Article 5 [Hardcover]

Read from October 12 to 14, 2012

This book was fantastic. It is one of those great examples that perfectly fit the genre of Dystopian YA fiction without paranormal layers but with scary closer to truer to outcomes of what social unrest and war can bring. With characters that act as humanly as you can imagine, with all the great qualities and flaws that define us.

This is the story of Ember, a girl who will soon turn 18. She lives with her mother and the books starts with her return to home from school one day with two of her friends. We are shortly introduced to her mother and then BAM! her life abruptly changes. We learn what this new state of affairs does to regular citizens. We learn about the Moral Militia (MM), the Federal Bureau of Reformation (FBR) and the soldiers that are making sure citizens are following all these articles and regulations. We learn about Article 5 and the consequences of violating this article. Gracefully, we are introduced to her past with Chase Jennings, a soldier who is part of this oppressive government and how this will irrevocably affect her present. Yeah-yeah, there is a story here, about lost love and heartbreak but I will not spoil it for you, so you will fully enjoy it!

All this is told from Ember's viewpoint. What she experiences and the horrors behind the society that lives in the aftermath of war. Oh, this world is very very wrong. With a capital "W". I cried, yes I did, almost at the end of the book... Kristen Simmons is a wonderful storyteller. She got under my skin. With simple words, she takes us to this not too simple future. I could not believe what my eyes were reading. We walk hand in hand with Ember who will discover all about trauma, survival and endurance. She will be changed forever and thankfully she will not be alone. Oh Chase, yes, you made half of this story fantastic. Thank you for your silences and allowing Ember to reflect upon her circumstances and learn from her experiences (without you being aware of).I am not entirely sure why this book touched me so much, and I think dear reader this is the beauty of this book. It will take you places in its simplicity. However, this I foresee to be the kind of book that either you love or hate. There are not many surprises on this plot, but tons of action and great descriptions. These characters felt very real to me.

Because there is a lot of books of Dystopias and post-apocalyptic YA fiction out there, I will strongly recommend you to take this book and give it a try. It will be really worth it!

I love music and I was browsing Kristen Simmons's website and discovered her musical playlist for this sequel. It does make me want this book RIGHT NOW! This is a great playlist:

Track -Artist
1. Got Nuffin- Spoon
2. Uprising- Muse
3. Hello- Evanescence
4. Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)- Nancy Sinatra
5. Uninvited- Alanis Morissette
6. Imaginary- Evanescence
7. Resistance- Muse
8. Granite- Pendulum
9. A Certain Shade of Green- Incubus
10. My Last Breath- Evanescence
11. Sister Rosetta- Noisettes
12. Lullaby- JJ Grey & Mofro
13. Turn to You- Michael Johns

I love dystopians- but I'm becoming so disappointed by the sheer number of them that are incapable of standing out on their own.

We've gotten to a point where they start to blur together, except they have one unique thing about them that they can point to as their claim to fame. For Article 5, that would be where the title came in. But other than that, I didn't find Article 5 to be an outstanding dystopian read, and one that blended in quite nicely among the rest.

Reasons to Read:

1.An excellent ending:

One thing I really loved about this book is that the ending wasn't a complete cliffhanger. Some of the immediate issues had been resolved, but as with most other first books in a dystopian series, we're still left with unresolved questions (like a terrible government that needs to be brought down) that can be handled in the next books. I was really, really glad to see that this one wasn't cut off in the middle of some heart-pounding scene just to keep us excited for the next one. Kudos to Kristen for that.

2.Ember's growth as a character:

By the end of the book, I could definitely see a distinct change in Ember's attitude and you could really see how drastically her circumstances had changed her (and for the better). She grows up and finally starts to act like the young woman she is. However...

I had a hard time relating to Ember for the majority of the book; I was shaking my head at her most of the time, and I couldn't fathom how she had ended up as such an entitled, whiny girl with respect to the changes that had occurred in her lifetime. I totally get being breaked out and upset- but she seemed to have an extraordinarily hard time putting the puzzle pieces together, and expected so much from those around her, like for example her problems with Chase. Perhaps I just found her to be overly naive and ignorant, and her reactions seemed unreasonable even for someone who just didn't have a clue what was going on.

But my biggest issue was the world that Article 5 takes place in; can we please, please come up with a more creative dystopian world? My friend Christa over at Hooked on Books wrote a blog post discussing this and how she had a hard time understanding exactly why it was that we would regress to a point that women were at such a disadvantage again. And I agree. It's a good question, but I felt like Article 5 just took all the stereotypes of a dystopian society and threw them in without really giving me any reason to believe that it would happen. It just came across as unnecessarily cliched and lacked creativity.

So, I wanted to love this one. I really did. And I'm still going to pick up the next book in the series because I'm curious to see where it goes, but my expectations aren't high. I really think there was a lot of potential for this one and the topics it raised, but it just fell short.

ARC received from Raincoast Books for review.

While this was not the most unique dystopian/ post-apocalyptic book that I have ever read (I have read a ridiculous number of dystopian/ post-apocalyptic books as of late and I cannot help but compare them), I still very much enjoyed it. I think that where at times the world-building of the book was lacking, the extremely well-developed and complex characters more than made up for it.

I must admit that there were times that I found myself growing increasingly frustrated with Ember, the main female character. I thought that she often did things with little to no thought (for instance, thinking that running away from Chase would be a good idea- it wasn't- and her being so obtuse when it came Chase's real intentions for rescuing her/ his feelings for her), however I very much enjoyed the fact that she actually grew and matured throughout the novel- mentally, physically, and emotionally (seriously, by the end of this book she could give Tris from Veronica Roth's "Divergent" or Juliette from Tahereh Mafi's "Shatter Me" a run for their money).

While Chase, the main male lead, is by far one of the best book boys I have had the pleasure of reading in quite some time- while at times he was quite prickly and stoic, he always had the best intentions at heart. And when he did show his soft side? Well, he is a force to be reckoned with (he hands down gets my swoon-worthy stamp of approval).

All in all, despite a few minor complaints I think that this is an amazing debut from author Kristen Simmons. I cannot wait to see what she has in store for us in the next installment of this series- here's hoping that it is just as fast-paced, engaging, and as page-turning as this book was!