thank you penguinteen for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

i… genuinely don’t know where to begin. how much should i say? everything i want to say, really, feels like a spoiler.

i guess, let me just say. i hope this book receives the recognition it deserves. the importance it has to our current day. the slippery path our world could easily go down, if extremist parties gain more traction. this book, does a beautiful job portraying how deeply frightening it can be if this does happen. it scares me with how unfortunately probable this path is in our current political landscape, especially here in the states.

but also, throughout it all. it gives us hope. it shows people like eleanor, people like me, who subtly fight back. like sheila, who’s a flame, burning almost too bright. like betty, who bury their hurt deep deep down until they drown. the amount of times i held back sobs reading this story. it’s so damn powerful. so well portrayed. it uses a dystopian landscape with highly advanced technology to “mask” the how similar it is to our modern world. but at its core, its a story about us now. and it’s done so well. so intricately constructed. i really, truly, could not explain this all this book contains properly.

i had the lovely opportunity, albeit completely unplanned, chance to buddy read this with mel (@mel.muses). and i honestly think this is the way to go. grab a friend or two. make a lil group chat and buddy read it. because your brains will be swimming with theories and confusion and beautiful quotes. and you will want to talk to it with someone.

this book is made for conversations. so lets start them.