The Farm by Emily McKay - Book Review

Title: The Farm (Farm # 1)
Author: Emily McKay

Publisher: Penguin

Publication Date: 4th December 2012

Pages: 420

Format: Paperback
Genre: YA Paranormal

Source: Bought Copy

Life was different in the Before: before vampires began devouring humans in a swarm across America; before the surviving young people were rounded up and quarantined. These days, we know what those quarantines are—holding pens where human blood is turned into more food for the undead monsters, known as Ticks. Surrounded by electrical fences, most kids try to survive the Farms by turning on each other…

And when trust is a thing of the past, escape is nearly impossible.

Lily and her twin sister Mel have a plan. Though Mel can barely communicate, her autism helps her notice things no one else notices—like the portion of electrical fence that gets turned off every night. Getting across won’t be easy, but as Lily gathers what they need to escape, a familiar face appears out of nowhere, offering to help…

Carter was a schoolmate of Lily’s in the Before. Managing to evade capture until now, he has valuable knowledge of the outside world. But like everyone on the Farm, Carter has his own agenda, and he knows that behind the Ticks is an even more dangerous threat to the human race...(Goodreads Synopsis)


I'd been hearing some good things about this book lately, so I decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did as this was a fun and engaging story that really held my interest from start to finish.

I loved the premise of the book and the way it blends two different vampire ideas. I also really enjoyed all the pop culture references that were splattered about in the dialogue. Lily is a strong heroine and I enjoyed her interaction with Carter and the way their relationship developed.

For me, the chapters in her viewpoint worked best. The sections in Carter's viewpoint also worked, but I felt the short snippets from Mel were more problematic; while necessary for the plot at times, they did not quite gel with the rest.

I was also a little unsure about the way this first book ended as it felt a little abrupt and jarring. It was also, of course, a very annoying cliff-hanger.

However, despite these two very minor gripes, this was an action-packed story and I am certainly waiting on tenterhooks to find out what will happen in the next book.