I have been wanting to read this book for a while but my TBR pile is huge. Then I won the book from another blog and then it was chosen for my
Young Adult Book Club and I read along with the group every month so I finally read it. And what a ride! Here is the goodreads description:
What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic’s wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic’s highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country’s most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem.
From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths—until the day June’s brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family’s survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias’s death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.
This book got a lot of hype and for good reason. The book is written in more then one POV and I love it! For example Game of Thrones does this too (though it is a huge epic series and there are tons of POVs). This book does a really good job with it though I am curious to see how the other books follow this format. Lord of the Rings kind of does this too. First half of the book follows Frodo and Sam and then the other half of the book follows the rest of the Fellowship. In those books it actually drives me nuts. I wish Tolkin would've gone back and forth every other chapter.
I didn't think there was very much world building in this book either. The only time we got any information about the world was that there were extremely poor districts and rich districts. Oh and that the animals are bred for eating underground and that they get a lot of diseases. Which was a little scary to me. The guns were interesting. I like that they can register by finger print who was using them. I think this is a good book but now I wonder .. is it just a story that is more sci-fi then dystopian?
I love how fast paced this book is. At first I thought it wasn't going to be any good going back and forth between two characters. I'll be curious though to see how that plays out in the next two books since the Day and June will probably be together. I agree about the worldbuilding. Really we didn't see very much of the world but maybe in the next book. We really only read about broken down buildings and seeing a few pipes around town. Though I am a little surprised that there is hardly anything left of the United States of America. Day's dad found a quarter and that's it? No flags... and with computers no internet evidence of the US either? It seems that the book takes place only in CA and NV area. So the rest of the US are rebels? That is a huge area of the US you would think they could take over the Republic easily. Where is the rest of the world? Can we get a map? Books like this should always have a map!
I think Lu does a very good job of character building. I read this book really fast it was hard to put down. I wish that June was able to get Ollie back. I was sad for the dog! Tess is one of the characters I liked too. I love how talented she was in medicine. Someone you always want to have on your team when you are homeless and always fighting. I will be curious to see what part she plays in future books. I am a little worried that there will be a love triangle between Tess, Day and June.
Thomas and Commander Jameson were great villains. I really didn't like them so I know that Lu wrote them well. Day has skills... I know some people when reviewing this said it's untrue that he can do it but it reminds me of people who are really good at Parkour. I have seen people get seriously hurt from this on youtube though so I won't be attempting it.
I liked this book a lot. It's a very fun fast read. But the plot and worldbuilding fall flat. It might just have been too short. It's one of those first books in a series that just leaves too many questions. But super fun!I have the second book, Prodigy on hold at the library and am excited to get it started!
The crystal ball says:
Clouds are covering! A read that lets me down every now and then but peaks out of the clouds!
