This book is complete popcorn. I am apparently in the mood for popcorn. It doesn't add much in the way of story from the first book (except Simon) but I still tore through it. The waiting can be a little over the top sometimes. I didn't really care. I felt like I was reading an old movie serial, only it's a horror story. Fast, moody, and full of nasty. I look forward to the next book. ( )

Seriously terrible. The whole book takes place in a space the size of a coffin and when we do get to "escape," we end up floating through a space that hasn't even been described in detail. Seems the premise of the series is to spend a whole book in one room after another to avoid world-building and description. The author asks that we suspend any hope or expectation of belief with what I can describe as nothing less than lazy writing. And don't even get me started on the horrid, cliche metaphors and similies. Here's an example:

"Panting like an overweight dog, and sweating more than a sumo wrestler in a sauna, I pulled my aching fingers from the grille and collapsed."

Yeah. Skip it. I won't be continuing this series. ( )

Solitary continues the Escape from Furnace story directly on from Lockdown, whilst it's quite a quick read at around 300 pages it is none the less a pretty enthralling little book as Alex & Zee struggle to escape once again after their initial breakout failed and just rendered them moved to solitary confinement.

It's here they once again run into the creature they bumped into during their original escape attempt and together they work towards escaping the prison. As the story progresses me learn more about the prison and it's environs and creatures, and once again the story finishes on a cliff hanger, yet does so in a way that doesn't leave you feeling like you've only read half a book. ( )

Imprisoned for a murder he did not commit, fourteen-year-old Alex Sawyer thinks that he has escaped the hellish Furnace Penitentiary, but instead he winds up in solitary confinement, where new horrors await him.

I have to be honest, I've been on a bit of a binge. I inhaled “Lockdown” and “Solitary” in one day.

It has left me on a downer, though. Smith writes such brilliantly gritty stuff, that I know that the chances of seeing Furnace in any other format except written are slim to none at best. I mean there is so much high quality entertainment in books that slowly trough past few years TV kind of lost it's meaning. Truth be told, it never offered much anyway, but I lost the taste for the watered down Hollywood/Disney version of puppetry they throw at us.

Every single book, every single novel I liked that Hollywood got it's greasy mitts on they've ruined. Why? Because suits that run diagnostics that include moral code, target viewers and god knows whatnot. Tits, ass, heroes and villains that are really good guys deep down are the only things that sell.

Yeah well, Smith writes about things that go bump in the night. He writes about kids doing crimes, parents that turned their backs on them. No absolution from sin, just a new day ahead. Truth be told, authors like this bring more to entertainment than thousands of reality shows and HEA's out there. Because life isn't about do-overs, people aren't good or evil, they are both all the time; the only difference is witch button you push, and are you at the right place at the wrong time. The first few chapters of “Lockdown” say it all. How easy a few wrong choices can impact a person's life, how quickly are we to simply judge. Do something evil, and automatically all your life is evil, everything you ever did was wrong, and your future holds nothing but wrongness ahead.

Ah, the super-inflated human morality and the rancid stench that it spreads over the society gets me every time. Although Alex made some crappy choices, he is not a bad guy. He was a kid, he was stupid and he paid his dues. Even with the monstrosities running around, even with such imaginable cruelty and child abuse depicted in his stories,Smith manages to create a better morally charged story than most of the series shown on TV. Go figure that.

It has acceptance of self, rather than seeking approval of self in the eyes of others. It has a focus on true bonds of friendship, not just fair-weather smiles and popularity. It focuses on rebuilding of broken things rather than simply finding a replacement. It has human contact in all it's imperfect glory, where people are people who make mistakes and grow; they are not just facades on imaginary platforms that cater to hordes of imaginary pilgrims.

At the very first glance, you would think that stuff like this isn't really what people expect to find in a dystopian horror story, but think about it – life sets us up in prisons of our own making, provides our own unique hells to test us and see could we overcome it, escape, survive. In the darkest hour you really know what you're made of, and who your true friends are. No matter where you live, if you are rich or poor, color of your skin, none of it matters. It's something that is universally true and everyone can relate to.

That's why, honestly, I am disappointed when I realize that books like this have a hard time landing an audience, even harder getting a fully supported platform.

Not all of my feelings are lovey dovey about this novel, either. It was action packed from beginning to the end, a style that Smith seems to have and I adore. I hate it when you pick up a book and find about a hundred pages of nothing before some real action starts. It's like watching a soap opera – a character sets the kettle to boil – a month later you have a cup of coffee. The world building offers more clues about Furnace, but you still don't know it all. Kids live, kids die, kids disappear...some of them even come back. ( )