Stung by Bethany Wiggins Review

   My review of Bethany Wiggins' Stung. These are all just my opinions so don't hesitate to share your own below. :)

Rating: 

   2/5 – This book has an exciting world premise and started off well, but I can’t give it more than two because I feel the plot was too fast, leaving me confused and the parts of the story not fully developed.

Who I think it's for:

   This contains a lot of violence with some reference to mature issues as well as being a young adult novel, so overall I think it’s aimed at 13 – 21 year olds. I wouldn’t let anyone younger read it because of the blood and references. This is a sci-fi novel and if you like the Hunger Games, which Stung is compared to, it is along those sorts of dystopian lines.

"There’s no cure for being Stung.”

Plot Summary: 

   Fiona doesn’t remember going to sleep. She has awakened to her house being abandoned, her neighbourhood being dead and her brother being changed into a beast. After running into the new, chaotic world, the strange tattoo on her hand makes her dangerous, so she is detained by soldiers dedicated to protecting the ‘uninfected’ inside the recently built wall from those branded as monsters. At any second, she could change into a mindless zombie, but how does the apocalypse all come down to something as small as bees?

The Characters:

  I found the main character, Fiona, very whiny and had to have men protect her and tell her what to do all the time. But, if you had just been flung into a world with no memory of how you got there or how it became so full of chaos, she seemed quite realistic and her reactions to her situation were too.

   Bowen was the character who struck me the most because he is strong and determined but has a softer side. He seems to be the traditional cliché hero but he starts off as on the side of the “bad guys” but changes after taking matters into his own hands, trying to make out that he’s doing it to save himself but really isn’t as inhumane as we first thought.

  Sadly, I did not like the romance between Fiona and Bowen. The story is quite fast-paced (which is a highlight) but sometimes leaves parts behind to catch up so the love appears very rushed and unnatural. I wasn’t really expecting them to become lovers, but it rather felt like they were friends trying to survive in the apocalypse.

Why I read it:

   This was on the top books shelf in the library and claimed to be the next Hunger Games, which I really enjoyed reading, so obviously Stung caught my attention. The blurb was interesting, the idea was original. However, the way the story was carried out was disappointing slightly, with a beginning that kept me going for a while but few holes were filled in my knowledge and I felt like the story could have slowed down a little at the end and let us give more. The main story line felt undeveloped and as if nothing had really happened. I forced myself not to abandon this book to see whether it got better by the end, but I was left confused with still many questions left unresolved. I don’t think I’ll be carrying on to read the sequel.

 

Why you should read it:

    It’s a very interesting concept, though I wouldn’t jump to recommending it to anyone. This is all just my opinion though, so if you like dystopian novels with a fast-pace leaving you behind, you might want to give this a try.


The sequel to Stung, Cured, is planned for release in 2014.

 

~White Ravens~ http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/10321725/white-ravens-writing