Publisher: Self Published
Publication Date: November 15, 2014
Genre: YA, Science Fiction, Dystopia
Pages: 194
Source: Free on Kindle
First Line: "There was a time when I was afraid of being tested."
Find on Goodreads
Goodreads Description
The ARC: the world's last chance for survival, but this underground fallout shelter is the last place you want to be.
At the tender age of two Elle Winters lost everything, when the day of impact transformed Earth’s surface into an icy, desolate wasteland. Fifteen years later, all she has ever known are the cold, artificial confines of underground fallout shelter, the ARC. Under the Council’s rule, ruthless officials roam the hallways and community comes first. Everyone lives in fear of failing their annual testing and those that do are deemed tainted—taken away without any warning or a word of goodbye.
No one has been taken in over six months and the remaining citizens of the ARC have slowly begun to forget the danger. Elle remains wary, but even she is beginning to wonder if it’s finally safe to succumb to her feelings towards her closest friend, Sebastian.
But, no one is ever truly safe in the ARC. Elle is about to experience her own personal apocalypse and with nothing left to lose, she will finally attempt to uncover the truth about the tainted.
Will she find what she’s looking for or are some secrets better left buried deep underground?underground?
My Thoughts
The first thing I want you to do, before I even get to the review, is ignore this cover. I'm at the point where I'm over see people's faces on the cover, especially if it has nothing to do with the story. I first found out about this book through the author. She sent me a message on twitter letting me know I might be interested in her book so I decided to check it out.
The overall concept and how the author would tell the story really intrigued me. Everything about the world and the little details that make it unique but I feel like the reader wasn't always let in on what needed to be known. For example, they are living deep underground (or at least it seems that way) and they still seem to have unlimited electricity and oxygen. I understand that since all of this is happening in the future anything can be possible at this point but how are they able to get a signal while that far underground to make phone calls through the cuffs.
While I enjoyed this book, this book had the potential to be so much more than average. One way this could have been achieved was by expanding the story. The story felt rushed and adding in a few details throughout the story might have changed that. I was still trying to process how or why one thing might have happened when the main character was already moving into the next situation. I would have liked to know more about what it meant to be tainted in the ARC and how exactly they were able to tell who was tainted. It was a little of a cop out when Dr. Wilson just stopped talking about it. It could have even been revisited when Elle asked for his help but it wasn't. There are so many more little details that I can talk about but that would take forever.
The next major problem I had with this book was Elle. For the most part she seemed to be a reactive character. (spoiler! highlight section to read.) I feel like the only decision she makes on her own and sticks to is going after Sebastian, and to be honest that wasn't even a decision she made on her own either. Anytime someone suggested something she followed along, I didn't really feel like she had any personality of her own, especially when compared with Sebastian and Quinn. Also, are we going to see more of Ryan or is he just going to disappear? I want to know his story as well.
The end of the book left off in such a big cliff hanger with so many unanswered question, it was a little frustration. However I still enjoyed it. While I might not rush to read the sequel, I am interested in reading it at some point.
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