In a world without men, a rebellious adopted teen girl must choose between becoming a security cog in the elite military unit that took her parents or being torn from her beloved sister and adoptive mom. How far will Annabelle go to help boys escape the federal roundup while protecting her family?
Action-packed first book in the series.
After another U.S. civil war, a different kind of rebel arises. Annabelle (16) lives in a world where men are exiled, quarantined or forced to fight to the death to train the military elite. The first boy Annabelle has ever met just escaped prison. As a cop intern, she’s expected to capture him. Instead, she risks everything to help the boy, even while, in order to avoid exile, she’s forced into the elite military that took her parents.
Professional Reviews
Kirkus Reviews
A debut young-adult novel set in a militaristic, sexist society.
Sixteen-year-old Annabelle lives in a world where the government oversees her every move. America has undergone a second civil war, and Annabelle, her adoptive mother and her beloved sister Janine, live in Knoxville, Tenn., a city run by the all-female Tenn-tucky mech forces. The mechs’ mission: to protect their borders, rescue females and capture males. Annabelle is told that the male species is both inferior and a deadly threat. But although she, like everyone else, is expected to faithfully obey militaristic rule at all times, her heart won’t let her do so. When she was 3, her father was killed by the mechs, and her mother was imprisoned for life for attempting to save him. Although Annabelle loves and respects her adoptive mother, a senator who serves as a voice of reason in their community, she can’t respect the society that destroyed her parents. She repeatedly tries to find her biological mother and help the few males that are left, but when she’s caught too many times, she’s forced to join the mechs herself. Her final test is to fight a brute—a male monster—to the death. Readers will easily engage with this well-written tale. Annabelle is believably stubborn, yet also vulnerable and likable. Erlick also paints other characters vividly; for example, Dara, a mech and Annabelle’s nemesis, is so nasty that readers may find their skin crawling whenever she enters a scene. The novel has plenty of action and suspense, made all the more thrilling due to the investment readers have in the characters. The novel’s psychological elements keep things interesting, as well; the fact that Annabelle must join the force that killed her father, and try to remain an individual in a society that praises sameness, certainly has an effect on her. Readers will likely think about this society long after finishing the book.
A stimulating, worthwhile story of a dystopian future.
Author R.L. Mitchley, gets some help from his close friend Elias, as they franticly work to reunite Bob with three of his deceased family members, Grammy, Pappy & Arlene for one last time...
