Publication: May 20, 2014, by Little Brown Books
Genre: Adult Fiction, Science-Fiction, Mystery
Pages: 471
Format: Hardcover
Source: Borrowed
Rating:
The world is stunned when four commuter planes crash within hours of each other on different continents. Facing global panic, officials are under pressure to find the causes. With terrorist attacks and environmental factors ruled out, there doesn't appear to be a correlation between the crashes, except that in three of the four air disasters a child survivor is found in the wreckage.
Dubbed 'The Three' by the international press, the children all exhibit disturbing behavioural problems, presumably caused by the horror they lived through and the unrelenting press attention. This attention becomes more than just intrusive when a rapture cult led by a charismatic evangelical minister insists that the survivors are three of the four harbingers of the apocalypse. The Three are forced to go into hiding, but as the children's behaviour becomes increasingly disturbing, even their guardians begin to question their miraculous survival...
My Thoughts:
The Three is one of those books that I just wanted to read so badly and what I fell in love with from the first sight after I saw the cover. Yes, it's racing, unique and a full-on thriller that might just knock your socks off, but more was expected. For now, let's just focus on the good stuff happening throughout the whole story, because even though there were a few cons, things turned out to be pretty good. I'll tell you this: I've never read an adult book with this much depth and a concept that is so well thought-about that I seriously wonder where ideas and life comes from. *giggles*
You may think that this book is about aliens. There are a few points that make this sound a little more clear and that this book is complete fiction. But it seems realistic. The story features characters whose lives have been torn apart, all by some mechanical force that no one has ever heard of or would even like to be hearing about. Four plane disasters in one day—three survivors who are only children. Doesn't that sound a little weird to you? At least, I know it sounds weird to me... it seems very science-fictionic, too. Basically, this is all about a weird apocalypse-like situation that is making the world fall apart. Lotz invites readers to read about the lives after and a little after everything of the people who were affected by this whole dystopian catastrophe.
The Three was lacking something big. Yes, it did have a format that was very interesting to read about; it was incorporated with text message/IM chats, news articles and chapter samples from "books published" about the event. That was my favourite part about this. But instead of it being just about the families affected, it was about solving the mystery behind it all but actually had become a novel filled with pages that will just waste time, you know?
I wanted more from this. There were enticing characters and all, as well as a storyline and summary that I would like to see somewhere else. But almost five hundred pages of this? I don't really think that this amount of craziness was really needed.
I would've enjoyed depth and research, but also with that class of fiction because this certainly wasn't just a bunch of real news stories put together. I'm used to reading YA fiction with dystopian classes that always have an explanation for the sci-fi issue with a group of characters who are willing to battle everything that is going on around them. This? Not so much. If you're okay with a slow pace and no explanation but minor details being stated about this apocalypse, then it may do you good to read this. At least I gave it a chance. *shrugs*
You may think that this book is about aliens. There are a few points that make this sound a little more clear and that this book is complete fiction. But it seems realistic. The story features characters whose lives have been torn apart, all by some mechanical force that no one has ever heard of or would even like to be hearing about. Four plane disasters in one day—three survivors who are only children. Doesn't that sound a little weird to you? At least, I know it sounds weird to me... it seems very science-fictionic, too. Basically, this is all about a weird apocalypse-like situation that is making the world fall apart. Lotz invites readers to read about the lives after and a little after everything of the people who were affected by this whole dystopian catastrophe.
The Three was lacking something big. Yes, it did have a format that was very interesting to read about; it was incorporated with text message/IM chats, news articles and chapter samples from "books published" about the event. That was my favourite part about this. But instead of it being just about the families affected, it was about solving the mystery behind it all but actually had become a novel filled with pages that will just waste time, you know?
I wanted more from this. There were enticing characters and all, as well as a storyline and summary that I would like to see somewhere else. But almost five hundred pages of this? I don't really think that this amount of craziness was really needed.
I would've enjoyed depth and research, but also with that class of fiction because this certainly wasn't just a bunch of real news stories put together. I'm used to reading YA fiction with dystopian classes that always have an explanation for the sci-fi issue with a group of characters who are willing to battle everything that is going on around them. This? Not so much. If you're okay with a slow pace and no explanation but minor details being stated about this apocalypse, then it may do you good to read this. At least I gave it a chance. *shrugs*
Do you enjoy books that are dystopian but seem too contemporary to be classified in that section?
Hmm, this is one I really wanted to read as well. While it still sounds good, I won't move it up on my TBR list for now. Great review!
ReplyDeleteThanks Lisa! I was super excited for it, but realized that the reviews weren't sounding too positive... leaving me hanging for a while. I'm glad I decided to give it a chance though and see what it really holds!
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