Review: The Compound by S.A. Bodeen

The Compound by S.A. Bodeen
Published: April 29th, 2008 (Feiwel and Friends)
Pages: 248
Source: Bought
Series: The Compound, #1
Buy the book: Bookdepository
Rating: ★★☆☆☆


Eli and his family have lived in the underground Compound for six years. The world they knew is gone, and they've become accustomed to their new life. Accustomed, but not happy.

For Eli, no amount of luxury can stifle the dull routine of living in the same place, with only his two sisters, his father and mother, doing the same thing day after day after day.

As problems with their carefully planned existence threaten to destroy their sanctuary—and their sanity—Eli can't help but wonder if he'd rather take his chances outside.

Eli's father built the Compound to keep them safe. But are they safe—or sorry?

I think I had The Compound on my shelves for nearly 2 years. The synopsis intrigued me, but somehow the book didn’t appeal to me when it was on my shelves. I picked it up on a whim, and to be honest, my initial instinct was right; this book wasn’t all that. At all.

While it’s an easy and quick read (I read it in one sitting), the plot is paper thin at best. I loved the idea for a compound to use for shelter, but when the story continued I couldn’t follow the motives for certain characters anymore. It just didn’t make any sense. I wish I could voice my questions here, but since it would completely spoil the story to even mention something, I will refrain from doing so. Just take my word for it when I tell you the motivation is completely lacking in terms reasons to do things in that compound. It was driving me crazy.

The characters are dull, flat, naive and annoying. I just.. ugh. They just didn't come alive or develop at all during the story. While I can understand that one would be a bit washed out after being in a compound without sun for six years, it wasn't at all interesting for the reader to follow Eli and his family.

To be honest, the more I think about it, the more frustrated I get with this book. It holds so much promise when you read the back of the book and when you start reading it. But when you are really reading it, you start to think the author had a great idea, started working with it and then something happened that made the whole story collapse like a house of cards. It just feels to me that certain things weren't thought out while writing them and that just angered me. Why? I really don't understand.. And now I found out it's getting a sequel. Again, why? This first book was more than enough in my opinion.

I wouldn't recommend this book.