Survival by Chris Ryan

Today I went to the Salt Lake County Public Library's ebook site and used that to find my new book.
I applied several filters to find the genre I like, YA this time then picked a random page (in this case, page 37) and found a book on that page that I wanted to read.

This led me to Survival by Chris Ryan. This isn't my usual type of read. Normally when I read a book about teens survival it tends to be dystopian or post-apocalyptic. But I am glad I picked this book.

Alex has been trained in survival by his SAS father, though he hopes to never have to use it. Amber is a rich girl who is amazing with navigation. Li is trained in martial arts and is an expert free climber. Hex is a hacker and Paulo is a lady's man who is also a mechanical genius. These five teens make up Alpha watch on the summer exploration ship Phoenix. In the beginning they don't get along, Amber the rich girl constantly clashes with Hex a boy from inner London. After getting in trouble on their watch, they sneak in to a life boat to eat snacks and to hide out.
Unfortunately, the rope holding their boat to the ship snaps and they are set adrift.

After a run in with a shark they manage to make it to shore on a small deserted island. While the island is idyllic with plenty of fresh water and food. But the island also has its dangers, leeches, sharks in the bay and worst of all - komodo dragons. While competing with the komodos for food, the teens also manage to build shelters and a signal fire.

This is the story of how they survive in the wild.

I rated this book a 4 out of 5. It was a good read about teens working together to overcome the odds. One thing I liked about this book is that at the end the author Chris Ryan, ex-SAS, includes 10 survival tips. Overall a good book. I plan on reading more of his books and definitely more of this series.

Recommendations:
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen - I loved this book when I was younger, I still do. It is the story of Brian who is flying to Canada in a small plane when the pilot has a heart attack causing the plane to crash. The book is about how he survives in the wilds of Canada.

Lord of the Flies by William Golding - On the opposite side of the spectrum, this is the story of a group of boys who crash land on an island and it all goes horribly wrong. This was one of my favorite books as a teen.