Review: Alive by Scott Sigler

First, thanks to Edelweiss and Del Rey Publishing for allowing me to read an egalley of this title.  I was really excited to see a YA book by Scott Sigler, as I really enjoyed one of his other series, the Infected series.  This was a different kind of book.  I’m going to review it as best I can and try very hard not to spoil anything.

The main character is Em, or M. Savage as the coffin she wakes up in has written on it to identify her.  As far as she can remember, she is about to have her 12th birthday.  But she can tell something has changed about her.  None of her clothes really fit.  She has to break out of her coffin.  But then she sees there are other coffins and she hears another girl start screaming inside of one, and that is Spingate.  Together they end up helping several others out of their coffins.  And soon they realize that they all thought it was their 12th birthday, but they’ve all obviously aged, probably at least 5 years.  There are other coffins though, that the person inside isn’t alive. And that person, child, still looks the age they think they are sometimes.  Spingate is able to help them figure their way out of the room.  Once out they will come across other kids like them.  But there are also rooms of coffins, or cradles, as others call them, full of babies.  And some rooms have other horrible things inside.  Piles of bones.  Obvious sacrifices or hanging of people.  In their search to find either a way out, food, water, or a grownup, they will find not all is as it seems.  There are things they should remember, that will change how they are acting, and what their goals are. 

I can’t say much more.  Just that it was a really great story, lots of things that I was able to kind of guess, and others that I wasn’t.  I’m glad to see it is going to have a sequel, as I’d kind of like to know what happens next, even if it could leave off where it ended.