The year is AE3, 3 years after the Event. Within the walls
of Meritropolis, 50,000 inhabitants live in fear, ruled by the brutal System
that assigns each citizen a merit score that dictates whether they live or die.
Those with the highest scores thrive, while those with the lowest are subject
to the most unforgiving punishment--to be thrust outside the city gates, thrown
to the terrifying hybrid creatures that exist beyond.
But for one High Score, conforming to the System just isn't
an option. Seventeen-year-old Charley has a brother to avenge. And nothing--not
even a totalitarian military or dangerous science--is going to stop him.
Where humankind has pushed nature and morals to the extreme,
Charley is amongst the chosen few tasked with exploring the boundaries, forcing
him to look deep into his very being to discern right from wrong. But as he and
his friends learn more about the frightening forces that threaten destruction
both without and within the gates, Meritropolis reveals complexities they
couldn't possibly have bargained for...
My Thoughts:
Wow. This book
garners an “amazing” rating from me, and I don’t hand that out freely. It took me a few chapters to get into, and I would have liked to had a backstory to George Jonas’ character, but
overall – 4.5. Perfect for dystopian
fans!
Charley is a 17 year old, new to the above ground world
hothead with major anger issues. His
brother, Alec, was taken from him when he was 8 years old, simply because Alec
had Down’s syndrome (which made him a Low Score). At the time, Charley didn’t do anything,
because he was 8 what could he really do, and the guilt has only festered
throughout his life. In his years
underground he, along with all other minor-age children, are taught what the
government of Meritropolis wants them to know.
If they have living parents/guardians, they are able to go above ground
after their classes to be with their family.
If not, they live underground.
Such was Charley’s life since his parents were killed when he was young. He doesn’t really have many memories of them. Once he comes above ground, his is overcome
by the guilt that he would face if he stood idly by and let a small girl be put
out of the gates because she is crippled.
He takes matters into his own hands and lands himself in hot water by
Commander Orson, but Orson has his own plans for Charley.
Meritropolis is a community, if you will, controlled by
Commander Orson, who holds the highest of the High Scores. Orson enforces the System by weeding out the
Low Scores, when needed, by putting them outside the gates to be killed by the
mutated wildlife, by forcing abortions on Low Score parents, and/or by
arranging marriages or “breeding partners”.
Scores are tracked, so you can’t hide or alter yours to try and trick
the blue-coat guards on Assessment Days.
Charley and a few other High Scores are recruited by Orson and his goons
to be trained as Hunters, and he quickly forms a friendship with a spitfire of
a redhead named Sandy. I really liked
her character because she seemed to give Charley the grounding that he needed. Together, they form a plan to overthrow Orson
and his goons (not all of whom are in agreement with the System) so that
everyone will be treated equally. The
result however, goes nothing how Charley had planned, but he and his friends do
the best they can, given the curveball(s) that they were thrown in the end.
I can’t wait to read the next in this series, as I’m sure
there will be another. Or, I hope so,
given the ending of this one.
You really can’t miss the tone of this book. The dedication itself puts it on a pedestal: “Because
everyone matters”. I guess I feel so
strongly about this book because this is something I have always felt VERY
passionately about. It disgusts me that
people are made fun of because they have a developmental disorder, or anything
of the like. Did they choose that? Are
they any less of a person? How would you feel if it was you? Or someone related
to you? No one person is above anyone
else, I don’t care who you are.
“Everyone matters. Even the unwanted, even the unborn, even
the disabled.”
Sexual Content: Very Mild (kissing)
Language: Mild (don't remember any until the end)
Violence: Moderate/Heavy
Drugs/Alcohol: None
Language: Mild (don't remember any until the end)
Violence: Moderate/Heavy
Drugs/Alcohol: None
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