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The Travels of Scout Shannon #2
In Quaking Hills
After spending the last four days of her life hiding out from a deadly solar particle storm in an underground bunker, trapped with six treacherous women and a trio of girl assassins, Scout Shannon just wants to find the man who conned her mentor and leave her home world for good.
Alas, the long-threatened war draws nearer and Scout finds herself caught in the middle, surrounded by rebels and bandits. Worse, she carries a pocketful of dangerous secrets with no one to entrust them to.
And the hills keep shaking. Something lurks deep underground. Something massive. Something world-destroying. Scout leaves in three days. If she lives that long.
"In Quaking Hills", the sequel to "Under Falling Skies" and the second book in "The Travels of Scout Shannon" series, a young adult science fiction novel for fans of plucky heroines, complicated boys, and loyal dog sidekicks.
Alas, the long-threatened war draws nearer and Scout finds herself caught in the middle, surrounded by rebels and bandits. Worse, she carries a pocketful of dangerous secrets with no one to entrust them to.
And the hills keep shaking. Something lurks deep underground. Something massive. Something world-destroying. Scout leaves in three days. If she lives that long.
"In Quaking Hills", the sequel to "Under Falling Skies" and the second book in "The Travels of Scout Shannon" series, a young adult science fiction novel for fans of plucky heroines, complicated boys, and loyal dog sidekicks.
214 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 30, 2018
8 people are currently reading
29 people want to read
About the author
Kate MacLeod
136 books27 followersKate MacLeod lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with her husband and two sons, although they may head further north soon, as the winters in Minnesota just don’t get cold enough anymore. She has two dogs, Mugen and Tachikoma, and a cat named Spike Spiegel. Her short fiction has appeared in Analog, Strange Horizons, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Persistent Visions and Abyss and Apex among others.
Find out more about the author at www.katemacleod.net.
Find out more about the author at www.katemacleod.net.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 21, 2018
I was a bit confused at the beginning because this book actually backtracks a bit and retells some stuff from the end of the last book, but the author also added some new information to it so I can see why she did it. However, after the first two chapters we are onto completely new things and Scout is ready to accidentally get herself into another messy situation [she just has the worst luck in these kinds of things].
Although I feel like things took a bit longer to pick up in this one, it was still a really great story once it got started. MacLeod is really good with building up suspense and I'm always on the edge of my seat wondering how Scout is going to get out of all her sticky situations. Also I really appreciate that this series takes time to flip some of my least favorite tropes on their head. Like there's a boy in this book who could have been the [unfortunately] classic jerk-ish male YA love interest, but Scout realized what was going on and was having none of it and I'm so glad. Anyway I really enjoyed this and am looking forward to the next one!
Although I feel like things took a bit longer to pick up in this one, it was still a really great story once it got started. MacLeod is really good with building up suspense and I'm always on the edge of my seat wondering how Scout is going to get out of all her sticky situations. Also I really appreciate that this series takes time to flip some of my least favorite tropes on their head. Like there's a boy in this book who could have been the [unfortunately] classic jerk-ish male YA love interest, but Scout realized what was going on and was having none of it and I'm so glad. Anyway I really enjoyed this and am looking forward to the next one!
January 8, 2019
You know when you buy an ebook and love it, so you buy a hard copy to place proudly on your shelves? That's what I did with Under Falling Skies, Kate McLeod's first Scout Shannon novel of science fiction horrorness. Peopled with intriguing characters -- all of them, incidentally and yet you don't even notice it for ages, women -- and giving us a survival story told from the perspective of our plucky teen heroine, Scout.
On a bleak, cruel world, she is orphaned and alone, with only her dog -- eventually two dogs -- for company, and a stubborn independent streak a mile wide. In Under Falling Skies, a solar flare sends her underground in company with other refugees from the storm, and she makes friends with an inter-stellar spy-type who is on a mission of revenge.
At the beginning of In Quaking Hills, the solar flare has only just receded, Scout has just escaped the underground locked-room-murder-mystery bloodbath that was her previous adventure, and has a date to meet her new (deceased) friend's space travelling partner, Liam, in a few days. She decides to spend those days tracking down a fugitive, trying to make herself useful to Liam and hopefully convincing him to take her away from all this. But then she meets a cute boy, and she ends up spending the next several days a prisoner of some very dubious rebels, under the command of an unstable maniac.
Much of the book is spent in frustration at Scout's stupidity. You want to scream at her: "What are you doing? Why are you doing this? What the hell is wrong with you?" At times, you may even do it. (With apologies to my neighbours.) There is a constant threat of violence, a looming deadline, and a manipulative narcissist who is so obviously a manipulative narcissist, it feels ridiculous that Scout keeps falling for his nonsense. You have to keep reminding yourself that she is young, has had a difficult life, and her socialization has been lacking. But then you remember that despite her youth, she has had a difficult life, and should know better than to trust... well, anyone.
In the end, In Quaking Hills was, for me, a disappointing sequel, but enjoyable enough that I will no doubt follow Scout's continuing travels. I may just stick to the ebook versions of them, from now on.
SCORECARD
TBR DAY 7: In Quaking Hills (Travels of Scout Shannon #2) by Kate MacLeod
GENRE: YA SF
PUBLISHED: 2017
TIME ON THE TBR: 8 months.
PURCHASED FROM: Minotaur, Melbourne.
KEEP: Maybe.
On a bleak, cruel world, she is orphaned and alone, with only her dog -- eventually two dogs -- for company, and a stubborn independent streak a mile wide. In Under Falling Skies, a solar flare sends her underground in company with other refugees from the storm, and she makes friends with an inter-stellar spy-type who is on a mission of revenge.
At the beginning of In Quaking Hills, the solar flare has only just receded, Scout has just escaped the underground locked-room-murder-mystery bloodbath that was her previous adventure, and has a date to meet her new (deceased) friend's space travelling partner, Liam, in a few days. She decides to spend those days tracking down a fugitive, trying to make herself useful to Liam and hopefully convincing him to take her away from all this. But then she meets a cute boy, and she ends up spending the next several days a prisoner of some very dubious rebels, under the command of an unstable maniac.
Much of the book is spent in frustration at Scout's stupidity. You want to scream at her: "What are you doing? Why are you doing this? What the hell is wrong with you?" At times, you may even do it. (With apologies to my neighbours.) There is a constant threat of violence, a looming deadline, and a manipulative narcissist who is so obviously a manipulative narcissist, it feels ridiculous that Scout keeps falling for his nonsense. You have to keep reminding yourself that she is young, has had a difficult life, and her socialization has been lacking. But then you remember that despite her youth, she has had a difficult life, and should know better than to trust... well, anyone.
In the end, In Quaking Hills was, for me, a disappointing sequel, but enjoyable enough that I will no doubt follow Scout's continuing travels. I may just stick to the ebook versions of them, from now on.
SCORECARD
TBR DAY 7: In Quaking Hills (Travels of Scout Shannon #2) by Kate MacLeod
GENRE: YA SF
PUBLISHED: 2017
TIME ON THE TBR: 8 months.
PURCHASED FROM: Minotaur, Melbourne.
KEEP: Maybe.
September 21, 2025
I wasn't sure about this one at first, it's been a while since I read book 1 so I felt I had missing gaps in my knowledge of what happened previously which slowed down my ability to absorb the new story (not really the authors fault I have a bad memory).
Scout seems to be very good at finding trouble or possibly more to the point she naively trusts when no trust has been earned. I have to remind myself she is just a teenager so maybe can be forgiven, the way her life is going she will become jaded soon enough.
This a quick book to read, it's easy going and doesn't make you think too much (sometimes you just need that) I did enjoy it once I started remembering what had happened before and am interested to see if her trust has been misplaced once again in the next book.
Scout seems to be very good at finding trouble or possibly more to the point she naively trusts when no trust has been earned. I have to remind myself she is just a teenager so maybe can be forgiven, the way her life is going she will become jaded soon enough.
This a quick book to read, it's easy going and doesn't make you think too much (sometimes you just need that) I did enjoy it once I started remembering what had happened before and am interested to see if her trust has been misplaced once again in the next book.
May 30, 2021
There are very few fictional characters that awakened such a rage, and this book had me cursing one of them out loud.
The ability to create truly dislikable character is one this author clearly has. Excited for the rest of the series.
The ability to create truly dislikable character is one this author clearly has. Excited for the rest of the series.
January 1, 2022
Good read, great sequel, better than the 1st, nice fun read.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews