Book Reviews and More: Drive! - Corinna Turner

Thursday, 23 November 2017

Drive! - Corinna Turner - unSPARKed Book 1

Drive!
unSPARKed Book 1
Corinna Turner
Unseen Books
eISBN 9781910806623
eISBN 9781910806630
ASIN B077927BDS

And now for something completely different or at least that was my first thought as I started reading this book. This truly is a completely different type of story for Corinna. It sort of feels like a cross between Jurassic World and Mad Max! The story is set in a future when scientists have created dinosaurs and humans are no longer top of the food chain. Most humans live inside walled cities, the walls being layers of electrified fences.

This book was a lot of fun to read. In fact I read it three times over 2 days. Or I should say I read it twice and listened to it once. This is the story of a family that is in transition. Darryl, her brother Harry and their dad are farmers, they raise dinosaur meat. That means they live outside the safe cities. They live on a fenced farm. The farm is surrounded by a double electric fence. But their life has changed drastically. The last time their dad came home from the city he announced he was married. And this book is the story of their trip to the city to get Carol, a fashion designer, and bring her home to the farm. But things do not go as planned.

The family’s worst ever encounter with predators happens on Carol’s trip to the farm, and it just so happens to be her first trip on a highway outside the city. She encounters a stampeding group of longnecks. Sees a T.Rex take one down and block the highway right in front of them. And then Raptors attack. And these smart beasts are intent on getting in the truck. Not the quiet ride home for the new bride, to the new frontier. Not at all.

I loved the brief story about St Desmond:

“Who… who’s this guy?” she quavers as Dad pulls away, indicating St Des.
“That’s St Desmond,” says Harry eagerly, finding his voice. “Patron saint of people who live out-City. He was one crazy dude. But a really holy crazy dude!”
Carol looks perplexed. “Why was he crazy?”
“Because he lived unSPARKed in a cave, in raptor country.”
Carol looks like she might faint. “He what?”
“Yeah, he was a hermit,” says Dad. “Lived like that for twenty years, then just dropped dead one day from an undiagnosed illness. In all that time the raptors never ate him. Which is generally considered to be a miracle.”

This was a fantastic read. I am looking forward to sharing it with my son. It was fun, fast paced. And sets up an incredible new world. My understanding is that this is the first in a series of short novellas set in the world of unSPARKed, and if the rest are as entertaining as this one, than we are in for some great reads. And I hope at some point we get a story dedicated to Saint Desmond. A great little read, it is FANtastic!

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2017 Catholic Reading Plan!