Week 8 Review: Phoenix Island

From Goodreads:
The judge told Carl that one day he'd have to decide exactly what kind of person he would become. But on Phoenix Island, the choice will be made for him.

A champion boxer with a sharp hook and a short temper, sixteen-year-old Carl Freeman has been shuffled from foster home to foster home. He can't seem to stay out of trouble, using his fists to defend weaker classmates from bullies. His latest incident sends his opponent to the emergency room, and now the court is sending Carl to the worst place on earth: Phoenix Island. 

Classified as a terminal facility, it's the end of the line for delinquents who have no home, no family, and no future. Located somewhere far off the coast of the United States and immune to its laws, the island is a grueling Spartan-style boot camp run by sadistic drill sergeants who show no mercy to their young, orphan trainees. Sentenced to stay until his eighteenth birthday, Carl plans to play by the rules, so he makes friends with his wisecracking bunkmate, Ross, and a mysterious gray-eyed girl named Octavia. But he makes enemies, too, and after a few rough scrapes, he earns himself the nickname "Hollywood" as well as a string of punishments, including a brutal night in the sweatbox. But that's nothing compared to what awaits him in the Chop Shop: a secret government lab where Carl is given something he never dreamed of. 

A new life. . . . 

A new body. A new brain. 

Gifts from the fatherly Old Man, who wants to transform Carl into something he's not sure he wants to become. 

For this is no ordinary government project. Phoenix Island is ground zero for the future of combat intelligence. 

And for Carl, it's just the beginning. . .

My Review:
Oh, this was such a great book! Plus the fact that it was the inspiration behind the TV show Intelligence, yeah, that just proves that it needs to be read, because yeah, it does, and yeah, I absolutely loved it!!!

So the beginning, was pretty creepy, well the whole book was creepy, but the beginning's creepiness, with the training, and then the pages that Carl finds, about a previous group, and then how bad things got? That was just more and more creepy!

The reason why Carl started fighting? Because his dad, a cop, was injured on the job, and was outside, and people started calling him names. So Carl started defending him with his fists. People can be just cruel, and yeah, it's not always an easy life for anybody, really, and they push their pain on others, and it gets put into a path of verbal abuse, to one person to the next, and it never stops unless someone intercedes, because people, are people, and that's a sad thought.

I loved the romance, how it slowly developed, was hindered by the fact that he found out why she was there, and there was some judging looks all around! But then the big fight scene, near the end of the middle, with the main bad till that point, and some of the others, have a fight with Carl, and he wins against a taser and a knife, and yeah, then he meets Old Man. And so he meets the new bad.

That's when he gets some upgrades, and his body moves better, and he learns more about the purpose of the Island, and yeah, it's not pretty, and it could be considered that the idea was corrupted, but it was that from the start, so yeah. And then things happen, and he gets the chip in his head, that goes over well, and then there's a lot of fighting, and then it ends, with a bit of hope, because she's going back to the US, and he's got a bit of an advantage, and I hope that he get's a chance to take it!

Loved this book, and I cannot wait for the sequel, that I know is going to happen!!!

Author: John Dixon
Read: February 19th, 2014
Source: Tuebl/NetGalley
Reason Why: Sounded good, and it's a DAC Book!
Publisher: Galley Books
Published: January 7th 2014

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars