Article 5 by Kristen Simmons

Article 5 (Article 5, #1)

by Kristen Simmons

New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C., have been abandoned. The Bill of Rights has been revoked, and replaced with the Moral Statutes. There are no more police - instead, there are soldiers. There are no more fines for bad behaviour - instead, there are arrests, trials, and maybe worse. People who get arrested usually don't come back. Seventeen-year-old Ember Miller is old enough to remember that things weren't always this way. Living with her rebellious single mother, it's hard for her to forget that people weren't always arrested for reading the wrong books or staying out after dark. It's hard to forget that life in the United States used to be different. Ember has perfected the art of keeping a low profile. She knows how to get the things she needs, like food stamps and hand-me-down clothes, and how to pass the random home inspections by the military. Her life is as close to peaceful as circumstances allow. That is, until her mother is arrested for non-compliance with Article 5 of the Moral Statutes. And one of the arresting officers is none other than Chase Jennings...the only boy Ember has ever loved.

Reviewed by lizarodz on

4 of 5 stars

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Well, Article 5 is a very different dystopian, actually the worst imaginable future. I did enjoy the story though.

Overall I liked Ember’s character. She was resourceful, brave, and loyal, BUT I had a few issue with her. She was impulsive and did things without thinking that nearly got her killed and certainly got her in deep trouble. The inner workings of her mind were strange. I mean, anyone could see from a hundred miles away that Chase was crazy in love with her (but her, of course!) I don’t want to spoil the book for you, thus I will restrain myself of telling you the specifics of the dumb decisions she made. I am glad that she seemed to be more mature by the ending of the book.

On the other hand, I LOVE Chase. Ember and Chase were next door neighbors and have more or less been in love with each other forever. For reasons unknown Ember figures out that he stopped loving her after being drafted; I don’t think she ever thought of what poor Chase had to go through. Chase is loyal, loving, practical, capable and gorgeous, his one and only focus is Ember and how to keep her safe. I love knights in shining armor, and Chase did not disappoint. Other characters are transient and minor, but very well crafted.

The story is disconcerting. From all the dystopian books that I’ve read this is by far the worst imagined post-war ever. I’m not exactly sure about the war itself, but the world after is awful. There is a president that seems to think that reverting back about 100 years ago (in mentality, family structure, and women’s attire) and talking away all the citizen’s liberties was a good idea. This new world is violent, full of injustice, starvation, want, need, and dictatorial. I do hope that the resistance can do something about it and I’m looking forward to that. The plot is really good, and the story is full of action. The writing is very good, well paced, with enough background for us to understand and follow the story.

About the cover: Yep, that’s about right. All major cities are gone; here we see a ravaged city with Ember and Chase looking down. I love the red elements of the title and Chase’s shirt.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 17 May, 2012: Finished reading
  • 17 May, 2012: Reviewed