Publishers: Random House Childrens UK
Published Date: May 14 2013
From: NetGalley
My rating: 5 out of 5
Synopsis:
2113. In Jenna Strong’s world, ACID – the most brutal, controlling police force in history – rule supreme. No throwaway comment or muttered dissent goes unnoticed – or unpunished. And it was ACID agents who locked Jenna away for life, for a bloody crime she struggles to remember.
The only female inmate in a violent high-security prison, Jenna has learned to survive by any means necessary. And when a mysterious rebel group breaks her out, she must use her strength, speed and skill to stay one step ahead of ACID – and to uncover the truth about what really happened on that dark night two years ago
The only female inmate in a violent high-security prison, Jenna has learned to survive by any means necessary. And when a mysterious rebel group breaks her out, she must use her strength, speed and skill to stay one step ahead of ACID – and to uncover the truth about what really happened on that dark night two years ago
Review:
If you like dystopia then this book is for you. ACID is set one hundred years in the future and fifty years after the government of the UK are overthrown and a new regime steps into place. The new regime is called ACID, and is basically run by the new modern police making the Independent Republic of Britain effectively a police state.
Jenna Strong is in prison for the murder her parents. She struggles with her memories of the night it happened. But during her time there she's bulked up and learnt how to defend herself. A necessity when you're the only female on the wrong side of the bars.
Pretty much instantly the action and adventure begins. After a prison breakout, Jenna becomes Mia, and with a few facial and hair modifications she's thrust back into London life albeit in the Outer poorer section than she's used to. But she has a task to do and its important to break through the ACID barriers and bring the new flawed police system down and find proof that prisoners on the infamous Innis Ifrin prison are being tortured. The problem is that the man in charge of running the country, General Harvey, was her father's best friend and is her godfather. He's the one that put her in prison in the first place.
The world that Emma Pass has created is so thorough that I completely believed in it. Everyone has Komms and c-cards to talk to each other and get around. Of course everything is monitored by ACID. The food is substituted in parts. Everyone has a LifePartner who is chosen for them at an early age (no marriage or living together with a partner of your own choice is allowed). And people abide by the rules and the law because you never know who could be watching and who could report you for non-compliance.
In this terrifying new world Jenna holds true to herself even when she is finally caught and made to become sappy Jessica. The memories aren't as strong any more and she struggles with what is real and what isn't. And who is the boy that melts her heart every time she remembers a certain dusty dark place?
The finale is pulse-racingly good, the characters are all either ones you want to root for or ones you really want Jenna to hurt in the end.
A great debut complete novel.
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