alindstadtcorbeax
Written on Aug 26, 2018
I liked it, I didn’t love it. It was kinda just a big MEH for me. But, *shrugs*, to each their own.
In this twisted Lauren Oliver-meets-A.S. King debut, Julian has just eight more lives to burn in order to uncover a brutal secret.
In an alternate world startlingly close to our own, humans have nine lives—and they can’t wait to use them up.
The government has death incentives aimed at controlling overpopulation. As you shed lives, you shed your awkward phases: one death is equal to one physical and mental upgrade.
Julian’s friends are obsessed with the idea of burning, but Julian is determined to stay on his first life for as long as he can. His mother burned too fast and inflicted a debilitating rebirth sickness on herself.
Julian realizes that he’s going to have to burn at some point—especially when he becomes a target for Nicholas, the manipulative leader of the Burners, the school’s suicide club. And when Julian eventually succumbs, he uncovers suspicious gaps in the rebirth system that may explain exactly why his mother went so far down the rabbit hole years ago.
Along with a group of student dissenters, Julian sets out to find answers and is soon on the verge of exposing the greatest conspiracy ever unleashed on the world.
- ISBN10 0062567233
- ISBN13 9780062567239
- Publish Date 30 April 2020 (first published 7 August 2018)
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 2 April 2024
- Publish Country US
- Publisher HarperCollins Publishers Inc
- Imprint HarperTeen
- Format Paperback
- Pages 368
- Language English
Reviews
I liked it, I didn’t love it. It was kinda just a big MEH for me. But, *shrugs*, to each their own.
shannonmiz
Written on Jul 7, 2018
This was such a unique topic for a book- the concept of every person having nine lives. It was like cats, but not. But also there were cats involved and I cannot help but wonder if that was purposeful? Anyway. Let us break this down into the stuff I liked versus the stuff I did not as much, because sure.
What I Liked:
- The concept! It's really interesting- it's basically an alternate universe I think, but where people have nine lives. But of course that creates... problems, because overpopulation and such, so there have to be advantages to burning off some of your lives.
- It's also quite thought-provoking. A lot of the situations that Julian finds himself in are tough- and it made me wonder what I would have done in his shoes. The answer isn't always as easy as we'd hope or think.
- There's also a lot of discussion about current topics. One of the main issues is how the poorer people are basically coerced into dying in order to stay afloat financially. There are a lot of other issues, but that's a pretty non-spoilery example of how poverty can snowball, and I thought it was insightful.
- It's full of action and a quick read. I was definitely entertained- and sometimes horrified. But never bored.
What I Didn't:
- Really, I just wanted more information about the world. In a concept like this, I wanted so many more answers about how and why the world has become this way. I think I would have been better able to understand the motivation behind a lot of the choices that people made if the world made more sense to me. It's a standalone for now, though I can see it being expanded upon too, so who knows.
- Some of the political stuff got a little convoluted. I think this probably goes hand-in-hand with the above point, because these were the people whose motivations I didn't always understand. Or why some of the rules had evolved the way they had, and so forth. But when I didn't get answers I might have started to get a little apathetic about the political aspects.
- A few bits were kind of predictable. Not terribly so, but some of the bigger stuff at the end I was pretty easily able to guess.
Bottom Line: A unique concept that is quite dark (yay if you enjoy darker reads like I do!), this book will certainly make you think- though you might also be thinking about how you'd like more world information, too.