Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for The Executioner at the Institute for Contaminated Children by Margaret E. Alexander. My stop includes all the details for the book and my review.
The Executioner
at the Institute for Contaminated Children
16 The deciding age of contamination.
30 The number of coin flips it takes to prove that Donna may have subconsciously used her genetically enhanced abilities to excel in school.
24 The number of hours Donna has to board a train to the Institute for Extraordinary Children.
14 The flights of stairs she must climb to get to her room.
700 The number of pages in the rule book that will determine how she eats, sleeps, and…well…smells for the remainder of the school year.
2 The number of members in her squad. Good thing Dan’s there to help get her abilities in shape and avoid Donna’s worst fear—humiliation. Her abilities skyrocket. Until the day she learns exactly what Dan is capable of.
1 The number of bodies that turn up dead.
0 Her chances of getting out alive.
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Margaret E. Alexander
Margaret E. Alexander
Margaret E. Alexander grew up in Miami, FL. Ten years of frizz and hurricanes chased her away to sunny San Diego, CA. While in college, studying biomedical engineering didn’t stop her from pumping out novel drafts every year. She found her escape in storytelling and others like her who sometimes preferred the world of fiction to the real one. The Executioner at the Institute for Contaminated Children is her first YA novel with Crescent Moon Press. She loves blogging about thrillers with young protagonists and is putting her art minor to good use with a graphic novel project on the side. Her wandering focus is the fault of her cat.
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This story hooked me with it's unique premise. Although I initially had a difficult time connecting with the heroine, I ended up riveted.
An accident at a chemical plan caused those people exposed to bear "contaminated" children. The special abilities that come along with being contaminated always surface by the child's 16th birthday. Donna, who was pondering how fantastic it'd be to know a superhero, finds herself labeled as contaminated on her 16th birthday. As such, she's sent to one of the Institutes for children like her. There she meets Dan. At first, he's really cocky and obnoxious. But eventually, we see through to the side of him that hides his pain and cares for others. They become partners. They train together - to hone their abilities. But the longer Donna's there, the stronger her senses that something in the Institute is amiss.
The story became very exciting and action-packed as Donna and Dan try to solve the mysteries of who runs the Institutes, who is the Executioner, and why were the contaminated children wanted?
I ended up really enjoying this story. The only reason it's a 4 bookworm read is that I had trouble connecting with Donna in the first third of the book. I will qualify that with a "it's me, not her" as Donna is a gamer and therefore used and referenced gaming. This is something unfamiliar to me and hindered my connection to her. The middle third switched to Dan's POV. I liked his perspective quite a bit. And his interactions with Donna helped bridge the gap for me, so that when the POV switched back to Donna in the final third of the story, I was on board with her.
I've never been much into comics or superheroes, but I think The Executioner at the Institute for Contaminated Children is reminiscent of them. There are characters with extraordinary powers, arch-nemeses that are unknown, and great villains. I think the story speaks to social injustices and prejudices in our society. I liked that. And it was done in a clever way. Ms. Alexander wove a creative story around great world building and well-developed characters. This will appeal to teens and adults alike. I'm anxious to know the rest of Donna and Dan's story.
An accident at a chemical plan caused those people exposed to bear "contaminated" children. The special abilities that come along with being contaminated always surface by the child's 16th birthday. Donna, who was pondering how fantastic it'd be to know a superhero, finds herself labeled as contaminated on her 16th birthday. As such, she's sent to one of the Institutes for children like her. There she meets Dan. At first, he's really cocky and obnoxious. But eventually, we see through to the side of him that hides his pain and cares for others. They become partners. They train together - to hone their abilities. But the longer Donna's there, the stronger her senses that something in the Institute is amiss.
The story became very exciting and action-packed as Donna and Dan try to solve the mysteries of who runs the Institutes, who is the Executioner, and why were the contaminated children wanted?
I ended up really enjoying this story. The only reason it's a 4 bookworm read is that I had trouble connecting with Donna in the first third of the book. I will qualify that with a "it's me, not her" as Donna is a gamer and therefore used and referenced gaming. This is something unfamiliar to me and hindered my connection to her. The middle third switched to Dan's POV. I liked his perspective quite a bit. And his interactions with Donna helped bridge the gap for me, so that when the POV switched back to Donna in the final third of the story, I was on board with her.
I've never been much into comics or superheroes, but I think The Executioner at the Institute for Contaminated Children is reminiscent of them. There are characters with extraordinary powers, arch-nemeses that are unknown, and great villains. I think the story speaks to social injustices and prejudices in our society. I liked that. And it was done in a clever way. Ms. Alexander wove a creative story around great world building and well-developed characters. This will appeal to teens and adults alike. I'm anxious to know the rest of Donna and Dan's story.
