Title: Endurance
Author: Ann Aguirre
Series: Razorland #1.5
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Dystopia, Science fiction, Zombies
Dates read: 27th – 29th May 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Year: 2012
5th sentence, 74th page: “We didn’t kill them all.”

When rebellion destroys the underground world in which Thimble and Stone have grown up, they take Stone’s son and try to escape the chaos. Along the way, they must evade the Freaks, beings who feed on human flesh. Leaving behind the roles of Builder and Breeder which they were assigned at birth, they wander the underground tunnels, looking for safety yet afraid to go “topside” where legend has it that the light and water will burn their skin from their bones.

Their journey takes them upward to an unimagined world of tinned food, comfortable furniture, and books. Away from their regimented society for the first time, and still facing imminent danger, Thimble and Stone acknowledge the forbidden attraction which both have denied for years.

This is a little bit cute. It’s easy, simple and just the right amount of activity to make you want to sink your teeth into it. I also love that it shows the Thimble and Stone survive. And have some kind of future ahead of them… I REALLY hope that they show up later in the series…

One of the parts of Enclave that I found a little difficult was the fact that Deuce just left the Enclave. She had no way to know what had happened after she disappeared. And, although her fever dream tells her that everyone was dead, it was a little abstract and that much more difficult to really feel like there was closure. I mean it was a great story telling technique, but I hate lose ends. This short story helped to fix up all of those lose ends and tie everything up in a nice, neat little knot.

There is a bit of a romantic entanglement throughout this story. It kind of hit on one thing that I tend to hate in young adult storylines – they’re so young when they fall stupidly, madly in love. After all, a sixteen-year-old finding her one and only is a bit hard to stomach. But, by creating a dystopian society in which the expected lifespan is less than twenty years… it makes this a little more relatable. Actually, it made the entire relationship between Thimble and Stone a very happy family creation tale. And I really, really hope that I get to see them again later on in the series!

Image source: Goodreads

Title: Foundation
Author: Ann Aguirre
Series: Razorland #0.5
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Dystopia, Science fiction, Zombies
Dates read: 28th – 29th April
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Tor.com
Year: 2012
5th sentence, 74th page: And Austin?

Disease wipes out world’s humans. Family hides in underground. Boy narrator grows up, falls in love with another boy.

I absolutely loved Enclave. And one of the things that I loved the most about it was the world building. Which meant that it was such a pleasure to read this short story. It gave even greater insight into the amazing world that Aguirre had built. And it included a level of hopeful innocence that was in the main novels, but a lot less crushed.

The beginning of the apocalypse is thought to be caused in so many different ways. World war, nuclear attack, plague… there are so many different ways that people think the world could end. It’s hinted in Enclave that the end is caused by a bioweapon or plague of some sort. But the particulars are a little hard to unwind. Foundation provides that insight. In the moments before the world as we know it ends and just what it was like for teenagers at the time.

I also loved the fact that the lead boy in this story was in love with another boy. I’m finding that so many more stories and series I’m coming across include an LGBTQI character of some sort. And I love the normalisation that this provides. There is no big deal made out of their relationship, they’re just two boys in love. And it makes you smile as you turn the last page, even though they have to live the rest of their lives underground…

Image source: Goodreads

Title: Enclave
Author: Ann Aguirre
Series: Razorland #1
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Dystopia, Science fiction, Zombies
Dates read: 23rd – 24th April 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Novel
Publisher: Square Fish
Year: 2011
5th sentence, 74th page: “We need a place to rest before the last leg of our journey,” I told Fade.

Welcome to the apocalypse.

In Deuce’s world, people earn the right to a name only if they survive their first fifteen years. By that point, each unnamed “brat” has trained into one of three groups – Breeders, Builders, or Hunters, identifiable by the number of scars they bear on their arms. Deuce has wanted to be a Huntress for as long as she can remember.

As a Huntress, her purpose is clear – to brave the dangerous tunnels outside the enclave and bring back meat to feed the group while evading ferocious monsters known as Freaks. She’s worked toward this goal her whole life, and nothing’s going to stop her, not even a beautiful, brooding Hunter named Fade. When the mysterious boy becomes her partner, Deuce’s troubles are just beginning.

When she and Fade discover that the neighboring enclave has been destroyed by Freaks, who seem to be growing more organized, the elders refuse to listen to their warnings and exile Deuce and Fade. As the two are guided out of the dead city by Fade’s long-ago memories, they face dangers, and feelings, unlike any they’ve ever known.

I was kind of surprised by how much I loved this story. I remember really enjoying Secret Heart an age ago when I read Kisses and Curses, but then this book just kind of sat on my bookshelf, waiting. It also reminded me of how much I love dystopia books. I read this entire thing cover to cover in a day (if you don’t count the three pages I read before bed the night before). Not only was it an amazing story, but it was also filled with fun characters, gritty challenges and a great commentary about the world around us.

I fell in love with Deuce from a fairly early point in the story. Whilst she is incredibly tough and independent, she is also an innocent. Which becomes more and more obvious as the storyline unfolds. The shattering of her world again and again is a little gut wrenching. As is the fact that every time you think she’s triumphed over something, things come crashing down all over again. It made it almost impossible to put the book down, but it also made it quite an intense emotional roller coaster. After all, I think that I’m a tough and independent woman, but I’m pretty sure that if I was tested all of my naivety would come flooding out…

Although this story is full of so many twists and turns, emotional turmoil and a huge level of confusion as to what’s going to happen next, it does have a happy ending, of sorts. It’s rare that I’m not sure where a story is leading, so I thoroughly enjoyed my confusion over this tale. I also loved the ending. It doesn’t finish off the story in any way, shape or form. But it gave a reprieve from the trials that Deuce and Fade are forced to go through. A point in the overarching story line that gives you a chance to stop and pause. But one that makes you want to continue on with the series.

Image source: Amazon