Absolutely AMAZING! I couldn’t put this book down. This one was a one-sitting read for me.
Ember lives in a world where the Bill of Rights has been dissolved and replaced with the Moral Statutes. Police officers have been replaced by soldiers, and what once might have resulted in a fine now means imprisonment or worse.
It hasn’t always been this way. Ember remembers when people still lived in big cities like Washington, D.C. and New York and had freedom to live without fear of punishment. Ember has learned how to get by – to fly under the radar by passing surprise home inspections and getting hand-me-down clothes – but her mother has always been a little on the wild side.
When the soldiers show up at their door and arrest Ember’s mother for violation of Article 5, Ember’s life is turned upside down. Her mother is taken away for interrogation and Ember is taken to the nightmarish Reform School for Girls and informed she will have to stay until she is 18-years-old. What makes everything worse is that Chase, the only boy she has ever loved, is one of the soldiers who arrested her mother. Lost and alone, Ember’s only thought is to get out and find her mother.
With help from an unexpected ally, Ember sets off on dangerous journey to freedom. Will she be able to stay ahead of the Moral Militia? Will she get to her mother in time? Will she be able to find out what caused Chase to change so much so that she barely recognizes the boy she loved?
Kristen Simmons has written an engrossing dystopian novel. It definitely can hold its own in the war between all the dystopian novels available right now. Ember is a strong female character even though she is clearly in love with Chase. Her flashbacks to a time before Chase joined the army are sweet and full of emotion. The romantic tension between Ember and Chase is palpable. The only thing that would have made the story better is a little more explanation about what life is like for the other citizens in town dealing with the strict rules of the Moral Militia. Even without it though, this one is a winner.
