After the Omega, an event in which a powerful EMP rocks the USA, the country becomes known as the True Republic of America. People are herded into settlement camps and life in the country resumes. The story is told from two perspectives: Hope and Book. Book is a 16 year old orphan who is being raised in Camp Liberty. He believes he and the other boys there are being trained to become apart of the military until they find a boy in the desert who tells them they are being raised as hunting prey for the soliders and they were selected at birth due to their race, disabilities, abnormalities, or if their parents were political dissents.

Hope and her twin sister Faith have been living in the woods with their father since the day the soliders came and killed their mother. When their father died he leaves Hope with this parting word "seperate" meaning he wanted her and Faith to seperate from each other. The problem is that Faith is too weak to fend for herself and Hope can't part with her twin. They stay together and become the new tenets of Barracks B at Camp Freedom, a camp that runs experimental treatments on twin girls.

As the reader you follow both characters through their fight for survival and their flight to freedom in this excellent diverse series. This series, though it had some wording and grammatical issues, was an amazing read. The pacing never feels forced for the most part and the characters naturally exist in this world. The world also seems to be within the realm of possibilities and brought forth great diversity issues such as racism and civil rights.

The only complaints I have are that as the book goes along you see Hope becoming less badass and she spends more time on her crush between Cat and Book. I'm beginning to think this is a trap some writers fall into: present a badass character and then when they fall in love have them become a pile of mush. While that is true for some people, I know others that are like me and would have been "screw my feelings I gotta survive". Another thing that bugged me was that Book's character development occurred within the last 50 pages of the book and not a lot of attention is placed on the other 26 members of the group. I just put the book down and can't remember half of the children's names. I think the story would have benefitted from having more character interaction between the mains and the minors. I also think that the last 100 pages of the book needed to be slowed down significantly. The book had very good pacing until that point. The author could have easily extended that 100 pages into 200 more with the amount of activity that was going on.

All in all it was an amazing story and one with an ending that will come out of left field entirely. I also believe I read this book the perfect pivotal moment in history, but I'm certainly not hoping for an outcome like what occurs in The Prey.

I hope book 2 is just as good.

I've seen Steelheart bleed.
David Charleston has one purpose in life: to kill Steelheart. He's the invincible Epic who killed his father.
STOP HERE RIGHT NOW IF YOU DO NOT WANT SPOILERS FROM BOOK #1 (#steelheart )! I'M WARNING YOU!

Now that Steelheart is dead David has a new life with the Reckoners in the reclaimed city of Newcago. They still reside there, defending the city from new Epics who are being sent from Regalia, a high Epic who rules Babylon Restored or Babilar for short. This is David's life now, killing Epics by exploiting their weaknesses. It's during this period he reflects back on Megan, who was Firefight in disguise, and on Prof, who is an Epic as well. David begins to question his and the Reckoners work of killing every Epic and what he understands of the Epics and their powers.

His suspicions are the reason he follows Prof and Tia to the flooded city of Babilar, once known as New York City. This is the place where most of David's questions are answered, such as why there are sometimes new Epics popping up years after Calamity struck, if there is any link to the Epic's weaknesses even though most of humanity believes there are no links, and can the Epics become truly good? Can they resist the pull of their powers to destroy and kill? NOW STOP HERE IF YOU DO NOT WANT SPOILERS FOR BOOK #2 (#firefight ). I'M GIVING YOU FAIR WARNING!

I love the way Brandon Sanderson crafts this world and I love how complex and deep all his characters are, even the minor ones! Brandon Sanderson also has a way of weaving a mystery so deep that you'll be guessing Regalia's plot til the end of the book! I also love how creative Mr. Sanderson was to create superheroes that aren't really superheroes with their weaknesses being the thing they fear the most in life, what their nightmares consist of.

I absolutely love David and how Mr. Sanderson writes him. Since the POV is in David's perspective it feels natural to have misconstrued metaphors and off-track thoughts because that's who David is!

The love story between Megan and David didn't feel forced at all. Like the first book, it felt natural. Usually a problem I see in some books is that the attraction between characters in different books feels off at first, like the author was working back into those characters relationship. This isn't the case with this series. It was like there was no break between the books because their characters picked up naturally from the last book. In fact, there was no awkward character relationship between any of the characters, except Cody who I don't believe had any speaking lines in this book. Something I usually look for in romantic relationships in books are if the characters (specifically the female ones) remain true to their character or become a stereotypical love struck person. Megan AND David didn't have this awkward transition in character. David's character already called for him to be awkward around women and it played well in his reactions with Megan. Megan is a tough soul who has reasons to be distant and that again is shown in her romantic relationship with David. They even evolved in their relationship naturally with each other! It's the best relationship I've read this year!

Another thing about this book in comparison to others is that sometimes there will be a lag in action between the beginning and the end. You have intros and story setting in the beginning and your main driving point at the end, but sometimes the middle falls short. This book didn't. It had a natural ebb and flow to the story, such that when there was action, there was downtime and exposition afterwards, and they moved naturally back and forth between each other. For example: there would be a big action sequence and then David and the reader would find out more information to the unraveling mystery. The only part that didn't follow this pattern was the last 50 pages of the book. They were rushed for action, but it fit the book because the plot drove for it to be fast paced and confusing. This literally will set up his next book like it did the last. And needless to say I'm excited to read Calamity.

I would venture to say this was better than Steelheart and this is the best book I've read this year! This is definitely worth a read if you love young adult books, dystopian novels, post apocalyptic novels, and/or superheroes!

Offred is a handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, which was once a part of America. As a handmaid, her job consists of going outside once a day to shop for food for the home of her Commander, his wife, and the two Marthas, who are the women who clean and cook for the Commander and his wife. When she does this chore she must wait for another handmaid as they are only allowed to walk in groups of two, and they walk to town where the signs are pictures now instead of words. Women are no longer allowed to read. Offred and her handmaid companions pay for their food by way of tokens, because money is no longer valid in Gilead and women are no longer allowed to have money or make money of their own.

As Offred and her walking companion go home they walk by The Wall, a place were they see the dead bodies of religious priests, people caught engaging in love affairs, and dissents. When Offred returns home she rests until the next days journey to town. Offred and the other handmaids are not allowed to drink, smoke, consume caffeine, or engage in excessive extracurricular activities, because it is thought those would effect their health. They are also not allowed to commit suicide and so their rooms have no glass in them or anything that could be turned into a blade. Baths and toliet times are also regulated.

The handmaids are to undergo health screenings once a month to see if they are pregnant and to make sure they are healthy. The doctors sometimes make offers of sex to the women out of pity. Why? Because the handmaids have an important function in Gilead. They are the fertile few who will help reverse the declining birth rates that effect Gilead. They are to participate in a ceremony each month in which the handmaids lie on their backs between the legs of their Commander's wife while the Commander tries to impregnate his handmaid. This is the reason the handmaids are highly valued, they have viable ovaries and are Gilead's only hope for children. If a handmaid gets pregnant and gives birth, there is a chance the child could be deformed or imperfect. This happens fairly often. If a handmaid is able to give birth they will never risk being sent to The Colonies, a place where people are either forced to clear away the radioactive waste or forced to farm for Gilead.

Offred remembers the time before when she went to college and had a job. She made money on her own, had unlimited access to knowledge and was allowed to smoke, drink, and consume caffeine. She remembers her husband, Luke, and their daughter. She remembers making love with Luke and giving her daughter baths. She especially remembers the day her daughter was taken from her and Luke disappeared. The life she had before is gone now and all she is left with are the memories.

The book, especially at the beginning, mainly focuses on Offred's thoughts and memories. At times it is hard to discern between what is present and what is past. It is also hard to tell what is true and what is made up in her mind, as at times she admits she doesn't remember what happened and what she made up in her mind. As discovered in the end, Offred used fake names throughout the book and didn't speak her own name. The book is presented as a memoir and in the end you leave the book not knowing much more than what you knew going into the book. Offred is a vague, unreliable protagonist and is very scattered at times in her writing.

I loved how Offred presented her story as a back and forth narrative between the present and the past and her hope for the future, but I had issues as her as a protagonist. She did something that not a lot of protagonists in modern books do: she gave up. She didn't fight back or try to escape. She accepted her position and only mildly disobeyed, and even that disobedience was at the insistence of the Commander and/or his wife. The book was also depressing and offered little hope for a good outcome, as I believe Offred died at the end of the novel. This book would definitely not be something I would recommend reading in one sitting. I tried and ended up so depressed I had to stop reading.

Besides those issues, I wholeheartedly believe this book is something that needs to be read, especially in today's time. No matter your views on the future of America, the important aspect of this book is what could happen if people's rights were taken away, something that could happen at any moment either today or 100 years in the future. It's important to read books like these in order to be remembered that our rights can be taken away as easily as they were given to us and that's something all people should be weary of.