Cruel Reality by C.J. Whitley


4 Stars

I would first like to start off my review by saying thank you to everyone for being patient when waiting for my reviews and especially this past month. I haven't done a post since the end of Septmber as I fell ill for a few weeks at the beginning of the month. I have just now started to pick books back up again! I have really missed not being able to read! Also, Thanks C.J. for waiting for me to finish your book - I was half way through when I had to stop! Anyways, on with the review.

I don't want to say too much about this book in ways of a synopsis as there isn't that much to go off on the blurb/goodreads and I don't want to give much away either; so here's a short one: 

A large group of men, women and children are abducted in the night by masked individuals. They all find themselves waking up in the hanger of a ship. Nobody knows why or who has taken them; they are given no instructions other than when meals are to be given. After waiting on the ship for over several days, they then find themselves waking up in a tropical forest with tents and medieval weapons. Still unknown as to where this may take them, all they know is they need to fight or die. 

This book is such a huge story, and I don't just mean the fact that it is almost 600 pages long. There is a lot of detail and you can see how much time the author has taken to research and write this piece. We follow a few main characters throughout the book, especially Mike. He seems to become a leader of sorts, making sure everyone is ok and making suggestions on what they should all do. At first, this is a great idea, but as you start reading the book, I would say I started to become a little annoyed with Mike. He lays down a lot of 'laws' and wants everything done in such a way. Yes, everyone follows him, which makes for an easy life, but it does get on your nerves after a while as he begins to put himself down or a little arrogant with fighting. There are other characters in which we read from their point of view such as Kayleigh (love interest), but it is mostly Mike's. 

My main reason for giving this book 4 stars is that I enjoyed the way it spoke about morals and ethics in life. It looked at what humans will do for survival, how we can survive without all our technology and become more interested in each other. For those of you looking however, for a fast paced kind of read, this isn't one of them. It certainly wasn't slow paced, but more of an average paced kind of read. For this reason and a few others such as an overload of detail, there could have been a few parts that could have been reduced or axed from the overall book. I also found the mystery around who their captives were and why they had been chosen etc to also be an interesting part of the book. It is a little obvious as to the use of all the cameras and recording equipment but you still have no idea until towards the end of the book as to why they are being watched and who took them. 

Overall, this book made for an interesting read and another great way to look at how we as humans are part of this world and how we can survive. I think those who like that kind of thing will be very interested in reading this book and those who like dystopian style books such as The Hunger Games. 

Happy reading :)

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