Review: A fantastic introduction to a new series from an emerging talent
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 15, 2014
The first book in a forthcoming trilogy, Ann Christy’s “Strikers” is a bold and imaginative entry into the expanding field of YA dystopia. Its characters are memorable, relatable, and smartly written. Even better, the world she has created stands up to scrutiny, making sense where so many others fall flat upon closer inspection.Karas Quick is a girl living on the margins of society in the Republic of Texas, scraping by despite a long-absentee father and an alcoholic mother. She relies upon her friends, and they her, to keep each other under the radar of the local authorities — at least, as best they can. Karas has already earned a strike upon her neck, the first of five tolerated by the Republic.Its as Karas and her friends are watching a parade of the captured, so-called Strikers being herded through the center of town that her life suddenly and irrevocably changes. Soon, they’re propelled upon a path that will challenge each of them physically, mentally, and emotionally, though in profoundly different ways.As the story progresses, Karas and her friends discover that much of what they’ve been told about the territories outside the Republic of Texas are outright lies, fictions designed to keep them compliant and complacent. The more they find and hear, the more they are compelled to follow the path they tread despite their doubts and misgivings. For the first time in their young lives Karas and her friends have hope, and that’s a powerful thing to carry going forward.Ann Christy’s first original novel is beautiful and fearless, a story of how family and friendship have the power to transcend even the worst humanity has to offer. Fully realized and deeply affecting, this is young adult storytelling at its finest and smartest.