Pandora Jones: Admission Review

Pandora Jones: Admission
By: Barry Jonsberg
Publisher: Allen and Unwin
‘Do you remember what happened out there?’ he asked.
Pan considered the question. Sudden images flooded in and she closed her eyes against them.
‘I see you do,’ said the man. ‘You have been through a lot, Pandora Jones.’
Pandora Jones wakes in an infirmary - her body weak, her memory providing only flashes of horrific scenes of death. She soon discovers that her family has succumbed to a plague pandemic which almost wiped out humanity. Pan is one of the survivors who have been admitted to The School - a quarantined, heavily guarded survival-skills facility - to recover their strength, hone their skills and prepare for whatever comes next. Pandora's skill is intuition, but how useful will it be outside the secure walls of The School? And what if it leads her to question where the truth lies...

Plague. Pandemic. Intuition. Secrets. Truth. Courage. Action. Survival.

My review
Plot: Pandora Jones is starting her day like every other but little does she know that by the end of it, it defiantly won’t be like any other day she has had. She goes off to school like any other day but suddenly there are gaps in her memory and she can’t remember what is happening. Suddenly she is in class and there aren’t nearly as many people there as should be and they have a relief teacher, who suddenly starts coughing and can’t stop. Next thing the teacher has coughed herself to death. There seems to have been a deadly virus that has swept the nation and barely anyone has survived. Pan wakes up in a hospital weeks after the virus swept through and is soon escorted to the ‘School’ where all of the survivors that have been found are being kept. Here she is put into a group who she will eat, train and study with. But not everything is at it seems at the school and when one of their group go missing Pan slowly starts to piece together what she believes has really happened.

What I liked about the book: From the first sentence in Pandora Jones Admission I was hooked and wanting more (It took slightly under eight hours for Melbourne to die I mean come on as if you’re not going to want to read more after that). I loved that Pandora was a local girl and that she did things on her own terms and that she stood up to Jen no matter what the consequences were going to be. I will defiantly be looking out for the next book in the series.

What I didn’t like about the book: (SPOILER ALERT)
I didn’t like that Nate died. He was one of my favourite characters and I was looking forward to seeing Pandora and Nate develop their relationship more. But I was also a little upset that she didn’t seem to mourn him as much as she did Cara, who she barely knew.

Favourite character: This is hard but I would have to say either Pan herself or Nate. Pan was such a strong character in the book. She was interesting, didn’t let anybody get her down and always looked out for the people who needed help. Even though people were sceptical of her talent, even she was, she still attempted to use it whenever it was needed.
And Nate is because he was just so fun to read about. He never let anybody get to him and he was always happy and willing to help anyone. I loved how he helped Pan out with her running (wish I had someone like that).

Favourite part/quote: My favourite part is when Pan takes over watch from Karl and tells him that she wants a full English breakfast.
‘I was told to tell you the full English is off the menu,’ Sam said.
‘Poached eggs with bacon?’
‘Off’
‘Corn fritters?’
‘Off’
‘How about a tiny sliver of almost cooked and wholly unidentifiable fish?’
‘A wise choice, madam.’

If you like these books then you will love this book: Enmity by E.J. Andrews

Rating: 4/5



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