Courtesy of Smash Attack Reads

I requested this book from Scholastic because I loved the premise. I have a soft spot for refugees. Sprinkle in some fantasy and you’ve got my interest. I clearly remember reading the first few pages and scratching my head. I struggled with the language and writing, and after books like Blood Red Road and The Reapers are the Angels, I figure I'm pretty adaptable to weird ass language and writing styles. I read about 50 pages and put it down for a few weeks. I picked it up again and started to become more interested in the story, but again, the writing was hindering my enjoyment. Also, I started to realize that I was not connecting to the characters because of this jumbled writing. That is why I chose not to pick the book up for a 3rd time.

Now, I have to mention something great about the book that makes me sad for not continuing it. I was really enjoying the world-building, though it was hard to figure it all out. Above is above ground, the city, and these refugees are all “different” physically or otherwise, and live below in Safe. Something tragic occurs that leads to a swift evacuation from Safe to Above, where is very unsafe for these unique individuals. The villain that is so briefly introduced was scarier than hell, too, but once the story moves to Above, I started to become bored. I wish I could continue the story to see this world expand and more of the villain, but alas, I’ve chosen to DNF this book because the connection is nonexistent and the language of the characters is just too irritating to follow.