Review & Giveaway: Stung by Bethany Wiggins

Stung by Bethany Wiggins
Publisher: Walker Childrens
Release Date: April 2, 2013
Pre order: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

There is no cure for being stung.

Fiona doesn’t remember going to sleep. But when she opens her eyes, she discovers her entire world has been altered—her house is abandoned and broken, and the entire neighborhood is barren and dead. Even stranger is the tattoo on her right hand—a black oval with five marks on either side—that she doesn’t remember getting but somehow knows she must cover at any cost. She’s right.

Those bearing the tattoo have turned into mindless, violent beasts that roam the streets and sewers, preying upon the unbranded while a select few live protected inside a fortress-like wall, their lives devoted to rebuilding society and killing all who bear the mark.

Now Fiona has awakened branded, alone—and on the wrong side of the wall.

My thoughts:
I never knew or even thought about how important bees are to our world.

"Lots of plants will die without the bees' pollinating them.  And if the plants start dying, then the things that eat plants will start to die, like cows and chickens, which means no more meat for us to eat.  If we have no fruits or vegetables or grains to eat, and no meat, our world will experience major famine"

Very eye opening!  If bees did become extinct what do you think would happen?  Well in Stung, a group of scientist develop a modify bee that was supposed to stop the effects of the bees going extinct only things went wrong and people started dying from the bee stings.  So so many things went wrong with the mod bees and the end result was a us vs them type world where some people lived inside the wall while the others lived outside it and had to fend for themselves.  The ones living outside the wall had to live in fear of the beasts, humans who went crazy from vaccinations, and raiders, a gang of humans who take whatever they can from whoever they can.  There are also those who haven't turned crazy yet and live in the tunnels, they are called Fecs. They are as harmless as they sound since they have to be just as ruthless to live among the beasts and raiders.  This is where are main character, Fiona, wakes up and is an intense journey throughout the entire book.

I have to say this story is unique but it did fall apart for me towards the middle.  I was totally into the world without bees, scary beasts, and all the craziness but the author strayed from the story and it just went in a totally different direction instead of answering our questions.  The story starts off with a bang and really made my heart pond when Fiona wakes up in her old childhood home.  She has no idea how she got in her old bed and doesn't have a clue what is going on.  We learn a lot about what happened to her throughout but my main question is why didn't she remember right away.  I guess I can kind of see why her memory would be jumbled but we aren't really given an explanation and that irked me a bit.  Like I said I liked the world that Wiggins created, it was brutal and you couldn't trust anybody which was shown over and over again, but when Fiona does something that made me scream at her the story takes an over dramatic turn and the story takes a backseat.  There are 2 events that occurred that made no sense to me and I think it really took over the story.  After finishing the book I couldn't remember why people were vaccinated and with this type of book I should have remembered but since the story turned and took a different focus I didn't remember.  Which really makes me sad since I loved that part of the book.  I have so many questions that I know won't be answered even if there is a sequel.

I am going with 3.5 snowflakes and that is strictly for the beginning and Jonah.  I haven't mentioned Jonah yet and I can't since it will be too spoilery but if you decide to read Stung you will meet him in the beginning and well I will read the sequel if there is one just to find out more about him.  This book does have a romance that was very sweet.  I liked Bowen and Fiona together and one of those snowflakes is for them.

So not bad but could have been so much better.  If you want to see what I mean then don't forget to enter to win our giveaway for an ARC of  Stung!  Good luck! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*Quote was taken from an uncorrected proof*