Ratings

Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content

Guide to Rating System

LANGUAGE

VIOLENCE

SEXUAL CONTENT

ADULT THEMES

Ratings Explanation

Language:  There is a handful or so exclamations involving Deity.  There are some references made to cursing.  “Del swore under her breath,”  “erupted into a barrage of curses”.  One use of the word friggen.

Violence:  Lucy kills a turtle and cuts it up.  Doing so makes her throw up.  Lucy accidently cuts her hand with a knife and bleeds a lot.  Dogs chase Lucy.  A tsunami hits and animals die.  Lucy falls and hurts her hands as she runs to escape the tsunami.  Sweepers come to take people away by force.  People stand ready with weapons to defend themselves.  A dog attacks a boy.  Searchers attack and there is fighting (hitting, kicking).  Leo and Del are tasered.  The people hunt rabbits.  Leo gets the plague and his body is charred and his eyes are bloody.  He dies after much suffering.  Kids are drugged and poked repeatedly with needles.  There is a fight between many people (hitting, kicking, pulling hair, sling shot).  Lucy is tased and there is a chase.  Dogs attack.

Sexual Content:  There are a few kisses toward the end of the book.  A reference is made to magazines that a boy is hiding to look at in his bed at night.  Someone says, “Sex, drugs and rock and roll!  Isn’t that what it’s supposed to be like?”

Adult Themes:  Someone smokes cigarettes.  The pox kills most people, wiping out most of the population.  Bodies are burned to stop its spread.  Lucy’s whole family has died leaving her to fend for herself in the wilds.  Government lies and propaganda are spread among the people.  A drug is put into a drink to make people fall asleep.

Synopsis

After the plague sweeps through the population of the greater New York City area, Lucy finds herself alone, devastated by the loss of her family, friends and life as she knew it.  Survival is a day to day struggle with never enough food.  One day Aidan shows up, saving her from the dogs that seem determined to catch her, and leaving her longing for human contact again.  When a tsunami pummels her makeshift home, Lucy scrambles to escape and ends up finding Aiden and the tattered group of people he lives with.

Sweepers keep attacking and taking people away, never to be seen again.  Lucy is frustrated by the group’s lack of action, wanting to find out why people are being taken and where they are going.  When a girl escapes the sweepers and returns back to the group, Aiden and Lucy decide the time has come to find some answers, setting off a chain of events that nobody could imagine.  Lucy, it seems, and her blood is the very key to the answers she is searching for.

This is a YA dystopian novel.  I thought the premise was interesting and the story flowed along quickly.  I am really enjoying this genre of books.  I thought Lucy was a strong character.  Life had forced cruelties upon her but she survives.  She sets her mind to the task and does what needs to be done.  Lucy also has a sense of loyalty which I really liked.  This was a fun read all around.  YA age appropriate.