Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves by Meg Long

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A wonderful mix of dystopian, science fiction and adventure awaits!

Running from someone she stole from, Sena ends up accidentally hiding inside a feral wolf’s cage. She’s caught by the den boss, Kalba, so he makes a deal with her that she’ll pay her debt by healing the wolf. The wolf’s name is Iska. Kalba named his prized fighting wolf after Sena’s mom. This irritates her horribly. She agrees to help heal Iska but she gets sidetracked more than once with trying to steal enough to pay her way off the ice planet. After a few misadventures, Sena ends up with a racing team that’s planning scientific studies of the exocarbon that the planet is known for. Sena is angry with herself because she vowed that she would never race. She learns how much she can truly handle and how teamwork helps tremendously with problem solving. I enjoyed this read, even through Sena’s pessimism and stubbornness. A wonderful mix of dystopian, science fiction and adventure awaits readers who want to plunge into another world, 5 stars!

At the End of Everything by Marieke Nijkamp

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Thought-provoking dystopian!

Teens at a juvenile detention center are deserted by the adults, warden, guards and caretakers in one day. A group of teens leaves for the nearest town only to be stopped by soldiers at the town’s edge. The soldiers tell them everything is on lockdown and a sickness is going around. The soldiers instruct the teens to head back to the center. They do only to break into two groups; those leaving and those staying. A sickness soon breaks out at the center and teens start dying. The sickness starts with a cough and turns into a bloody cough. Each teen is dealing with their own problems and reasons for being sent to the center which is a good chunk of the book. I can see dystopian readers devouring this book, especially because the pandemic is so close to our current reality. Though-provoking dystopian for young adult readers, 3 stars!

A Sky Beyond the Storm by Sabaa Tahir

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Tumultuous, action-packed, heart wrenching and beautiful series finale, 5 stars!

The fourth and final book of Ember in the Ashes series!
Laia stays allied to the Shrike and their goal is to get Musa’s ex fiancée’s (Princess Nikla) help against Keris, the Commandant. Elias stands between the jinn and the Augur Cain and learns the truth of the Augurs and what they did a thousand years ago. Keris’ story keeps getting hinted about in order to bring her down. Laia’s traveling to talk to the tribal storytellers for information and tries her best to break through to Elias. More battles take place and Helene fights to keep her feelings for Harper low on her list of priorities. This series seems to have an endless amount of surprises which keeps me on my toes! Tumultuous, action-packed, heart wrenching and beautiful series finale, 5 stars! This is a wonderful series and I would read it again!

Steelstriker by Marie Lu

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The action and fighting keep going as the rebellion tries to end the Premier!

The story opens six months after Skyhunter ends. Talin has been transformed into a Skyhunter for the Premier and Red is in the woods with some Strikers, doing what they can to fight the Federation. Talin and Red haven’t sensed much of each other but they are both missing their connection and they each keep trying to reach out to the other one. While sleeping, Talin sees through Red’s eyes what the rebels are planning. The premier sees everything through their connection and is able to sabotage them. Jeran and Red escape but the rest of the group gets captured. Talin is sick with worry and tries her best to subdue the connection with the Premier, even trying to survive without sleep. The premier forces the captured Strikers to compete in a game against Ghosts. They’re trapped in a maze made up of metal sliding walls. Only two of the four survive. The action and fighting keep going as the rebellion tries to end the Premier. Intrigue, brutality, torture and the horrific making of ghosts kept the story hopping until the very end, 4 stars!

Unraveling Eleven by Jerri Chisholm

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Action-packed dystopian!

Eve and Wren are ecstatic that they’re free and the sun isn’t scorching like they’ve been told all of their lives. They walk for an hour in happy silence before Wren hears something in the trees. An animal attacks and they fight for their lives. Soon they realize they have no sustenance. They decide to return to the compound and figure out a way to survive on the surface and to return later. Wren and Eve try to settle back into life in Eleven and move forward with jobs while everything around them seems tumultuous, including their relationship. I had thought this was a duology but realized while reading that it wasn’t going to end with this book. Action and danger follow Wren and Eve until they’re in peril. Action packed dystopian, 4 stars!

Escaping Eleven by Jerri Chisholm

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Entertaining dystopian for young adults!

Eve is a fighter looking forward to when she can reach the upper level and Earth to see if her younger brother Jack somehow survived being banished nine years ago for being the unlawful second child of the family. He was sent out to the unprotected air and land on his own. Eve meets Wren in a scheduled fight that entertains the crowds. They despise each other at first but soon become allies. While Eve’s friends continue to participate in job tours to help decide their future, she hunts for a way to escape Compound Eleven. Wren is from the upper level so he has access to more and also has a better lifestyle than Eve and her friends in the lower level. He teaches her to shoot a gun and she introduces her to the lowest level of the compound where she helps ration food to the people. They both grow and learn about what they truly want in their futures. Eve is stubborn but loyal and Wren is smart, brave and has integrity. Interesting world building and strong characters add life to this dystopian story, 4 stars!

We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach

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An imminent catastrophic event can change how you view your life.

In the life of high school, there’s popular Peter, keep to herself Eliza, laid back Andy, and parent pressured Anita. Each has their own problems and they casually know each other from attending Hamilton High School. When news of the asteroid in the sky having 66.6% chance of colliding with Earth, the four students question their true intentions and discover what truly matters. Their town gets more chaotic and stressed the closer the asteroid gets. The four teens’ lives entwine and things spiral, sometimes out of control. I grew to care about them and stayed invested in their stories throughout the book. Realistic fiction with a dystopian touch, 5 stars!

The Infinity Courts by Akemi Dawn Bowman

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A wonderful twist and a fascinating ending!

Nami is on her way to the class graduation party when she receives a call from Lucy. Lucy pressures her into buying alcoholic drinks for the party. Nami stops at a mini mart and while she’s looking at what’s available to buy, a shooter enters the store. Nami jumps in front of a young girl to protect her and ends up getting shot. She wakes up later in the Infinity Courts which are run by Artificial Intelligence. Nami resists taking a pill to help with her headache and resists drinking from the fountain. Instead, she follows the lights and ends up being rescued by rebels fighting against Artificial Intelligence control. The rebels rescued her because she resisted and most people can’t. They need her for the rebellion. For some reason, Nami blends in easily with the AI and held the attention of a prince during their conversation, so the rebels want her to be a spy and gather as much information as possible so they can be taken out of control. Humans that have taken the pill are servants to the robots and are unaware of supposedly anything, surroundings, people, and their own pasts. Other humans are sent to War to fight in horrible battles. The resistance works together to free humans and end the robots and all Artificial Intelligence control, even through rough patches. Nami frustrates me a little because she’s only wanting to see one side of the resistance and stubbornly expects everyone else to understand and follow her point of view when she won’t reciprocate that understanding to others. There’s a wonderful twist and the ending was fascinating, 4 stars!

Roots of Ruin by Amber Mitchell

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Roots of Ruin by Amber Mitchell
Book three in the Garden of Thorns series.
Rose/Arianna works alongside Rayce to unite their two kingdoms and to restore her rightful place as ruler of her kingdom. There’s a traitor in their group who keeps giving valuable information to the enemy and man who took Arianna’s father’s life and crown, King Ganem. As king, he has broken apart families and caused extreme poverty and violence. With Rayce’s help, they plan to bring the kingdoms together and create peace. The stress picks up at the last third of the book when the traitor is discovered and the rebels find themselves in a twisted mess. A solid ending in this YA dystopian series, 4 stars!

Incognito by Katie Delahanty

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Ellie is deep into the Keystone Academy curriculum and the story opens with her on a mission to steal a voice recording from the Andy Warhol Museum collection. The famous artist was known for saving everything. While completing her goal, a colleague arrives and sneakily steals the cassette from her. So, she fails the mission. She moves on with other students to go undercover and learn as much as they can about a new program that’s based on whether free will is real or not. The group gets brain scans and disguises and they discover who’s trustworthy and who isn’t. This new program is a little too close to Ellie’s past and her old journal becomes a topic of interest and the story ends with a twist that leaves the opening for a third book in the Keystone series. Riddles and intrigue, 4 stars!