Remember earlier this winter break I was over the moon about Suzanne Young's In Nightfall? I could not put the book down. So I did what I always do with a new author crush--see if they've written other books. With Young I wicked lucked out. The sister is prolific.
I sent for a three volume series by inter library loan. And I started having misgivings the second I put my request in. It's been awhile since I've read a good dystopia. I have higher standards for dystopia than other genres. The author has to craft and maintain a world that is seamlessly believable. I've been let down before. I wasn't sure any author could pull this off for not one, but three books...
...Luckily I was wrong. The narrative arc was so suspenseful, so compelling, so believable the second I put one book down I picked up the next.
The first book in the series, Girls With Sharp Sticks, is like Stepford Wives meets elite private school with cutting edge AI thrown in. Narrator Mena and her friends are students at Innovations Academy, a very exclusive all girls school.
"We're top of the line, they like to say, the most well-rounded girls to ever graduate."
But the school's definition of well-rounded differs greatly from yours or mine. Their academic grades are based on subjects like modern manners, social graces etiquette, and modesty and decorum rather than chemistry, algebra, and French. They must always be perfectly coiffed, made up and dressed. Beauty, they are told, is their greatest asset. They're constantly accompanied by a guardian who reports any non compliance on their part.
The school's disciplinary methods are barbaric.
Mena and her friends decide to not only escape the school but take it down so it can't destroy more girls. In the second book, Girls With Razor Hearts, they're in the outside world. Mena and Sydney are students at Ridgeway Prep, a private school that may have hidden connections with Innovations Academy while Annalise, Brynn, and Marcella do research online. While they're trying to find what they need to know for their mission they also need to protect themselves from the very powerful people who will stop at nothing to destroy them...
...and the rich, entitled boys who can get away with everything.
In the final volume, Girls With Rebel Souls, the urgency and tempo have stepped up. It's becoming increasingly difficult to tell ally from enemy. And the bad guys have a terrifying new targeted weapon the girls are powerless against.
When I put that book down I felt like I'd just run a marathon.
The very best dystopias have enough in common with the readers' world that they carry a seed of possibility, the sense that at least some aspects of their narrative could come to fruition in the future. This is true in spades for this fine trilogy. Look no further than who is about to start a second term in the oval office.
On a purrrsonal note I'm going to read and review more books by Young. But I'm going to wait on her six book series until the summer.
A great big shout out goes out to Young who hopefully will keep dishing out the suspense for a long time.
Jules Hathaway
Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone
No comments:
Post a Comment