Broken Lies by Claire Vale
(Broken #1)
Publication date: March 10th 2015
Genres: Dystopia, Young Adult
Synopsis:
Scientists predicted it would take seventy years for the Arctic Shelf to completely melt. In the end, it took less than five. We lost thirty percent of our land to the oceans and a big chunk of our structure to panic and anarchy.
The Melt crippled us.
But it was the Arctic Virus at the bottom of The Melt, trapped for millennia in the darkest depths of ice strata, that broke us. The real flood was the Living Corpses. A population of billions turned to soulless, rabid shells within months. That’s what washed away the human race as we know it.
Born into a post-apocalyptic world, Lake has grown up in the last city standing. Governed by what used to be the Queen’s Cold Stream Guard, vaccinated against the threat, life in Windsor City is both harsh and fair. The rules are designed to strengthen the city and ensure survival.
Lake’s future is planned out with opportunities and unfair advantages and then there’s Ash—her best friend and hopefully more. Things could be worse, considering she’s living past the end of days. And, sometimes, she could definitely do with being a better person, which was what drafting into the Guard for two years of service was supposed to be about.
But she has no idea what she’s signed up for. The city is more vulnerable than she’d ever imagined, on its knees at the mercy of a megalomaniac organisation, and she’s just been chosen to pay the price.
My Review
**I was given a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review**
Broken Lies is a young adult dystopian novel with a very interesting premise. The world as we know it has been flooded. But that's the least of anyone's worries. After the floods, infection set in. A virus ran rampant and turned people into Living Corpses, or LCs for short. Think 28 Days Later.
The story revolves around Lake, a young girl who isn't sure what she wants to do with her life. Her friends are drafting, her 'is-he-my-boyfriend-or-not' guy friend is one of the Guard, and a family friend has a spot for her in a fashion design program. All she has to figure out is, should she follow her friends into the trenches, or should she go the easy route and study fashion?
When her chances at joining the fashion design program start to dwindle do to a complication, Lake knows what she must do. She drafts with her friends, and that's when things get really, really interesting.
I don't want to say too much more, because I honestly feel this is a book you need to read all the way through to appreciate how awesome it really is. I think if I add anything else into my review, other than a few basics, it'll spoil the reading experience.
So, anyway, I felt, at times, that Lake was a bit...whiny. She's a really well-written character, and I do like her, but she has her moments where I just wanted to tell her to stop being such a baby. She isn't too bad, though. I suppose if I were in her shoes, I might have some similar moments myself.
Lake's friends are pretty cool. They're loyal to her, they love her, and they just want to have fun. Life's a bit bleak, but they try to find the good in things and stay positive. I can't say I blame them.
Ash is one of those characters you have a love/hate relationship with. He's got those good looks and seems like a super nice guy, but he does some stupid things and causes more bad than good. But he's really not a bad character. Just a bit of an idiot sometimes.
Plot-wise, I thought the book started off a tad slow, but it quickly picked up. I got into it pretty quickly, and once that happened, I was immediately hooked. There's a weird sort of plot twist that happens a little over halfway through the book, and things just continue to get stranger until the truth is revealed. And what the characters discover about their city and their government... well, let's just say it'll leave you hungry for more.
Overall, I found Broken Lies to be a fantastically good read. It's got everything you could ever really want in a post-apocalyptic young adult dystopian thiller. An event that pretty much destroys the world, sheltered civilizations that don't know anything about the outside world, a plague, and a government with secrets. What more could you ask for?
I'd rate Broken Lies a hearty 4 stars. I'm definitely looking forward to reading the next book.
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