Truth [Paperback]

Nina Oberon's life was turned upside down when her mother was murdered and the secrets about her family's involvement with the Resistance were revealed. The anonymous challenging of her little sister's custody case sets off a string of events that put Nina in a very precarious position with the Governing Council and underground resistance, where the stakes are higher than ever. No matter what happens, Nina will have to fight to stand by the truth.

Julia Karr's sequel to her debut novel, XVI, is full of conflict, suspense, and strong themes of fighting for the truth. The custody issue and its subsequent consequences were drawn out well, leading Nina and Dee to seeking shelter with the Jenkins family. Nina is shocked at how quickly things can change, but she still stays determined to help the resistance in any way possible, even if it's just by saving Joan, a broken character first introduced in XVI. However, her relationship with her boyfriend Sal does suffer--are they really in love, or even on the same page? The issue of what's happening to their relationship when he's gone throughout most of the book (and eyed by another girl in the resistance), coupled with Nina's growing attraction to Wei's brother, make for some interesting angst. The book picks up towards the end as Wei, Nina, and friends engineer a risky escape plan for Joan that goes wrong, taking Nina to places she didn't expect to go. While some of the dialogue feels a little awkward, the story is quite solid. There are a lot of questions that go unanswered in Truth that will leave readers wondering, and the open ending indicates a third book that will hopefully clear things up and find Nina is a better place than where she's left off.

Cover Comments: I like how this cover is a little bit lighter than its prequel--you can see the title and the image a lot better. Very nice.

I literally just finished reading this book on my kindle and I finished it in two days. Truth takes off a lot faster than it's prequel. I think the pacing and the amount of stuff happening in this book was what I liked. I liked seeing Nina put her art skills to use in the rebellion, loved the idea of the Sisterhood and to see Nina and Dee's relationship get fleshed out a bit more was really enjoyable. Joan is also a bigger character in this book, though I won't spoil what happens.

Can't say I'm sorry that the romance seems to be falling apart. I didn't like Sal before Chris was in the picture and now that Chris is I absolutely want Sal gone. Never felt he was quite worthy of Nina. Though of course who knows what will happen there.

I felt the divisions between the tiers more strongly in this book, which is good, because I got a good sense of the self consciousness that Nina felt. The way people treat homeless and lower tier is more in your face this part of the story. A lot about this book made me feel angry when I was reading it - which is how you are meant to feel, because this book covers a lot of dark stuff. So much that was happening to the characters and the way the Media made things appear was just so unfair, I wanted to fling my kindle across the room on certain parts. LOL. But good writing is supposed to make you feel strong emotions.

I was on the fence with the first book, but I'm glad I decided to continue. Give Truth a chance. Even if you didn't love XVI, you might love this one.

I loved this sequel to XVI! I think it was even more exciting. The dystopian world that Julia has created is that much more frightening because of its believability. The novel's exploration of women's issues, the influence of the media and rape culture make this a great book for book club or classroom discussion.