Mason's mother is dying after a terrible car accident. As he endures a last vigil at her hospital bed, his school is bombed and razed to the ground, and everyone he knows is killed. Aries survives an earthquake aftershock on a bus, and thinks the worst is over when a mysterious stranger pulls her out of the wreckage, but she’s about to discover a world changed forever. Clementine, the only survivor of an emergency town hall meeting that descends into murderous chaos, is on the run from savage strangers who used to be her friends and neighbors. And Michael witnesses a brutal road rage incident that is made much worse by the arrival of the police--who gun down the guilty party and then turn on the bystanding crowd.
Where do you go for justice when even the lawmakers have turned bad? These four teens are on the same road in a world gone mad. Struggling to survive, clinging on to love and meaning wherever it can be found, this is a journey into the heart of darkness – but also a journey to find each other and a place of safety.
Goodreads Summary
This book is a must-read for dystopian readers. Mason, Aries, Clementine, and Michael are the main characters. The novel is told from their view point. Each experience odd occurrences right when the earthquakes occur, literally shaking their world upside down.
The main characters appear unaffected by this pervading rage that infects much of the population. There are people attacking others in horrible ways, to the death. The author captures the hatred from these people and can really make the reader feel it. There is a sense of doom in the novel, aided by the evil "Nothing" that shows up to speak its say. Nothing is supposed to be the evil that is, perhaps, influencing all of these people to forget societal norms and turn into marauding killers.
The main characters would never have met in real life had this evil not occurred. They each have differing qualities and quirks that are likely to allow a reader to choose at least one character he/she feels he/she likes the most. The events are incredibly fast-paced, the reader can't put this novel down before another brutal attack occurs. The ending is somewhat frustrating, a bit of a cliff-hanger. The only other negative in this book would be that, at times, it was hard to follow four different point of views. This book is recommended to readers who enjoy dystopian novels.
4 Stars
Posts
Thanks for the honest review, especially about the cliffhanger