Hiya everyone! Noreen here with a book review on “The Farm” by Emily McKay.
Spoilers Ahead
Many of us want a zombie apocalypse, but would you settle for a vampire one? In “The Farm”, the entire world has been taken over by an animalistic kind of vampires. Ticks are pretty much humans that were genetically modified to be vampires and crave teenage blood. Farms are set up in every major area, as to ‘protect’ teenagers. In these Farms, girls will become Breeders just to protect themselves from Ticks,who hate the blood of pregnant women. Others become Collabs, pretty much betraying humankind by hurting and sacrificing regular teens, known as Greens, to the Ticks. Doesn’t sound so pleasant, does it?
Lily and Mel, Carter, Sebastian, Joe and McKenna are the main characters of this story. Lily and Mel are twins. However, Mel is autistic, which gives her an advantage the other characters don’t have. Mel can see the one part of the electrical fence that is turned off at night. Pretty helpful right? Mel seems helpless to Lily. Lily, of course, wants to protect her sister but stifles her in the process. While, I love how extremely selfless Lily is, I don’t like her as much as I like Mel. Mel experiences the world like it’s music and speaks in nursery rhymes. Mel is most definitely the most unique character in this entire book.
As per teen fiction dictates, here comes the love interest. Carter, Lily’s crush from the Before. Of course, when they meet again, Lily doesn’t even know it’s him. Carter is leading a resistance against the real mastermind behind the Ticks, Roberto (who you learn next to nothing about). Carter is, apparently, every girls dream. He’s protective, handsome, and cares a whole lot. He seems very one sided. I don’t care for his character that much, either.
Sebastian is a vampire. He’s deadly like a vampire should be, yet he has self control. Sure, being around blood is hard for him,but he can put up with it. Sebastian has his own agenda: kill Roberto, get rid off the Ticks, and have his territory back. He is devious, a liar, and only truly cares about his own plan. He’ll only help someone if it’ll help him. Sure, sometimes he seems to care and he’s occasionally helpful, but Sebastian is a blood thirsty monster and it shows a few times throughout the book. I like Sebastian somewhat because of the fact that he isn’t a romanticised version of a vampire.
Joe and McKenna are kind of side characters, but still have importance in the story. Joe is the only one Lily trusts on the Farm. Joe is like the trader. You give him important things and he’ll get you important things. The first time we meet Joe, Lily is trading things for survival gear. Coats, sleeping bags, gloves, ropes, etc. Joe seems like a pretty chill guy. And he is until it comes to protecting his unborn baby. Lily has to trade pills that are assumed to be birth control pills. All these pills were taken and thrown away. If you know of someone who has these pills, its a one-way ticket off the Farm. Of course, Lily eventually tells Joe, and for the good of his baby he goes to tell the Dean and Collabs. He may have betrayed Lily, but he was doing it to protect his child that McKenna is pregnant with. Lily hates McKenna. McKenna was one of those girls who was effortlessly popular and effortlessly beautiful, of course Lily was shy and not very popular. McKenna cares so much for Joe, that even when she had her back sliced open by a Tick she still went to help Joe. Speaking of Joe, when he sacrifices himself for the group I noticed how kind and caring he is. Joe knows that Carter can protect Lily, Mel, and McKenna better than he could. Joe sacrifices himself for the group and his child. Both McKenna and Joe are the more likeable of all the characters.
As I said, Ticks are roaming all over, except for Canada. Lily and Mel are trying to escape the Farm and get to Canada where there is no Ticks. Of course, Carter comes and messes that all up. Carter thinks Lily is an abductura, which is a person who can control the emotions and opinions of other people.Yeah, it’s cool, but Lily wants nothing to do with it and just wants to get Mel to safety. Speaking of controlling emotions, Carter pretty much tells Lily that he only liked her because he was made to. In all honestly, this is a book that I just do not care for a romantic sub-plot in. I love romance as much as the next girl, but I just can’t get into the romance in this book. It seems forced and lame. Sure, it’s only once or twice near the end, but it took away from how urgent the whole thing was. It took me out of the book.
After getting out of the Farm, everybody drives around looking for safety. Sebastian disappeared to find fuel, food, Ticks, and the rest. The only time they really do anything unique is when they go Lily and Mels, Uncle Rodney’s home. Survival gear, food, and a note was there. Rodney left things for Lily and Mel, which was sweet. It’s probably my favorite part in the book because you learn more about the girls’ pasts. Skipping to the near end, Mel was kidnapped by the Dean and the group goes to save her. Unfortunately when they do finally get her, Lily gets attacked. The Ticks preferred way to kill is to split open the torsos of their prey. Just as the Tick was about to open up Lily, Mel rips off a bandage. The smell of blood brings the Tick to Mel. Before anyone can save Mel, the Tick had already opened her up. The only way Mel could be saved if she was turned into a vampire by Sebastian. Only 1 in 100 have the gene that can become vampires. Luckily, Mel has it.She is saved but at what cost? She is now a monster. The book ends with Mel awaking as a vampire.
Thankfully there is another book. I’m interested in finding out how Mel copes.
Overall, “The Farm” is an okay book. Some moments are special and very interesting but a lot of times you just don’t care. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s well written and all, its just not always what I want. I didn’t want any romance, I wanted a action-packed book that has thrilling moments. Unfortunately, not every book can deliver. Maybe the next book in the series will give me what I wanted.
I hope you enjoyed this week’s book review. If you’ve read the book or you just have something to say, comment it down below (just be sure to mark your spoilers). Thanks for reading!