The first thing that attracted me to this book was the cover – look at it and admire that gorgeousness. The second thing is its genre dystopian/post-apocalyptic novel which I don’t read often and try to read more of. Synopsis of the book also intrigued me and lured me to find out what’s hiding behind that cover.
The Salt Line by Holly Goddard Jones is about a post-apocalyptic world where there are salt lines that protect communities against very deadly ticks. Many people live in a zone that is free of ticks but they still have some fear that the ticks will get to them in some way. The society has created some out-of-zone tours which cost pretty big amount of money for people who want to venture outside the Salt line in order to see the nature and see what’s outside. We have a famous pop star, Jesse and his girlfriend, Edie, a well-known tech guy, Wes and a woman who has a few secrets called Marta among other characters. On this journey they have been prepared for the dangers that are ahead but not quite for the dangers that actually await them when they go outside the Salt line.
Before going into this book I came across a one-star review of it but the reasons for the rating wasn’t that clear so I went with an open mind because I liked the sound of the synopsis. I didn’t expect to enjoy this book this much! It was a very interesting dystopian book filled with government conspiracies, dangerous ventures and much more. The thing I enjoyed the most about this book was the way Goddard Jones wrote her characters – I loved reading about Wes and Marta and how they bonded, I have to note that the first part of the book was mind blowing to me and that ending was so good and when the second part came I was a bit underwhelmed because I expected something else but I still enjoyed reading it and it didn’t ruin my enjoyment of the book. There were a few parts of the world-building and explanations for some actions that were unnecessary in my opinion but this was still an enjoyable read which I couldn’t put down.
Fans of dystopian and post-apocalyptic books will find The Salt Line very interesting and very enjoyable.
I would like to thank Penguin Random House International for sending me a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
My rating:
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Holly Goddard Jones is the author of The Salt Line, The Next Time You See Me and Girl Trouble (stories). Her work has appeared in The Best American Mystery Stories, New Stories from the South, Tin House magazine, and elsewhere. She was a recipient of The Fellowship of Southern Writers’ Hillsdale Prize for Excellence in Fiction and of a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award. She earned her M.F.A. from Ohio State University and her B.A. from the University of Kentucky. She teaches creative writing at UNC Greensboro and lives in Greensboro with her husband, Brandon, and their children.
I love the cover too! You lost me at the words deadly ticks though ;-). I’m happy to hear you enjoyed it so much. I am curious to know what other dangers are lurking outside of the zone.. It does make me think of Jurrasic Park for some weird reason 🙂
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It mainly focuses on deadly ticks as the deadliest creatures but there might be a lot of other dangers out there. Thanks for commenting!
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It sounds very interesting. Sometimes I just like to read something out of my normal genre. Fab. review of this one!
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I do the same too! Thank you Holly!
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I do love dystopian! I will be adding this one. Sounds like a fun read. Great review 😊
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Yay! Thanks Danielle!
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Added it to my GR list! 🤗
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Woohoo!
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Fabulous review! And what a cover!! It’s amazing!
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Thank you Misti! I agree!
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Dystopian/post-apocalyptic is one of my favorite genres and I really enjoyed this book. Glad to see you did as well!
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Yay! Thanks for commenting!
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Interesting book. Thank you for the recommendation. Like you I am attracted by the cover.
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The cover is gorgeous!
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I agree, that cover is absolutely stunning! Good to hear you enjoyed this one… 1 star rating reviews are always tricky to base an opinion on, especially if there is no clear reason included. I’m happy The Salt Line turned out to be a good one! Great review
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Thank you Yvo!
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I was drawn to this by the cover too and I also enjoyed the beginning more than the end. I thought the second half felt pretty anticlimactic after the interesting set up.
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The ending of part one is so good and then it shifts to that part but I still enjoyed it. Thanks for commenting!
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I agree with you about the cover, its stunning! Glad that you enjoyed this one and weren’t put off by the 1 star. Great review!
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Thanks Diana!
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I’m glad that the one-star review didn’t persuade you into giving up on this one! It sounds like it turned out to be quite fantastic, and I was actually surprised to see you read a post-apocalyptic novel too hahaha So glad to hear that you had fun with it though. Awesome review, Nikola. 🙂
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Yeah, I actually love these kinds of stories and I’m glad I read it!! Thanks Lashaan!
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