Customer Reviews

Oblivion Road

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Five friends, Jeremy, Courtney, Reyna, Harris, and Melanie, just wanted to have a fun vacation. Skiing on the slopes and just hanging out. Everything was fine until the ride home.

Not knowing what happened, Courtney finds herself on a road with a guy, Jeremy, right beside her. The car the teens were in had crashed and flipped into a ditch, but none of them knows how it happened. All of them are fine, rescuing one another, but having someone rescue all of them seems impossible, especially when everything is isolated and a blizzard is closing in on them. The teens are stranded, with no way to call for help or find their way home -- but at least they have each other.

They all lose hope since there is no way out, that is until they see a van. Unfortunately, the van was once home to prisoners who were being transported, and who have escaped, leaving the drivers behind, dead. Surviving through harsh weather may have been hard, but now trying to stay alive with convicts loose seems much more difficult. Of course, not all convicts are bad, right? At least that is what the one convict says when he stumbles upon the teens.

The convict, J.G., says he was in the army and was only in prison for selling drugs and would not kill anyone, especially the guards. Sure, he may have helped Melanie, with her injured leg, and he knows all the medical terms and possibly a way for the teens to go home. But will the teens stick with him the entire time to be saved, or will they regret ever trusting him? Will all of them find their way home or will only a few make it?

Five teens, oblivious of what lies ahead, of what will happen in the end.

Being stranded and having to survive is Alex MacAulay's forte. In true fashion, being trapped and completely lost has to be the least of anyone's worries since there are more dangers that lurk in every corner. Another hit from MacAulay, who leaves his readers at the edge of their seat, wondering themselves if being stranded would be as exciting as this. Fans of Bad Girls and Lost Summer will not be disappointed.

Reviewed by: Randstostipher "tallnlankyrn" Nguyen

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if you're car crashed right in the middle of a blizzard? That is what happened to these five friends, Courtney, Jeffrey, Reyna, Harris, and Melanie in the realistic fiction novel, Oblivion Road by Alex Mcaulay. They were driving back from a ski trip when they drove into a forest and crashed. It was snowing heavily. The roads were blocked, but the kids still went. That was a terrible mistake. The car was thrown upside down, but luckily, no one died. However, Melanie was unconscious and in an extremely horrible state. Courtney and Reyna wandered to see if there was a car or someone there to help them. They found another car that was in an accident. This car was not an ordinary one. It was a prison van with the guard lying down on the back seat, dead. A few days later, one prisoner found the high school kids. He told them that he was only in that van because he was selling illegal drugs. The other guy who was in the van, was Leonard. He was a murderer. He killed his entire family and ate part of his sister! Leonard was out there, somewhere.
This information made everyone scared. Harris did not want to believe J.G., the prisoner. They had no choice. They had to believe him because they needed the help and J.G. said he could get it for them. There was a town 13 miles away. So, Courtney, J.G., Reyna, and Jeffrey set off to find the town. Harris stayed back with Melanie.
As they walked, they learned to trust J.G. Courtney managed to convince the others to cut off the prisoner's handcuffs. At one point, J.G. said he was in the army and trained to treat other's injuries. The team had to amputate one of Reyna's arms because it was stuck under a heavy rock. As they proceeded , something about J.G. changed. He appeared more rough. That is when Jeffrey and Reyna knew J.G. was hiding something from them. Courtney refused to believe it, for she was that desperate to go home. So, they continued to go towards the town when there was a terrible incident. An incident that would change their entire lives.
This book is told by Courtney's point of view. It was set, obviously, in a forest. It does not exactly say where the forest is located. I would recommend this book to any guy or girl who loves action-packed stories. It is a strong read for anyone ages twelve and up.
I absolutely love this book. It makes you wonder every page until the end. There are not any hints available. You would think the problem is to see if they could walk to the nearest town and call for help. It is only in the end do you see the real problem. A problem the teenagers had no idea was possible.

Imagine waking up in the snow and suddenly asking yourself "Wasnt I in a SUV with my friends? where are my friends? where am I?" This is how Courtney felt. She soon realized her and her friends had been on a ski trip and on the way back hit a deer and crashed the SUV. The SUV is wrecked and they are in the middle on nowhere. The cells phones are useless and walking with no direction is almost pointless. The stranded friends soon find themselves not alone in the woods anymore. After a hike to see if they can get help they stumble upon a empty prison van. Well almost empty if you count the dead prison guard in the front seat. The 5 friends take up camp in the SUV. Night falls and suddenly a man in handcuffs is outside. He's slowly dying in the snow. The friends help him and take him in as one of their own. He warns them there were dangerous men in that van but he isnt one of them.
Suddenly its a race against time for these friends and a convicted drug dealer. They are injured,cold,dhydrated and hungry. You can only last so long in those conditions. But the elements are not the only thing that could kill them. There are hungry wolves and covicted murders in the woods. Will they all survive? Will any of them survive? What things will they learn along the way? If you want to find out take a trip down OBLIVION ROAD.

Oblivion Road was a real page turner filled with suspense, horror and mystery. I found it to be a really quick read. I just could not put it down because I had to know what was going to happen next. This book isnt only for teens. In fact, it was be a little too gruesome for the younger teen audience.

I cant wait for the next book by Alex McAulay!

I am a fan of Alex McAulay's novels. I read his first novel, Bad Girls and that got me hooked. Lost Summer proven to be another great read for me. His latest, Oblivion Road, got me sitting on the edge of the seat reading it. It was suspenseful, and felt like it was actually happening. Survival of the smartest proves to be key in the book. However, I wouldn't recommend for readers if they get scared easily, or grossed out because the setting in the story gets raw, but for me it was a great Christmas gift. I can't wait for more of McAulay's works.

This book had elements of surprise, but it was sadly quite predictable, in terms of Alex McAualy's writing. It was still an enjoyable, albeit creepy novel.


Every time I picked up Oblivion Road these past few days, I've almost immediately began to feel ill. Sick to my stomach, achey, just bleh in general. It's not a long book, and by my normal speed of reading I should have finished it two hours after starting it.


With that said, some things in this book were just GRUESOME. *shiver* Just thinking about it is creeping me out.

I am not much of a reader, but my daughter persuaded me to read this book. To my surpirse, I couldn't put it down. I actually stayed up all night to finish it, it was that good. Dito on what the other reviewers wrote, my thoughts exactly.

Wow.....is really the only thing I can say about this book! It was simply amazing! This book is an MTV Book...which led me to be a little skeptical about the quality of content going into it, but the synopsis made it hard to resist. I was pleasantly surprised by this book and can already say that I am looking forward to buying more Alex McAulay novels!

Oblivion Road immediately throws you into the storyline. In the first few chapters you realize the teens are in trouble, and as you keep reading it just keeps getting worse for them. I expected the plot to be full of holes and pretty predictable, but it was far from it. Although I kind of guessed at a few things, all the important parts of the story were a total surprise. The book started out with action, and the action never slowed! I have never read a book that was total action from beginning to end like this book is. It was hard to put down and at some points I realized I had been holding my breath waiting to see what would happen!

This novel really makes you stop and think about yourself. What would you do in that situation? Would you have the courage to go on? Or the courage to do what was needed to stay alive?

Some of the sacrifices that the characters make to survive are overwhelming and I don't think I could have made the same choices had I been in that situation.

The one bad thing I have to say about this book is that a group of teenagers being stranded on a snowy road...AND a prison van/escape prisoners also being stranded near by isn't all that likely to happen, but even so it was a good read and I look forward to reading more action packed stories from the same author!

This is definitely not a happy book and some parts are a little cringe worthy, but the main character, Courtney, is very strong willed and I found myself routing for her, hoping she would make it out of her terrible situation unscathed.

Reading this book made me think of those teenage horror flicks I used to watch as a young adult. Every scene in the book I could picture on the big screen. It's one of those that I would be gripping my husband's hand next to me as I sit on the edge of my seat, waiting for the next ball to drop, trembling with anticipation. The author created such a suspenseful, tense storyline that kept me up until 1:00am on a work night, because I HAD to know how it ended!

I loved this book! I will admit that I figured out what was going on about midway through, but I didn't know for sure, so I was furiously turning the pages to see if I was right! The author's pacing of the story was spot on and kept me intrigued page after page. I love how the chapters ended on a cliffhanger, so I had to continue reading to see what happened next! Hence, the staying up until 1:00am part!

I'm not going to recap the book as I think the synopsis is spot on and covers it all perfectly. I love suspenseful novels and this one definitely fit the bill. This is the first book I read by this author and I will definitely be looking for his others. This is a great young adult book, with some fairly gruesome scenes, so be forewarned!! It reads very quickly and easily and will keep you on the edge of your seat. Recommended!!

Jennifer
[..]

I have been wanting to read this for awhile now and was excited when I finally got the chance to. I Loved it! This is one book that won't disappoint it's readers. There are surprises from beginning to end.


It was extremely hard for me to put down. It seemed as though every time I turned the page, another unexpected twist would occur. I couldn't figure out what would happen to the teens, so I was on the edge the whole time. Honestly, it would totally suck to be caught in a situation like that, especially when you add some escape convicts on top of that...Yikes!!


Courtney and Reyna are two very brave and courageous girls. They never gave up, even after everything they had to endure. Their will to survive was unbreakable.


Packed with action, mystery, and suspence, this is a must read novel!