Review: Fallout by Ellen Hopkins

* This is the third book in a series, so this review may contain spoilers for the first books. Do not continue reading unless you have read Crank and Glass by Ellen Hopkins. *

Released: September 14th, 2010
Published by: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Series: Crank, Third Book (Final Instalment)
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5
Source: Christmas Present
Page Amount: 663
Age Group Recommend: Young Adult

Hunter, Autumn, and Summer—three of Kristina Snow’s five children—live in different homes, with different guardians and different last names. They share only a predisposition for addiction and a host of troubled feelings toward the mother who barely knows them, a mother who has been riding with the monster, crank, for twenty years.

Hunter is nineteen, angry, getting by in college with a job at a radio station, a girlfriend he loves in the only way he knows how, and the occasional party. He's struggling to understand why his mother left him, when he unexpectedly meets his rapist father, and things get even more complicated. Autumn lives with her single aunt and alcoholic grandfather. When her aunt gets married, and the only family she’s ever known crumbles, Autumn’s compulsive habits lead her to drink. And the consequences of her decisions suggest that there’s more of Kristina in her than she’d like to believe. Summer doesn’t know about Hunter, Autumn, or their two youngest brothers, Donald and David. To her, family is only abuse at the hands of her father’s girlfriends and a slew of foster parents. Doubt and loneliness overwhelm her, and she, too, teeters on the edge of her mother’s notorious legacy. As each searches for real love and true family, they find themselves pulled toward the one person who links them together—Kristina, Bree, mother, addict. But it is in each other, and in themselves, that they find the trust, the courage, the hope to break the cycle.

Told in three voices and punctuated by news articles chronicling the family’s story, FALLOUT is the stunning conclusion to the trilogy begun by CRANK and GLASS, and a testament to the harsh reality that addiction is never just one person’s problem.

FALLOUT is the final book in the CRANK series, which was the first books that I have ever read by Ellen Hopkins. The only other Ellen Hopkins book that I have read was IMPULSE.

Of course I was going into this book with high expecations. I loved CRANK, and I linked GLASS, so I was excited to see what FALLOUT would bring, since it wasn’t told directly in Kristina’s point of view.

One thing that I didn’t like about this book was that I don’t think that it showed enough of Kristina. I did, however, like how it showed how Kristina’s addiction effected her children.

I have always been intrigued by the plot of Ellen’s novels, since I read a lot of light, fluffy, chick-lit kinds of novels, these are different kinds of book for me. In a good way.

Kristina is definitely not a likeable character, but I liked all Hunter, Autumn, and Summer.

Another thing I wasn’t a big fan of in this novel was nothing really happened that was super important until the very end of the novel. So the solution wasn’t the greatest either.

I have always been a fan of Ellen’s writing style, since it is so poetic and beautiful. Her writing style is unlike any other author’s writing style, and I think the verse writing is the best for her style.

I love all the covers of Ellen’s novels. The are simple, but yet they still catch your eye on the book shelves. They are perfect for the novels.

I liked how Hunter, Autumn and Summer all lived in different places, it made it seem so realistic.

Overall, these novels are a must read.

Plot 10/10
Like able Characters 8/10
Problem Development 6/10
Solution Effectiveness 8/10
Writing Style 10/10
Character Development 7/10
Cover 10/10
Setting 10/10
Ending 10/10
Beginning 8/10
=
87%

Love,
Sierra