Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne

Source: Publisher
Fourteen kids. One superstore. A million things that go wrong. 
In Emmy Laybourne’s action-packed debut novel, six high school kids (some popular, some not), two eighth graders (one a tech genius), and six little kids trapped together in a chain superstore build a refuge for themselves inside. While outside, a series of escalating disasters, beginning with a monster hailstorm and ending with a chemical weapons spill, seems to be tearing the world—as they know it—apart.
There are a lot of characters introduced at once. I felt a bit overwhelmed from the characters, because there are so many of them introduced at once.  They weren't super distinct and it took a while for them to develop.  Dean was an outsider, but he tried to help people. I believed that it would have been better if there had been another point of view, because I felt that I was losing a lot of information that could have been given later in the story. A lot of this book focuses on the mundane and there are a few places that are  action-packed, but it quickly slows down from the first page and picks up later.  I wish that the author had focused a lot more on the action parts, because the plot is okay. I thought the premise was interesting, but I wish that it was plotted a bit more. The originality helped me want to read this book more. The writing was okay, but I felt that Laybourne condescended to the audience a few times. The ending became a lot better, and almost redeemed the book. I hope that it picks up in the second book. Overall, I would recommend this book, if it interest you. Otherwise I would skip it.