Siege by Sarah Mussi

The Blurb On The Back:

He raises his gun.

He points it at Aliesha. He swings it towards Kady. They’re both screaming.

He likes the screaming.

He says, ‘Eeny meeny miney mo. We are the Eternal Knights.’

And then he shoots.

In the time before the shooting I was Leah Jackson. Sixteen years old. I used to wish my life was different. But nothing is ever that simple is it?

Now it is our turn.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Sarah Mussi’s stand-alone YA novel mixes near-future dystopia with school shootings to mixed effect. Mussi does well at capturing the dead-eyed disaffection of rampage killers and her Eternal Knights are convincing in their callous disregard for everything outside themselves. Equally good is Leah’s determination to stay alive, even as she quails at what that might entail – one of the best scenes in the book comes early on when she and Anton must decide whether to sacrifice a younger girl in their bid to get to safety. Unfortunately the book’s let down by the world-building (specifically, Mussi has to do the difficult job of first explaining how Britain’s come to be as it is and then weave the story into it, which for me didn’t quite come off, especially given the near-future timeline) while Mussi’s desire to make political points about education policy (while laudable) threaten to slow the pace and the ending is a punch to the gut. Ultimately, it’s a brave book that didn’t really come good for me, although I would definitely check out Mussi’s other books.

Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the free copy of this book.