There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.Ī grieving teen’s devotion to romance films might ruin her chances at actual romance. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.Īutumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart their mothers are still best friends.
into a full-blown dystopia?Ĭount this calculated effort to surf the wave of popular dystopian romance a wipeout. Unanswered questions abound: Why provide future broodmares with an elaborate great-books education? How can jeeps and trucks drive for days across deserts and up mountains without refueling or recharging? Isn’t 12 years a short window for even the most efficient and dedicated evildoers to turn the U.S. (Gender roles are deeply regressive-next to Eve, Bella Swan is a radical feminist.) Conceptually childish, the plot never achieves credibility, in part because the style veers between awful and unintentionally funny. Finding assorted allies and villains along the way, Eve falls for manly, protective Caleb. When the eponymous heroine discovers that the only trade they’re headed for is broodmare (imprisoned in Spartan dorms, forcibly and repeatedly impregnated, bearing children in a royal repopulation scheme), she flees west, seeking the safe community of Califia. Graduates, they’re told, move on to learn a trade or profession. Girls are educated in boarding schools, reading literary novels and learning to paint and play the piano. Twelve years after a plague kills off 98 percent of the population, the United States is a monarchy. Category romance meets YA dystopia in this poorly executed trilogy opener specializing in juvenile romance and adult violence.
0 kommentar(er)
