Article 5
First of all, I have to say this - I absolutely loved this book.However I do have to say this because it was at the back of my mind throughout the entire reading of this book.WHERE WAS THE WORLD-BUILDING?!I had so many questions running through my head. How did the war start? What happened that was so bad that there was a war to begin with? Who decided who was in charge? And the list goes on... As much as I love a book I hate there not being a background to the world an author has created. It drives me nuts.Anyway, now that I have that mini-rant out of the way I can now go on with what I loved about this book - and that was everything else.
To summarize this book quickly, this book was about Ember and her race to save her mom from the Moral Militia, while trying to avoid them. To help her do this is her ex-boyfriend Chase Jennings. Only things don't go to plan. As my initial statement said, I can't imagine living in the world that Ember lived in - where it was illegal have given birth to an illegitimate child or in being an illegitimate child. And this is where the lack of world-building comes in - how on earth did it get so bad that it came to this? The people of this world lived in fear - never knowing when one of them might have been arrested for not doing or believing something they should. Taken away to never be seen again.
But I loved the world Kristen Simmons created anyway. I love worlds that are fraught with tension and action and she definitely created that. I love rebellion movements, especially against something that was so unjust to begin with.Even the soldiers lived with tension. Almost all of them had been drafted, but they could also have been indicted for an Article breach or shot for going AWOL. And the reformation centers were horrible. They were designed to crush the spirit out of people.
I really like Ember as a character, as well as her voice. She was spunky and wasn't the type to give up. She stayed strong almost right throughout the book - until about the end, but she'd have to have been made of stone not to be upset. Almost everything about her was kind of intense, but not in a bad way.And I also like Chase. He risked everything for Ember - partly because of her mom, but also because of her.
The flashback scenes between Ember and him made me realize a lot about him that I wouldn't have understood if it hadn't had been there. It explained Ember and his past and why things were like they were in present day.I think anyone who likes dystopic or post-apocolyptic books will like this book. I know I did. Even with the world-building issues it had, it was an amazing book.
Now for my rating.
Five out of five stars.
