Review: The Uprising by Lisa M Stasse

The Uprising by Lisa M Stasse

Series: The Forsaken, #2

Published: August 6th, 2013

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

392 pages (ARC)

Genre: Young adult dystopian

Acquired this book: From Simon & Schuster Canada in exchange for an honest review

Warning: Will contain spoilers if you haven’t read The Forsaken

{GoodReads || Buy this book: Amazon || Book Depository || Chapters/Indigo}

{Read my review of The Forsaken}

In this dystopian sequel to The Forsaken, Alenna has survived the brutality of life on the wheel—and now she’s going back for more.

Alenna escaped. It was expected that she would die on the wheel, the island where would-be criminals are sent as directed by the UNA—the totalitarian supercountry that was once the United States, Mexico, and Canada. But Alenna and her boyfriend, Liam, made it to safety. Except safety, they will soon learn, is relative.

In order to bring down the UNA, they must first gain control of the wheel. If the mission succeeds, the wheel will become a base of revolution. But between betrayals, a new Monk leading a more organized army of Drones, and the discovery of a previously unknown contingent, Alenna, Liam, and their allies might be in over their heads. One thing Alenna knows for sure: There will be a reckoning. And not everyone she loves will make it out alive.

The Uprising picks up shortly after where The Forsaken leaves off. Alenna and Liam are safe for the time being in Australia, away from the wheel, and living among UNA rebels and former Prison Island Alpha villagers and drones. Their friends are still in danger back on the wheel, and the couple are determined to get back to save them, along with the other inhabitants of the island.

As with The Forsaken, there was plenty of action in The Uprising. If anything, with the stakes being higher, it was even more exciting than the first book. There was a real sense of urgency and danger, and the action scenes had me turning the pages as fast as I could to find out what would happen. Unfortunately, a lot of the parts in between were slow and I found myself skimming quite a bit, but the action really was great.

One thing I really liked about this second installment in the trilogy was that Alenna came into her own more. In The Forsaken, she didn’t grow or develop much, and at the beginning of The Uprising, I thought it was going to be more of the same, so I was pleasantly surprised. At first, she hated being away from Liam and she was always thinking about him and needing to be near him, but then she realized she could not only function on her own, she could also be strong and thrive on her own. Since I found the romance rather lackluster in the first book, it was nice to see Alenna growing on her own, and her relationship with Liam developing into something a bit more believable. They complimented each other and were good to and for each other. 

As with the first book, I loved all the twists, turns, and surprises in The Uprising. It was still impossible to know who to trust, and it was interesting to have those moments of doubting yourself and wondering if friends were really enemies or vice versa. I enjoy being kept on my toes in books like this, and Stasse did a really good job.

By the end of the book I found myself getting really invested and wanting to know what would happen and how things will be resolved. I can’t imagine how things will end up, but I like that. The ending wasn’t exactly a cliffhanger, but it was enough to make me eager for the next book. There are still a lot of loose ends to tie up, and I’m sure there will be a lot more action and twists along the way. If you enjoy dystopian, I’d definitely recommend giving the Forsaken trilogy a try!

Favourite Quote:

“It’s time that I stood on my own. The wheel has taught me that I’m stronger than I ever thought. But I’ve relied on others to help keep me alive too many times already…I want to step up and be a leader when the occasion calls for it. In all senses of the word, I want to live.”

~Taken from page 336 of the ARC of The Uprising by Lisa M Stasse

 

Have you read The Forsaken or The Uprising? What did you think? Do you like dystopian novels? What are some of your favourites?

{Facebook || Twitter || GoodReads || Pinterest || YouTube || Author blog || Personal/photography blog}
{Subscribe to my author newsletter}

Review: The Forsaken by Lisa M Stasse

The Forsaken by Lisa M Stasse

Series: The Forsaken, #1

Published: July 10th, 2012

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

375 pages (paperback)

Genre: Young adult dystopian

Acquired this book: Bought

Warning: May contain spoilers

{GoodReads || Buy this book: Amazon || Book Depository || Chapters/Indigo}

As an obedient orphan of the U.N.A. (the super-country that was once Mexico, the U.S., and Canada), Alenna learned at an early age to blend in and be quiet—having your parents taken by the police will do that to a girl. But Alenna can’t help but stand out when she fails a test that all sixteen-year-olds have to take: The test says she has a high capacity for brutal violence, and so she is sent to The Wheel, an island where all would-be criminals end up.

The life expectancy of prisoners on The Wheel is just two years, but with dirty, violent, and chaotic conditions, the time seems a lot longer as Alenna is forced to deal with civil wars for land ownership and machines that snatch kids out of their makeshift homes. Desperate, she and the other prisoners concoct a potentially fatal plan to flee the island. Survival may seem impossible, but Alenna is determined to achieve it anyway.

 

While dystopian isn’t my favourite genre, I do enjoy reading it occasionally, especially when I come across a story like The Forsaken, which has an interesting, different concept. In a not-too-distant future, governments have fallen, and Canada, the USA, and Mexico have come together to create the United Northern Alliance (UNA), under the leadership of a tyrannical, power-hungry man. At the age of 16, each citizen of the UNA is forced to take a test that will determine if they have violent tendencies; the ones who do get sent to Prison Island Alpha, aka “the wheel”, where kids either become ‘villagers’ - kids who live mostly normal lives (or as normal as you can get stuck on a desolate prison island) - or ‘drones’ - kids who are under the leadership of The Monk, a madman who brainwashes kids into violent, mindless killing machines. When Alenna fails the test and gets sent to the wheel, she’s rescued by the villagers, and immediately becomes part of a plan to defeat the Monk and get everyone off the island.

I suppose the reason dystopian isn’t among my top genres of choice is because I prefer character-driven stories, while dystopian seems to be centred on action. I like to see character growth, development, and self-discovery, and for the characters to learn things, not only about themselves, but also the people/world around them. While the characters in The Forsaken were fairly well developed, I missed that growth and self-discovery along the way.

That being said, I tried to keep in mind that the regular rules don’t necessarily apply in dystopian novels, because they are centred on action. And that’s something The Forsaken had plenty of. The action in this book was exciting, scary, and sometimes even gruesome. I thought it was all really well done, I just wish there’d been more of it because the parts in between were often kind of slow. I liked that there were twists and turns and that you were never really sure who to trust. As soon I thought I had things figured out, I learned I was wrong, and I love when that happens in a book.

Something else I feel tends to go wrong in dystopian books is the romance. Unfortunately, that was the case with The Forsaken. The romance bordered on insta-love, and even if you can overlook that, when you realize the story takes place over the course of two weeks, you see just how fast things move and how unrealistic it seems. I didn’t even really get why Alenna and the love interest liked each other, but they did right from the first minute, and things progressed from there as they kept getting thrown together. I mostly liked them as a couple, but the romance as a whole was pretty lackluster for me.

Overall, I enjoyed The Forsaken. I thought Masse did a good job executing an original concept and building a world that was both frightening and realistic.

Favourite Quote:

“I don’t need time to think about his idea. It’s crazy, ill thought-out, and probably doomed to fail. ‘Let’s do it!’ I yell.” ~ page 334

Have you read The Forsaken? What did you think? Do you like dystopian novels? What are some of your favourites?

{Facebook || Twitter || GoodReads || Pinterest || YouTube || Author blog || Personal/photography blog}
{Subscribe to my author newsletter}