Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 03/01/2014 *Starred Review* A couple of boys on a biology field trip uncover a silver creature with chitin markings eerily like a computer chip. But it is only the first of many horrible creatures whose scratches turn humans into silver insects called the Infected. It’s a biological-weapon experiment gone awry, a horrifying precursor to an evil world bent on destroying itself. The challenge for a lucky (?) few Mortingham Boarding Academy students is how to survive and, perhaps more importantly, what happens if they do? Wooding has morphed a traditional English boarding-school story—bullies, evil headmaster, well-intentioned teacher, and romantic drama—into a horror survival story that would make William Golding and Gary Paulsen envious. The ugly, morphing Infected are graphic, both awe-inspiring and terrifying, as they devour their comrades to become larger, more intelligent, and more vicious. The tension is palpable as a small group of teens gradually out-thinks its few remaining adult leaders, thus leading the scant remaining survivors on a quest to escape. Can goodness actually prevail? Carve out enough time to read Silver in a single sitting. You’ll need it. - Copyright 2014 Booklist.

Bulletin for the Center... - 04/01/2014 The discovery of a strange beetle leads to a horrifying infection that spreads across the grounds of a secluded boarding school in the English countryside, transforming its inhabitants into zombie-like creatures with a craving for flesh. Since the headmaster is one of the first to turn vicious, followed by most of the other adults, it’s up to fifteen-year-old Paul, the new kid who’s well aware of just how terrible the world can be, to take charge as students barricade themselves in the science building. Meanwhile, Adam, the class bully, finds that the anger he has struggled to control is actually an asset in this new scenario; Erika, the golden girl, discovers that perfection doesn’t earn you much with monsters; and Caitlyn, always the runner up, initially basks in Erika’s failure but is eventually brought down by her own pettiness. The focalization through four very different characters gives this end-of-the-world tale broad accessibility, but it’s really the monsters, the Infected, that drive the plot forward; though they start out as mindless, shuffling creatures, they eventually transform into cunning predators with the ability to strategize and (literally) smoke the survivors out into a full-on confrontation. Though Wooding’s direct storytelling makes the most of the action sequences, it unfortunately stumbles when it comes to the emotional elements of the story, too often telling rather than showing what the characters are feeling, and the teens themselves are fairly predictable stereotypes. Summers’ This Is Not A Test (BCCB 7/12) is still the school-overrun-by-monsters book to beat, but for fans of the horror genre, this fast-paced, occasionally gory tale may well satisfy. KQG - Copyright 2014 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

School Library Journal - 05/01/2014 Gr 7 Up—Orphaned when his parents die in a plane crash, Paul Camber opts to go to Mortingham Academy, rather than live with his childless aunt and uncle. Arriving midyear, he keeps to himself, until the boarding school finds itself in a science-fiction nightmare that begins with an unusual find during a biology-lab outing. Andrew and Graham become ill after being bitten by two unusually large silvery beetles covered with circuitlike lines. The school nurse asks Paul to go for help when a storm causes a power outage, and he soon realizes that the beetles aren't the only creatures on campus morphing into aggressive, silver nano-machines. Under the direction of a favorite teacher, Paul and a loner named Mark herd healthy students into the science block, boarding up windows and doors to keep out the Infected. In a fast-paced series of battles, Mr. Sutton is killed and the students, who once disliked each other (fleshed out in separate point-of-view chapters at the start), must find common ground in order to survive. Individual strengths, such as leadership skills and science knowledge, are utilized to produce weapons, such as molotov cocktails, to stall off the rabid attackers. Tension is maintained to an uncertain end and the probability of a dystopian world in which Paul and his friends feel confident to navigate. The imaginative details of a virus that turns organic matter into circuitry will appeal to middle-grade science-fiction and horror fans as well as reluctant readers.—Vicki Reutter, State University of New York at Cortland - Copyright 2014 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

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