Aya M. Productions

Note: I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. I was not paid to write this. Also, this is Book 2 of a series. This review may contain spoilers for Fire & Flood, if you have not read it yet.

Salt & Stone by Victoria Scott was book hangover inducing. Seriously! It was an exciting follow up to Fire & Flood, where the contenders compete in the last two ecosystems of the Brimstone Bleed: ocean and mountain. What sealed the deal for Salt & Stone‘s awesome-ness was Tella’s growth from the first book and, of course, the PANDORAS! (Honestly, if you know where I can get myself a Pandora, let me know!)

In Fire & Flood, I found Tella to be a bit annoying. My review of Fire & Flood even mentioned how I had to push through the first quarter of the book or so because I found her to be very annoying. Luckily, by the beginning of Salt & Stone, she’s grown a lot and it shows. She may not be the best survivalist at times, but she is definitely a natural born leader. Her references to her homecoming dress and whatnot in Salt & Stone was less about her complaining about the situation and was more of a coping mechanism in moments of high stress, which I totally understood. I mean right now, I’m imagining that I’m back at home in warm and sunny Honolulu, HI because I’m completely sick of this “arctic blast” of cold air. Yeah, I’m so done with winter… Anyways, I now love Tella.

Oh my goodness the Pandoras are amazing! I love them, and I want one for myself. They have personalities and amazing skills/powers, and they truly get tested in Salt & Stone. You can never underestimate a Pandora. If you want to know more about their awesomeness, I’ll let you read the book for yourself.

Salt & Stone still didn’t develop Tella’s and Guy’s romance much. If anything there was a lot of tension between the two throughout the entire book. On one hand you know they like each other, and on the other hand you know it’s a competition. The tension was totally appropriate, and I loved where they ended up when the story ended.

What really escalated, I thought, in this book was the unrest between the contenders and those who run the Brimstone Bleed. As I read Salt & Stone, I hated the creators of the competition more and more, and so did the contenders.

So what happens next? That’s what I want to know! Is Scholastic picking up the third book, because I want it like NOW. The race might be over, but there’s definitely a lot left to be resolved. A LOT. I NEED a 3rd book!

In short: Salt & Stone was a fantastic follow up to Fire & Flood. Victoria Scott did extremely well, I think. The Brimstone Bleed is finished, Tella’s character experiences a lot of growth, and there’s a ton of Pandoras to love. If you haven’t checked out Victoria Scott’s Fire & Flood series yet, I highly recommend it!