Review: A richly envisioned world, with characters to care about.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 14, 2014
S. L. Baum has created a world, rich in details, logically constructed, and, to me, all-too-eerily possible.  The world of Lush, set in an unknown future time and place (or did I miss some details, too caught up in the society and in my concern for Bluebell?), is one of a controlled society, where children are taken from their parents at the age of five, raised in special schools, by people who were strangers to the children until then, to the age of seventeen. Then, after twelve years of segregation by gender, and seeing their parents only on Visitation days, they finally meet-or re-meet-the other sex. During that time, the only person of the other gender they see is their mother or father. They are taught to, "Concur with Concord," and that, "Concord Reigns."  The next six months are spent in Incorporation, a time of testing, with two purposes: planning their career paths, based on the tests, and learning if they are Fertile or not-and fertility is a huge issue in their world. One detail that adds to the creep factor? The government decides that path, not the new adult. And much of that decision is based on the Citizen mark each teen gets: O for Fertile, X for Sterile. The government decides almost everything for its citizens, and the best goes to the Fertile.Our main character, Bluebell, is well on her way to being an ideal citizen: she is always pleasant, never questioning Concord or the plans it has for her and her friends. She is from a high status family, bright, attractive-and then she tests as a Lush. She is not merely Fertile, she is Lush with life-which makes her even better. Now her career path is to be a 'Lush Ambassador' for the Council, showing all how following the rules brings rich rewards.But, as expected in a dystopian novel, all is not quite as it seems. Bluebell and one of her new, male, friends find that they both have some questions about their society, and agree to share them with each other-only each other.  Between the questions he shares with her, a story that appears and disappears from her tablet, and a mysterious new tablet that appears in her room, she learns that not all is as she was taught.What she learns, about her society and herself, well, I will let you learn that for yourself. I was captivated by Bluebell and her world, finishing the book in about a day and a half. (Disclaimer: I am not a teen, but a fourty-something mom who loves all kinds of books.) While I found the story to be a smart, creative one, the writing is at a reader-friendly level.  Even younger teens, maybe even tweens, will find a fairly easy read in terms of vocabulary and such, the ideas in it bear some pondering. Just because not all parents are perfect, does that make it right for the government to take all, or any, children from their parents and raise them its way? I live in a state that wants to send all kids to Pre-K, possibly as young as three, to improve their educational preparation; which leaves me wondering when they will decide that it should be all two-year-olds, or even younger.  Even if the state could do a better job raising these kids, is it right?  This is just the start of one train of questions the book aroused in me-and I am sure kids will find others.As a member of the Grammar Police, especially recommending a book listed as YA, I am compelled to note that this one does contain one minor, if very common, pronoun error: people are constantly referred to as 'that', not 'who.'  But that is my only real grammatical complaint, and most people won't even notice it,  which is why I am still giving this one all five stars.I am going to go start on the second book, Hush, now. Give this one a try!