Waiting on Wednesday: The Sixth Extinction

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases we're eagerly anticipating.

My choice for the week:

The Sixth Extinction (Sigma Force, #10)
by
James Rollins

In a masterful epic that combines timeless mystery and ripped-from-the-headlines scientific intrigue, New York Times bestselling author James Rollins takes humankind to its endpoint, to a fate inscribed in rock and ice in an event known as

THE 6TH EXTINCTION

Life always finds a way. . . .

A military research station buried in the remote Sierra Nevada Mountains of Northern California broadcasts a frantic distress call that ends with a chilling order:
"This is sierra, victor, whiskey. There's been a breach. Failsafe initiated. No matter the outcome: Kill us . . . kill us all."

The site is part of TECOMM, the U.S. Army Test Command. When help arrives to investigate, they discover that everyone in the lab is dead--not just the scientists, but every living thing for fifty square miles is annihilated: every animal, plant, and insect, even bacteria. The land is completely sterile-- and the blight is spreading.

Only one team on earth has the scientific knowledge and military precision to handle this mission: Commander Gray Pierce and Sigma. The dead scientists were working on a secret project, researching radically different forms of life on Earth, life that could change our understanding of biology and humanity itself. But something set off an explosion in the lab, and now Sigma must contend with the apocalyptic aftermath.

To prevent the inevitable, they must decipher a futuristic threat that rises out of the distant past--a time when Antarctica was green and life on Earth was balanced on a knife's edge. Following a fascinating trail of clues buried in an ancient map rescued from the lost Library of Alexandria, Sigma will make a shocking discovery involving a prehistoric continent and a new form of life and death buried under miles of ice. Gray Pierce and his dedicated team must race through eons of time and across distant continents to decipher millennia-old secrets out of the frozen past and untangle mysteries buried deep in the darkest jungles of today, as they face their greatest challenge yet: stopping the Sixth Extinction--the end of humankind. But is it already too late?

The Sixth Extinction combines pulsating adventure, intriguing history, and cutting-edge advances in science and technology in a thrilling white-knuckle ride that delivers as only James Rollins can.

Book blurb from Goodreads.

Release Date: 12 August 2014

Like a Phoenix From the Ashes...

The Key to the Golden Firebird
Maureen Johnson

Release Date: June 2004
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Rating: 6.5/10
Source: Library
Buy the Book: Borders ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Books-A-Million
Content Warning: Discussion of sex

On a perfect spring afternoon, May, Brooks, and Palmer Gold returned home to find an ambulance in front of their house and a swarm of family friends trying to tell them some terrible news. May barely remembers it all. Why would you want to remember every detail of the day your father died right in the garage, sitting behind the wheel of his prized golden Firebird convertible?


A year later, May is still picking up the pieces. Her family is broke, and the house is a wreck. Her older sister Brooks has given up on her main passion, softball, and drinks all the time. Her little sister Palmer is becoming a mute weirdo. And no one is around to teach May to drive, except for her life-long nemesis, Pete. It's like the entire universe is conspiring against her.

The Gold sisters have been changed irrevocably, and they are all but lost to one another, until the key is found. The key to their father's Pontiac Firebird.

(Blurb taken from author website.)

I'm with May. Who wants to remember every detail of the day a parent dies? I certainly don't. But, unlike May, I can't seem to forget. I envy her that.

I really enjoyed this book. I could empathize with the characters, especially May. I, too, lost my father while in high school. Unfortunately, I had already lost my mother at that point in time. I didn't have any siblings either. Maybe they would have made it easier, I don't know. I'll never know.

May reminded me so much of myself it was scary. She's the smart one in the family; so was I. She went numb when she heard The News; I did, too. (Later, that evening, though, when I wasn't babysitting anymore, I fell to pieces.) A year later, she's lashing out at those around her for no real reason. Yeah, I did that. I still do sometimes. (Sorry!)

Would I have enjoyed this book as much as I did if I didn't relate to it? Maybe. Probably. Miss Maureen's writing is brilliant, though not quite on par with her later books. (This was her first published novel, so it's to be expected.) Her characters and plot were believable; they felt real, like friends I'd forgotten I had.

I would recommend this book for anyone who likes young adult novels.


----------------------

P.S. Please take a moment to answer my poll (you may need to scroll up, it's near the top of the right-hand column). Thanks. -->