Review: Salt & Stone by Victoria Scott

Salt & Stone (Fire and Flood #2) by Victoria Scott

What would you do to save someone you love?
In Fire & Flood, Tella Holloway faced a dangerous trek through the jungle and across the desert, all to remain a Contender in the Brimstone Bleed for a chance at obtaining the Cure for her brother. She can't quit--she has to win the race, save Cody, and then fight to make sure the race stops before it can claim any more lives. In the next legs of the race, across the ocean and over mountains, Tella will face frostbite, sharks, avalanche, and twisted new rules in the race.
But what if the danger is deeper than that? How do you know who to trust when everyone's keeping secrets? What do you do when the person you'd relied on most suddenly isn't there for support? How do you weigh one life against another?
The race is coming to an end, and Tella is running out of time, resources, and strength. At the start of the race there were one hundred twenty-two Contenders. As Tella and her remaining friends start the final part of the race, just forty-one are left--and only one can win.

Publishes in US: February 24th 2015 by Scholastic Press
Genre: YA dystopia
Source: scholastic vis edelweiss
Series? Fire & Flood #2
My review of 1st Fire and Flood

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Author stalk away: ~site     

 

      I wanted to read Salt and Stone because it has been near the top of anticipated releases, and I have been itching to have it in my hands. I somehow missed it on Edelweiss, and figured that I would be waiting for the release day, but got approved at the last moments and was doing a dance. I was almost afraid that it wouldn't be as good as the characters and fast paced plot that I had built up in my mind, but I wasn't disappointed.

   

    I was so glad to be back in this world. I have missed Tella and Madox, her animal companion assigned to help her in the competition. Tella is fighting along with others for a cure. All of their loved ones are sick and the founders of the Brimstone Bleed are offering the winners cures for whatever ails their family. The first book took them through the jungle and desert, and she couldn't imagine what would happen in the next two legs of the race that would be any worse than what she has faced.

    Guy, the romantic interest on this series really won my heart but he has put space between them. Worse, their interactions has left Tella questioning her own strength. I hate that and though I want to believe the best in Guy, he certainly wasn't making it easy. I saw his struggle, because he is fighting for someone as well, and he also has a bigger plan to take down the Bleed from the inside, so he is determined to win. His protectiveness and attachment to Tella is something he couldn't have foreseen, and I can tell he is struggling with perspective.

   Salt and Stone leaves Tella facing the sea, and the mountains covered in ice. She faces things that she never imagined. Beside her she has also collected pandoras. Monster is by her side--he is a huge bear. She also sees a lizard being marked before the start of 3rd and she begs for him to become hers as well. She continues to show great compassion to the animals, the most to hers of course, but she can't stand to see the animals in pain or being mistreated. Tella has an enormous heart for the group of allies that have gathered around her as well. She has to try to remind herself that only one will win the cure, and balance that with the bonds that inevitably form when struggling through such hard climates, challenges and life or death.

    Tella has to make some impossible choices in this one. Does she prioritize the cure for Cody? Her new friends who have banded together? Her pandoras especially Maddox who has risked his life, and provided so much comfort to her. All while exhausted, dehydrated, faced with the extremes of the earth. I savored every second, and don't know what that says about me that this is ultimate entertainment except that I am attached to her as well.

    The end came at a good time in the book, and now I will be craving the next book for the next year like I have for Salt and Stone. This is a series that has made an impression on me, and even with my evolving reading styles and preferences, this has stood the 5 star rating. 

Bottom Line: Exciting second book as good as the first with characters I adore.

My question to you, my lovely readers:
Where would you rather battle for a cure for a loved one? Jungle, desert, ocean or mountains?