Author: Alexandra Bracken
Rating: 5/5
Genre: dystopia
Recommend To: fans of Partials
This was a fantastic example of how much dystopia has to offer. It was action, fear, and chaos personified. It's about Ruby, a girl who survives the worst plague ever and emerges with new supernatural abilities. Her parents, instead of hiding her, call the authorities and have her dragged away to a horrible rehabilitation camp. She suffers there for 6 years, before finally breaking out and being tossed into the changed world.
This book was really character based; Ruby, Liam, Chubs, Zu, and the Slip Kid were all really major players and you either fell in total love or complete hate. It was hard not to. Ruby was a good main character, she had a lot to learn about the outside world and had some haunting experiences, but I admired her will to push on. She had a lot of secrets and rarely gave away everything at once, you learn her story in frightening pieces. Liam wasn't as interesting to me as the Slip Kid, he was the golden boy and he was sweet and kind. However, my favorite characters were the side characters, Chubs and Zu. Zu because she's the most adorable little girl you'll meet, and Chubs because he was so determined but broken. The Slip Kid....no comment....you decide.
The most terrifying thing was definitely the degree of horror the United States had descended into. Ruby's "rehabilitation camp" was horrible enough to give anyone nightmares. It was like a concentration camp except packed with children. The worst thing was how the adults were so absent or completely evil. There was no one to turn to, the kids had to learn how to protect themselves or die. In a world where even your parents can abandon you....there isn't much hope. It was grim and full of suffering. (Also, the ending was far from okay. I was howling in pain, it is a terrible cliff-hangery, suspenseful ending.)
Okay, so want to hear something weird? As scary as the setting was....the dialogue was hilarious. Chubs and Liam's bickering made me laugh out loud at points. There were some light-hearted parts and some deep, emotional parts. It was all balanced. The action was intense, the setting was frightening, the characters were intricate, the emotions were rampant. The dystopia factor was turned way up. I care a lot about what happened to these people. And so I wait, for the next book.
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