This book frustrated me so much. The writing was good (despite a few clumsy passages) and it had good world-building, something that has been lacking in so many teen dystopias lately.

But.

This book, the first in a series (of course), is all exposition. It's got an incredibly thin plot that in no way differentiates itself from the multitudes of other dystopias (gang of survivors trying to find the perhaps-mythical land where things don't suck). Nothing really happens. No huge revelation is reached, there's no great climax (I don't call the lame deus ex machina near the end a climax). It's not only just the first book in a series - it's really just part one of a single book (or it should have been). It's not a complete story.

Here's what I think happened. I could be totally wrong, but hear me out. This book is called "Enclave: Razorland #1." It USED to be called "Razorland" with no numerals appended. My guess is this book did not start out as a series. It started out as a single volume, a complete story, and the author (for whatever reason - pressure from the publisher or editor or whoever) went back and edited it to make it a series. Hence the title change and the lack of a full story in the first volume - she had to stretch out her story, which was really good for just a single book, into three or more volumes.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if this is what happened. It's really too bad because the story suffered from it.

Full review here: http://stackedbooks.blogspot.com/2011...