They say you should be with someone who makes you happy - well, I'm fine with just this book (and of course a few of my other books, also). Who needs other people, anyways? This book brought me out of my bad book gloom - because it is a truly good book. And yes, I do recommend it to you. I'm not going to tell you to buy it (I promised myself I would do my best to not tell you to buy a book), but it is definitely worth a read sometime.
No matter how I describe this, it is probably going to sound really lame, but I promise you that it really is not.
In the USA, there has been a terrible epidemic of sorts that suddenly kills off 98% of all children below the age of 10-14. The remaining children that are left behind are feared by their parents, family, and government. And since we, as a society, don't know what to do with things that we fear, those children were locked up in prison camps called 'rehabilitation camps', but no rehabilitating is done there. What is it that could bring people to fear little innocent children? Well, the surviving children inherited strange powers as well - powers that, unattended to, generally accidentally bring mass destruction or detriment of some sort. Powers that, attended to, could possibly strip the child of its innocence.
Ruby is in grade 4 when the first child in her class dies. By the time Christmas break is over, half of her class is dead. And eventually, people are almost waiting for Ruby and the bare remainders of her class to die. Except Ruby doesn't. And when Ruby turns ten, she finds herself locked up in her garage by her parents. And soon after, she is locked up in one such rehabilitation camp, Thurmond. Six years pass with Ruby being afraid of herself and her abilities inside a prison camp before Ruby is broken out by total strangers, and suddenly Ruby finds herself outside, in a world that has changed so much since the children’s epidemic. And as events play over, Ruby is constantly being faced with events that cause the reflective reader to wonder what will happen first – will the constantly changing country and its inhabitants tear apart Ruby, or will Ruby tear apart the country and its inhabitants?
I loved this book. It was really great to actually enjoy a book that I’m reading, since I’ve been having trouble finding books that are actually... good. So I felt like I was taking a huge risk here when I bought these books from Chapters Online. But it really wasn’t, not at all.
I will admit I guessed most of the major plot developments, although despite this I was never bored with this book – I was always engaged with what was happening, and I couldn’t wait for the next scene. In multiple instances I actually found my eyes travelling a page over to try and get a sneak peek at what was soon to come. The writing was clear and concise, never leaving me wondering what is being talked about (except, obviously, for when that was what the author wanted). So, overall, this is a pretty good book, and I am glad I read it.
I hope you are all having a great week, I’ll see you soon! (Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving!)
Stay Addicted!
-Jason