justanotherbookblogger

Book Review

A world divided according to sectors, but few are chosen to live in the New World. Sia Morgan has got 15 days to live. She wants to spend that number of days wisely until she met Mace. A mysterious, attractive boy who teaches her to be brave and fight back against the New World with the rest of the rebels in their sector.

It’s a book with a deadline, 15 days to live, 15 days until death. The idea of the clock counting down the days in the sectors is fantastic – it creates such a strong (and frightening!) image in your mind. I love the way the chapter headings reflect the countdown, too. The mix of fast-paced scenes and quieter moments is perfect and they sweep you effortlessly through the story.

Sia is tough and brave, but has a vulnerability that makes it really easy to empathise with her and warm to her. And Mace is the perfect sidekick. I am not always a big fan of romance in these types of stories but the chemistry between him and Sia crackles off the page and their romance is sweet and realistic, providing a perfect counterpoint to the darker themes of the novel. Despite not trusting him at first they set off on a journey to survive along with those close to them, to fight back against what is coming.

What’s coming is cyborgs! Which are going to brutally kill everyone in an enclosed sector. It's just as terrifying and gruesome as it sounds! The cyborgs are terrifying and the battle scenes are fantastic. And they are the cause of this book being extremely bloody in places (which I loved) - the cyborgs kind of remind me of a cross between the Terminator and the Cylons from Battlestar Galactica, they are really quite terrifying.

I think the most terrifying thing of all is knowing that something like that is coming to kill you and there is nothing you can do about it apart from try and hide, which as you read on you will discover that isn’t going to happen! Also this book shows how people behave when faced with an imminent threat - fight or flight? Unfortunately some people choose the flight option which is helped along by the continuous showings of other sectors being destroyed on the television.

I really enjoyed this book, it was a fast read and there was always something happening. I found myself really caring about all the character – even those we only briefly meet, I defiantly want to see more of Finn he was awesome and quite funny, despite the deathly situation they were in. The end of this book, I feel sets it up for another journey in to this world. I want to know what happened to make this world what it is and what is going to happen now they are free?

Rating – 4.5/5