Review: It had good parts and not so great parts
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 11 14, 2013
I got the sample pages on this one first and liked it enough to buy it.  For a while the story was describing JUST the main character’s escape to her parents’ house and subsequent travels which was tedious.  Once she meets up with boy, it becomes much more interesting and suspenseful. Rebecca Ethington’s  story Through Glass did the same thing and, to be, honest, it gets a little boring and I admit to skimming, just a little.The world is plagued by a virus that corrupts a person’s nature and makes them dangerous.  "No one knows how the virus spreads really, but then some scientist comes out of nowhere with a vaccine.  Pretty convenient that the only way to ensure a citizen has been vaccinated is with a CID (citizen identification). -  The outbreak, migration and ID bill were all part of a coup that dismantled every democratic ideal this country has held". – Amory.  The government has created all kinds of laws to “protect” its citizens and control them.  All citizens must register with the government and those who don’t are not given any privileges or rights and are hunted down.Haven’s friend Greyson refused to register and after hiding out for months and relying on Haven to help him, he is captured and taken away.  Haven is determined to rescue him and sets in motion the plan they had already set up to leave the area.  Apparently out west, there is more freedom and they were going to escape there together – only they were a day too late.Now Haven has to make the trip alone and deviate from their plans to release him from his prison.  She goes to her parent’s house first to get advice only to find they aren’t there and she must go on alone.  She must evade all kinds of danger such as: Carriers, animals and other desperate unregistered people, until she gets to a farm where she meets up with fellow defectors: Amory, Logan, Max and Roman.  They all have different views of the value of Carriers, the government and how to survive which causes some conflict among some of them.  They are all also keeping secrets from each other."When the PMC took control, no one way paying attention to the fact that we were losing our rights or that the PMC was alienating all of our allies.  Everyone just said please and thank you when we invaded Canada, and suddenly the PMC has the perfect opportunity to brand us like cattle and track our every more! –  Why is it  just us, huh? The virus isn’t killing off the Chinese or the Germans. Why hasn’t it spread? – Because it’s a controlled outbreak!" – AmoryWhen a revolutionary group comes by and offers to help Haven rescue Greyson, all of them leave together, not realizing the revolutionary group has some violent protests planned that they will have to be a part of.  This is the part of the story that really picks up and becomes exciting.  There is also an attempt at romance between Max and Logan (a girl) and Haven and Amory, but it doesn’t really fly.  It REALLY needs to be fleshed out more or just ignored as it is not really believable or interesting.  I mainly read for romance, and this part was highly disappointing."When free men are entranced by illusions, they are easy prey for men who seek to steal their freedoms" – Amory"We must make choices that protect our freedom – even when they’re not easy" – IdaThings that bothered me: the really slow start, the bare-bones romance, the stupid questions instead of action and Haven’s dramatics over killing. They are at war! In the end, the characters were not enough for me to care about, which became evident when one of them was killed, and Haven, from whose voice the story is told, just bugged me.  While this one was pretty well written and will appeal to action fans, I won’t be getting the next book.  I do like the Cover, though!There is profanity (f-word, JC, gd, sh**t), MINOR kissing and such a non-descriptive sexual encounter, you wonder if it really did happen or you were reading too much into it.Would I/Did I buy it? Yes (.99)Would I read it again?  NoWould I recommend it to friends? Sure, to dystopian/action YA fans