Deadzone (Horizon #2)

Nielsen, Jennifer A. Deadzone (Horizon #2)
September 12th 2017 by Scholastic Inc.
E ARC from Edelweiss Above the Treeline

After surviving the plane crash and the events of Horizon, Team Killbot, Yoshi,  Kira and Akiko are still stuck in the weird Rift, trying to figure out what has happened and how to survive in the hostile environment. Food and water are scarce, although the manage to find some water and are good about boiling it, and occasionally cook up a scorpion or two. The biggest issue is that they need to cross the "blood sand"; red sand that will swallow them if any moisture drops on it. They make their weary way across, and fight off occasional predators. Yoshi struggles with finding out that his mother is sending him to Japan to be with his father because she doesn't want him, Molly struggles with her leadership roll, Kira and Akiko teach the group some Japanese and learn some English, and a few more facts about the fate of the plane emerge. When one of the children goes missing, he later show up talking in a very robotic way, but nothing is resolved because there are going to be five more books.
Strengths: I'm always intrigued by series written by different authors, and certainly love Westerfeld (who did book one) and Nielsen. This had an interesting Warriors meets video game vibe to it-- the children are very concerned about naming everything, there are alliances and factions, and lots o.f fighting and survival.The presence of an online game will be appealing to some readers.
Weaknesses: This read like a video game, and I had trouble discerning a plot. By the end of two books, I want more answers.
What I really think: This could have made one very interesting longer book, but I don't know that I can bring myself to buy the whole series. I know some of my students watch YouTube videos of people playing video games, but I just couldn't get into the book. Will have to debate and discuss with my students.