5/5 stars
I know with absolute certainty that I will never read this book again. Not because it was bad, the complete opposite! It’s good…..TOO good!
Jon had me cringing in several places, most notably the meat grinder scene, and I had to take a bit of a break before diving back in. This is one of the best post-apocalyptic books I’ve read, and it really put a new spin on how I view the genre as a whole! Though I’m not sure I’ll ever look at a blender the same way now….
Blender Babies is a desperate race for survival that kept me on the edge of my seat all the way through! I felt like I was running with Brian and was completely exhausted from the roller coaster that I was on by the end. Jon paints a visceral picture of a family’s will to survive and a father’s determination to save them no matter what actions he has to take.
The most horrifying thing is that this isn’t super far-fetched. Not so much the actions, but the idea behind them. People are always doing wild things for trends or social media “clout.” When I was a kid, we huffed dry erase markers. Recently, there have been things like the Blackout Challenge and the Skull Breaker Challenge….I could go on and on. While the idea of blending babies is absolutely horrifying, it’s not so much of a stretch to think that someone will eventually escalate these social media trends into something much worse than they are currently.
This one was a ride, and I respect the hell out of Jon for being able to evoke such a powerful reaction from me that I had to step away and continue the book again the next day. It really speaks for an author’s skill and abilities, and I love that as brutal as Blender Babies was, it’s also thought-provoking and a master example of the places this genre could go.
Thanks so much for letting me be part of the street team and getting to read this early! Now I shall eagerly await the sequel and contemplate the Lord of the Flesh and how exactly I’d stay as far away from him as possible!
Alpha's Court 