Young Adult
Pages: 224
Publisher: Dial
Release Date: March 4, 2010
An invisible, uncrossable physical barrier encloses the Unified States. The Line is the part of the border that lopped off part of the country, dooming the inhabitants to an unknown fate when the enemy used a banned weapon. It's said that bizarre creatures and superhumans live on the other side, in Away. Nobody except tough old Ms. Moore would ever live next to the Line.
Nobody but Rachel and her mother, who went to live there after Rachel's dad died in the last war. It's a safe, quiet life. Until Rachel finds a mysterious recorded message that can only have come from Away. The voice is asking for help.
Who sent the message? Why is her mother so protective? And to what lengths is Rachel willing to go in order to do what she thinks is right?
This series has so much potential, could be a great dystopian series, but unfortunately this first book was extremely slow for my taste. I hate when people say that a book is slow without explaining, so by slow I mean that at the beginning there is too much narration and not much happening. Around the middle of the book, the pace picks up a bit and the ending is quite interesting. I want to read the next book mostly because this one ends when some action is finally taking place. A slow pace is not always a bad thing, sometimes it's necessary and sometimes, it just tends to happen with the first book of a series. When I pick up a dystopian book though, I always expect it to be full of action. That's just me.
The government issue or the "history" part of the book and the world in which the book is set is very, very interesting. She created a wonderful wrecked future. The writing was okay, one of the things that bothered me was changing points of view without warning. I love stories told in third person, but in this book the character of focus changes randomly. It was weird.
Overall, I did enjoy the story. As a helpless dystopian fan I firmly believe you should read everything in this category. So if you enjoy futuristic tales, this is a very original short read.
I want to give it a try though the fact that it is slow to start is not good for me. But I'll check it out. The concept is fantastic.
ReplyDeleteI plan on reading this book soon. Thanks for the review.
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to reading this book as well :) I've heard great things about it. Nice review!
ReplyDeletelove how u break down the review, especially the slow part. I don't think i was very interested in reading this book. the only dystopian book i have read is the hunger games series
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed "Under the Dome" and since the storyline is vaguely similar (cut off from the outside by an invisible force), I might have to give this one a try.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, you've been chosen for a blog award. Details can be found here: http://darkwyrmreads.blogspot.com/2010/03/my-first-blog-award-o.html