The Announcer calls my name, but she does not speak to me. This macabre spectacle has nothing to do with me. And everything to do with them. This is all for the thousands below – the compliant citizens of Otpor, the witnesses to my Execution, the silent and transfixed. This is their moment. Their reconditioning.

In a future post-apocalyptic Paris, a rebellion threatens to upset the city’s perfectly-structured balance and plunge its citizens into anarchy.

Two generations after the Execution of Kane 148 and Otpor’s return to Orthodoxy, forbidden murals are appearing on crumbling concrete walls – calling citizens to action. Calling for Resistance.

The murals will change the utopian lives of all citizens. But, for Anaiya 234, they will change who she is.

A Peacekeeper of the uncompromising Fire Element, Anaiya free-runs through city’s precincts to enforce the Orthodoxy without hesitation or mercy. Her selection for a high-risk mission gives Otpor the chance it needs to bring down the Resistance and Anaiya the opportunity she craves to erase a shameful legacy.

But the mission demands an impossible sacrifice – her identity.

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The Meta Details:
Source: Netgalley
Format: eBook
Length: 340 pages
Genre: Science Fiction; Dystopia
Content Level: Adult
Pearl Clutching Content: Casual sex and drug use
Trigger Warnings: Power grabs; protests; violence; police brutality
Featuring: Mind-bending technology and art creation

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Scorecard:
Recommended for: Uh… this is awkward… because….
Rating: This wasn’t for me

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Ginny Lurcock’s Thoughts: I wanted to like this book, I really did. Especially in the era we’re living in, the message Resist should resonant within us all, but poor execution made it hard for me to like it.

I was all for the setup. That Anaiya (Ana) was the protégé of the last person who was executed and because of this she’s all for putting herself in harm’s way to stifle this newest call to resist. I loved (and was horrified) with the idea that as children this society is put into one of four categories and molded to behave certain ways. Their brains are shaped in such a way that they have certain reactions. It’s fascinating.

Terrifying, but fascinating.

So when Ana gets reclassified to another element obviously there’s going to be some disconnect, and this is where things began to fall apart for me. I understand that for someone to live one way, where they are literally the police brutalizing the public and finding it normal who do not express normal person emotions and suddenly be thrust into a new world, that’s going to be strange. It’s going to be hard. Especially when you’re suddenly feeling things and creating and part of the group usually targeted for brutalization.

Still, it felt more than just disjointed as she was struggling with her fire and air nature. Her fire and air love interest. This disconnect did not occur in the linear way that you would expect from this duality, but in a stuttering way. A way that made me feel like I never had any idea what she was going to do next.

And I don’t mean in the page turning, nail biting way. I mean in the “the hell just happened?” way.

So while I did appreciate the concept of this book and enjoyed the concept of the world that was built, I think I’ll be passing on the follow-up.

A complimentary copy of this book was provided in exchange for a fair and honest review via Netgalley.