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Ann AguirreHordeAnn AguirreHordeQUALITY PAPERBACK
UPC: 9781250050779Release Date: 8/5/2014
Series:Biographical note:
ANN AGUIRRE is a bestselling author whose first novel for young adults, Enclave, was praised as “for fans of The Hunger Games” by Publishers Weekly. Outpost, the second book in the Razorland Trilogy, was a USA Today bestseller. She lives in Mexico with her family. Excerpt from book:
Quest
I left without looking back. This wouldn’t be easy, but it was necessary to leave our loved ones under siege to fetch help for Salvation. The decision hurt my heart too; my foster mother’s face would haunt me, so wounded and brave, older than I’d known a woman could become yet remain strong and vital. She glimmered like a promise of hope that my flame needn’t flicker and burn out before I had a chance to live. Once I’d thought old meant twenty-five, but my time in Salvation had changed my perceptions. Now it was strange to imagine I might not be entering the middle of my life. Into the dark I quickened my steps, eyes sharp for Freaks prowling beyond normal perimeters. Behind us, I heard them shrieking challenges to the men guarding the walls. Rifles cracked out when they rushed, but I couldn’t turn, no matter how much I wished otherwise. My course was fixed by the shadowy line traced on the priceless map secured in the leather folio in my pack. Before we’d left, I had studied it with complete focus, memorizing each twist and turn of the route, each handwritten note left by Longshot about good game-hunting or fresh water. It was two days to Soldier’s Pond, two more back, once we mustered the necessary reinforcements. That dot on the parchment represented the best hope of saving the people who had taught me so much about life, that it could be more than just hunting and killing. Momma Oaks. Edmund. I couldn’t let myself think of them or I’d falter. Instead I pressed on, silent and wary, listening to the Freaks behind us. With a glance over my shoulder, I reassured myself that Fade was still at my back. Tegan and Stalker walked on either flank, she with her lopsided gait and unshakable loyalty, he with his curved knives in his hands and his eyes fixed on the horizon, though he couldn’t see what lay ahead as well as I could. That came with being the night girl. Reflexively I adjusted my pack, reassured by the weight of the book that had traveled with us all the way from the ruins. Maybe I didn’t need it, but it had become my talisman, every bit as much as the tattered playing card sewn into a hidden pocket inside my shirt. Edmund had explained that my token from down below was part of a fifty-two-piece set, and it was a low card. That seemed fitting, as it served to keep me humble. “See anything?” Tegan asked. “Just some night-prowling animals. The enemy’s behind us.” “I know,” she said softly. The grass crisped under our feet, liberally sprinkled with early fallen fronds. It wasn’t yet turning time, when all the leaves changed colors and dropped from the branches, but there were always a few to crackle as we went. We ran all through the night with periodic breaks for rest and water while I checked the maps by the moonlight shining overhead. By the time the sun crept over the horizon in delicate whorls of rose and amber, I was exhausted—and disgusted with my own weakness. Down below Fade and I had run a much more dangerous route in faster time, but we had to account for Tegan’s slower strides too. Though the girl was all heart, her leg couldn’t carry her indefinitely at the same pace that the rest of us set, and she was limping now, brackets of pain beside her mouth. I didn’t make the mistake of noting it out loud “[Enclave] is a young adult dystopian novel and has been compared to the hit series The Hunger Games. To say we’re excited is a major understatement.” —ElleGirl.com “In her first young adult novel, Aguirre has created a gritty and highly competent heroine, an equally deadly sidekick/love interest, and a fascinating if unpleasant civilization. This series is likely to hold considerable appeal for fans of The Hunger Games.” —Publishers Weekly “Enclave is dark and thrilling, fast-paced and intense. With some graphic and gross imagery and a hard look at a post-apocalyptic world, Aguirre has taken themes from Scott Westerfeld and an assortment of zombie literature and created something that is very much her own—and a very engaging read.” —RT Book Reviews “This well-paced zombie-esque adventure in an urban wasteland will keep fans happy.” —Kirkus Reviews “Aguirre’s young adult debut is a gripping survival story set in an apocalyptic future. . . . This is a tense, action-packed dystopia with intriguingly gray characters.” —Booklist “Deuce’s passion for life, even in her bleakest moments, is contagious, and that passion exemplifies the nebulous force that has driven all of these individuals to persist in the face of awful options.” —The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books |
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