David Hofmeyr

CW: It's pretty violent in parts son believes father committed suicide so there are a few references to that throughout, cannibalism (ref only)

Well that was relentless action with some major Mad Max vibes, yet something was missing.

I can't quite pinpoint why this ended up 'good' as opposed to 'great', but I suspect it's because for most of the story the 'good guys' felt a little bit flat. It was maybe in the last quarter that I actually felt any kind of hope that they might make it out of the many...like numerous...fight for survival situations. It's a pretty grim future that David has created but I don't think I got enough of a feel for the world as the fast pace meant interesting elements were mentioned, but never fully developed. I do think this will have a lot of appeal so am happy to add it to my booktalk shelves.… (meer)

“Eighty-one, including himself. Eighty-one souls ready to die for the promise of something better” Knowing that there are so many people willing to die for something just makes you want to know more about the meaning of it.

This book is about ravaged people living in a deserted world in the desert where life isn't much to live. The main theme of this book is about a big race that sends one person or whoever making it alive through the race to a better place, they call it sky base. Getting to the sky base is one thing that many people get, the only way to get up there is to win the black water trail race.

This book gives you the perspective of what life would be like with a bunch of outlaws and no policing. The only time there is any monitoring is when you are in the race to make sure no one cheats, but to a certain point there is a fine line between cheating and not cheating. Because there is a fine line, anyone can do anything to anyone and not get in trouble for it, they only make sure you don't leave the race or have any more life necessities than what they give you, because they want everyone to have the same things, and have the same chance at winning.

The book is somewhat emotional, and for some people it might be relatable, this book could be considered emotional because the main character and other characters share what they live through throughout their life. A part of the novel that has some emotion is when the person Adam lives with gets killed in a house raid, all of his family was already dead, so all he had left was the person he worked for, that was his family. There is emotion in the book when Adam finds a friend named Kayne because he was like a brother to him. I wont say what happened to kanye but he and Adam had a good connection, and they only just recently met before the race. I can say this much about Adam, he connects with people really fast.

I think the message of this book is that if you have nothing to lose in life, do something about it that can make your life better, make life worth living for. Because in this life in the book there is little to live for because everyone dies for no reason and life is not valued by people in skybase, they are all older people and they watch kids die racing on motorcycles. They use that as entertainment, when in reality the people that are dying are dying to try to make it to a better life. They take everything they have and stick it into winning the race, because if they don't make it up there they will probably die anyway.

If you like motorcycles drama and some emotion, this would be a good book for you to read, and if anything make a book review and let your peers see what you think, maybe there is a chance they will read the book too. What do you have to lose.… (meer)

Excellent book where Mad Max meets Hunger Games on Dirt Bikes in the future. Adam lives in a mining town in the desert in the not too distant future. He trains incessantly for a dirt bike race called the Blackwater Trail which is held once every year. Competitors must not only negotiate a rough desert terrain, they must also look out for booby traps set by the organisers and also avoid any conflicts with gangs of other riders. The first across the line (i.e. who is left alive at the end) will win a ticket to SkyBase - an off-planet wonderland that has been set up for the rich since the Earth turned into a dust bowl. The people from SkyBase are also spectators to the race. Adam and various others he meets on the way must firstly qualify for the race and then run it. At times quite violent this is an action packed novel that boys will devour.… (meer)