Spill Zone: The Broken Vow

Spill Zone: The Broken Vow

by Scott Westerfeld and Alex Puvilland

It’s been three years since a strange event destroyed Addison and Lexa’s hometown. The spill zone has now been blocked off by the government due to the zombie-like creatures and lethal dangers that were left behind. Spill Zone: The Broken Vow is the much anticipated second book of this series, and readers are able to catch up with the adventures of Addison and her younger sister Lexa as they learn to move on with life after the spill.  

After becoming selectively mute in book one, Lexa is finally talking to her older sister Addison, and has even shared her secret about her doll Vespertine.  Addison is now ready to do whatever it takes to move as far away from this town, and its strange happenings; including working for the North Korean government.  However, Lexa is not as willing to leave the zone because that means parting with her friend and doll Vespertine. It’s through this struggle that readers learn Lexa and Vespertine may have had more to do with the destruction of the town than anyone ever suspected  

Within The Broken Vow, readers are introduced to a new character, Don Jae, from North Korea who experienced the same strange event within his own town.  Unexpectedly, Don Jae and Addison team up to try to save Lexa from a path of possible lethal destruction. As a reader, I was hoping for more background information and character development on Don Jae’s character, but I was left with many unanswered questions at the end of The Broken Vow.  However, given the way the story ended, I suspect there will be a third book in the story that will tie many of the loose ends all together.  

In terms of the graphic novel aspect of this story, the speech bubbles were one of my favorite visual aspects.  Alex Puvilland did an incredible job using the speech bubbles to reveal personality traits of each character, but specifically to illustrate the relationship between Vespertine and Lexa.  As a reader, science fiction tends to be a genre that I struggle to read in text only novels. Visualizing complex science fiction events, such as the fallout from the spill, would be difficult for me if it wasn’t for the illustrations in this story.  The Broken Vow does a fantastic job using illustrations to help readers visualize moment to moment conflicts within each panel and between the gutters.

I would recommend this series to all readers middle grade and above; especially those who prefer science fiction/horror stories.  Readers who enjoy The Walking Dead would especially appreciate the plot and illustrations within this series.  I would recommend you read Spill Zone (Volume 1), to get caught up on this series, as Spill Zone: The Broken Vow became available on July 10, 2018 at your local bookstore.

I was granted an advanced copy of this book through NetGalley.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.