short and just okay

Amazon

I think this book will fit nicely into my new survival genre section in the library. Even though it's dystopian, set the future where we have bombed ourselves to bits, most of the story is concerned with running from an unseen enemy, finding food, and shelter. It's not one of my favorites – I have a lot of unanswered questions but yet – if this is what the end of the world would be like – it makes sense. Lots of running and wondering who to trust.

  
At 30% I'm not sure I want to finish this book, definitely not the series, I'm not caring about the main character yet.

At 70% I found an error: Kennedy's assassination wasn't filmed in color by TV news stations, and I'm pretty sure the Soviets would not have had footage an hour after it happened.

Soviet psychics versus American psychics, genetic manipulation, sort of more of a breeding program.
The romance is downplayed enough that when Yulia is told that one boy loves her it was almost as much of a surprise to me as it was to her. I expected it, but the buildup was pretty tame. I had this most of the school year, with not one person checking it out. It's not Gateway material to me.

Slow. Ancient history for my students. This hasn't been checked out yet this year. Start of a series but can stand alone.

I thought of the House of the Scorpion and Never Let Me Go as I was reading this short book.  So much is unexplained and we only find out what is happening along with Shiloh, a young girl who lives her life in fear of the doors at the end of the cafeteria opening.  Why? Finding out takes at least the first half of the book, and that is not soon enough for most of my students.  I think they will bail out long before that.  This is an unusual miss for Ms. Williams.  We (my students and I) loved The Chosen One, and Glimpse.  I also liked Signed Skye Harper, much better.