Review Detail

This final book brought the house down! It was a gripping read from start to finish as Eve works to learn how to survive on the surface and to free her entire compound from tyranny. The surface and the community that Michael has created feel like paradise to Eve. She has many traumas to heal from and working in nature is just the balm she needs. However, not everything is sunshine and roses. Even in paradise, it is a sad truth that conflict and violence arise when people with multiple views and intentions come together.
As Eve finds purpose, Wren is wrestling for his life and to find his place. He is manipulated by others and jealousies divide him from Eve. The relationship drama had me on the edge of my seat to see if Eve would be swayed to love another and give up on Wren as he pushed away from her.
She sneaks into compound Eleven to learn that open rebellion is underway and she is a martyr after her supposed death. As she actively spreads the word about outside, she has decisions to make in how far she’s willing to go to set her compound free. She has inner demons to fight on the role weapons have in society.
The ending is raw, intense, and bloody. In some YA books the hero finds a trick or scheme to magically reach a resolution. This series has always taken a critical eye on the human spirit and the depths that sometimes society goes to for freedom. This book may not be suitable for younger or sensitive audiences because nothing short of overwhelming numbers in the face of superior weapons is going to get the Preme leaders to relinquish their stranglehold on those they have kept prisoner. This explosive ending was just the realistic conclusion of events that Jerri Chisholm envisioned when she began the story of this future Earth.