Who: Ann Aguirre What: Enclave (Razorland #1)
When: April 12th, 2011
Where: Macmillan
Why: Hype
How: For Review
New York City has been decimated by war and plague, and most of civilization has migrated to underground enclaves, where life expectancy is no more than the early 20's. When Deuce turns 15, she takes on her role as a Huntress, and is paired with Fade, a teenage Hunter who lived Topside as a young boy. When she and Fade discover that the neighboring enclave has been decimated by the tunnel monsters—or Freaks—who seem to be growing more organized, the elders refuse to listen to warnings. And when Deuce and Fade are exiled from the enclave, the girl born in darkness must survive in daylight, in the ruins of a city whose population has dwindled to a few dangerous gangs. As the two are guided by Fade’s long-ago memories, they face dangers, and feelings, unlike any they’ve ever known.
Enclave was definitely not what I expected. It was dark, gritty, and absolutely fantastic.
Enclave is the story of a girl named Deuce, who lives in this underground Enclave where, when she turns sixteen, will become a Hunter and go into the tunnels to find food and kill freaks. Freaks are like zombies, but so much freakier. Then she's paired up with a boy from outside named Fade, and together, they're exiled a couple of pages in. This is the kind of story that pulls you in from the start with it's amazing world-building. The fact of total underground towns and tunnel systems connecting each one was original and imaginative, especially how they would make journeys through them to hunt and gather. I like what there was different pieces of the puzzle that is their society and you don't get them all at once, but you have to piece them together and guess what exactly is going on here.
Deuce was a kickass heroine. She knew what she wanted, and she knew what she had to do. But, she was loyal, and while not always, she stood up for what was right. At the same time though, she wasn't one of those crazy, "revolution" style heroines, which I thought was refreshing. Growing up in that society, you start to feel like it's right. That that's how things are supposed to go. It takes something from the outside to really make you see that not everything is like that. That thing was Fade.
Fade and Deuce had a dynamic that I think worked perfectly for the book, though after they meet up and start traveling with some other characters, I think their connection was totally lost. I could see it, but they just stopped talking a lot to each other and it seriously frusterated me to see how well they worked together, and watch it fizzle. On the other hand, I liked that the romance came second to the plot (I know, shocker coming from me, right?), because it was that that was the main focus. Besides, I'm pretty sure we'll be getting into their relationship a lot more in book 2.
Happy Reading!
-Harmony
