by Marie Lu
ages: 11+
First sentence: “My mother thinks I’m dead.”
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It’s sometime in the future and what was the United States has dissolved into two warring countries: the Colonies, and the Republic, where our story takes place.

Day is the Republic’s most wanted criminal. Not the most dangerous: he specializes in terrorizing the Republic’s military, and has a bit of a Robin Hood schtick going on: he robs the bank and passes the money out to the people in his districts, the poorest of the poor. He became this way because at age 10, he failed the Republic’s Trials: tests given to determine what your future will be.

June, on the other hand, is the Republic’s best and brightest: she got a perfect score on her trial, she’s graduated college at age 15, and is now — at the death of her brother by Day — is appointed to one of the Republic’s military guards. Her goal: find day, hunt him out, and get justice (and revenge) for her brother’s death.

So, yeah: it’s Romeo and Juliet (of course they fall in love! You were expecting something different?) in a dystopian world. Told in alternating chapters (in which the font colors drove me to distraction), we get the story of June and Day and the Repulic’s mounting atrocities. Even though the characterizations weren’t the strongest — I never really connected with either Day or June, or even the “baddies” — the world building and the ideas behind the book were enough to keep me turning pages. There’s a bit of a mystery, as we delve deeper into the world and the story. The whole idea of the country at war with each other — though we are never given reasons for this — and the fact that the Republic is essentially a militaristic state — which brings up questions of obedience and trust and freedom — are both quite intriguing.

I felt like it was a grand set up, that there’s more to come in later books. (Which, considering the way these things go these days, it will be.) However, it does work as a stand-alone story; there is a natural arc and an ending, though there are questions — to ask would be to spoil — left unanswered.

I can only hope the next book provides more clues.

A note: I’m calling this middle grade, though it’s the upper ranges of it. While it’s violent at times, and there are complexities, it’s really much more innocent than other dystopian novels. More along the Percy Jackson lines than Hunger Games.