an Epilogue which showed us what happened after everything. Deffinately looking forward to more from Laybourne.

The Courts Decision: