This Body Won’t Break: Part 1

Lea
McKee
Genre: 
Young Adult

SCI-FI:  Joanna is now an adult and moving from Phase two to Phase three, a move that is sold as a way for the orphans of the TEN virus to find a cure. The TEN virus is a direct result of nuclear fallout causing the New Terra Alliance to protect people by keeping them indoors breathing only protected air. Strict rules are in place that must be followed, or the transgressor will suffer dire consequences. Joanna feels something is amiss in this world and can’t figure out why. It takes a staff member and guard to show her the full impact of what is going on, and now she will do anything she can to escape.

This ambitious dystopian tale plays on the fear of what-ifs and forces the reader to keep reading. While the potential is immense in plot and storyline, it flatlines in many areas. This book is written in the first person and is mostly consistent, however, at one point it seems to switch into third person requiring the reader to reread several times. Characters lack depth and just being genuine. In some places the descriptions are over-the-top while descriptions in other areas are almost non-existent. The largest blemish is this story simply stops in the middle of the climax, making the audience feel unsettled and unsure about reading further. With that said, this story nonetheless has a lot in its favor in terms of possibilities.

Yannie Sorensen