Wasteland Review

Goodreads

TITLE: Wasteland

AUTHORS: Susan Kim & Laurence Klavan

PUBLISHER: Harper Teen

PUBLICATION DATE: 3/26/2013

PAGES: 336

MY RATING:

BACK COVER SUMMARY: The citizens of Prin don't have the problems that plague typical teens. At 15, they marry. At 17, they reproduce. And at 19, they die.

There's also the looming threat of rampant disease, acid raing, starvation, and brutal attacks by the variants -- hermaphroditic outcasts that live on the outskirts of Prin.

Ester thinks there's more to life than toiling under the relentless sun. Her best friend is a variant, and she longs to join the fringe community, to escape the judgment of Levi, the corrupt ruler who controls the Source. When a mysterious stranger named Caleb arrives in town, shady pasts begin to unravel, and the two rebels realize that they must team together to fight for their lives and for the freedom of Prin.

Wasteland is the thrilling first book in a fast-paced trilogy with high stakes...of life or death.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I didn't like this story. I was excited at the beginning of this book after reading the summary, but it fell flat for me. The story didn't seem to go anywhere. I was really interested in the variants, but we don't get to find out much about them and that was disappointing. Harper Teen usually comes out with some amazing books and they are definitely my favorite publisher when it comes to putting out the best books, but I feel like they missed with this one. I am pretty sure that I will not be picking up any of the other books in this trilogy.

CHARACTERS: I didn't really connect with any of the characters. I felt like they were flat and didn't have very strong personalities.

COVER: I do like the cover. I love that the title is made up of wood boards. The cover is the most exciting part of this book.

**I received an ARC copy of this book from Amazon Vine for my honest review.