Brad About Books: Revolution 19 by Gregg Rosenblum

Read from June 10 to 11, 2013

REVOLUTION 19
Published: January 8, 2013
Publisher: Harper Teen
Format: Hardcover
Page Count: 265 pages
Source: Purchased
Series: Revolution 19, #1

Twenty years ago, the robots designed to fight our wars abandoned the battlefields. Then they turned their weapons on us.

Only a few escaped the robot revolution of 2071. Kevin, Nick, and Cass are lucky —they live with their parents in a secret human community in the woods. Then their village is detected and wiped out. Hopeful that other survivors have been captured by bots, the teens risk everything to save the only people they have left in the world—by infiltrating a city controlled by their greatest enemies.

Revolution 19 is a cinematic thriller unlike anything else. With a dynamic cast of characters, this surefire blockbuster has everything teen readers want—action, drama, mystery, and romance. Written by debut novelist Gregg Rosenblum, this gripping story shouldn’t be missed.

Revolution 19... oh, Revolution 19. I feel like we have a love/hate relationship, perhaps? I really, really wanted to like you, but I just can't get past some of the very slow, drawn-moments you provided.

I'll go ahead and start with what I did enjoy about this book. I'm a sucker for post-apocalytpic books - I'll admit it. I don't think I've ever read a robot invasion story, so I was very excited to pick up Revolution 19! And while the beginning was very intriguing, some of the middle (and the majority of the end) lagged in plot for me. I was very engaged in the story in the beginning, which was {in my opinion} the best part about the book. Robots invading earth sounds deadly and terrifying, and the robots in this book was killer! ...

...up until a certain point. The robots? They were no longer scary. I just KNEW that one of those robots  ("bots" as they are referred to in the book) would give aid to one of these characters, and I kept crossing my fingers that it wouldn't happen - I won't say if it did. But really. What happened to the laser-eyed, no-emotions bots that were totally epic in the beginning? It's like they vanished and were replaced with bots that were still a bit scary, but I felt like they had a little emotion! I say NO to that. I just... this book took a completely different turn from the beginning. And unfortunately, it didn't work for me.

Cinematic doesn't describe Revolution 19 well, to be honest. Yes, there are some tension-filled moments where you don't know if a certain character will make it out alive - which is awesome! I wish that more scenes like that were put in the book! But Revolution 19 isn't fast-paced - it's a bit drawn-out and redundant with a few scenes. 

But I did enjoy this book! Just not as much as I was hoping to. I'm curious to see where the sequel, Fugitive X, goes, so I'll probably check it out. Revolution 19 just let me down, to put it shortly.

Overall, Revolution 19 is one of those books you have to be in the mood to read. And I guess I wasn't. Slow-paced and robots-that-can-change-moods-in-a-heartbeat, Revolution 19 wasn't my cup of tea.

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