Revealed

by Jessica Hickam

[Leah]

I’m slowly but surely making my way through all of my reads for Book Sparks fantastic Summer Reading Challenge – it’s introducing me to authors new and old, and next up on my list was Jessica Hickam’s debut novel The Revealed. It has a super pretty cover, and I thought it sounded really interesting. I don’t read many Dystopian novels – I’ve got a few to read on my shelf, and, of course, I’ve read The Hunger Games, but it’s not a go-to genre for me, but it is a genre I’m learning to enjoy, and I thought The Revealed was an excellent Dystopian novel and I am PUMPED for the sequel! Pumped, I tell you. Like I want it right now!

The Revealed is a very, very interesting novel. It introduces us to Lily who, because she’s 18, must stay in the house until her 19th birthday because there’s a group called The Revealed that go around stealing 18-year-olds, and they’re never seen again. And Lily knows she’s going to be taken, because she keeps receiving notes from the group, with their iconic symbol affixed to the letters. It turns out that Lily lives in a different world to the one we have now – America is only half of what it used to be, with the east coast completely wiped out and turned into wastelands, and the west coast slowly rebuilding and life is nowhere close to what it is now. Computers, cell phones, cars, they’re all for the rich people and The Revealed seem to run everything, despite the fact they’re rarely seen but because of their powers, they’re dangerous and everyone fears them. But Lily is not content to just stay in her big mansion for the year, because she knows that if the Revealed are going to come for her, they’re going to come no matter what…

I loved Lily as soon as I met her! She reminds me of a younger version of me, but it’s the current me who she represents – a bit stuck in life, wanting to do more, wanting to just get out there and DO something, and not be stuck in her house all day long. I can totally, totally see where she was coming from because I long to escape where I live, and the monotony of work-home-read-work-home-read that my life seems to be at the moment. Even more so, since as Lily rightly pointed out, her eighteenth year on Earth could well be her last, so why shouldn’t she enjoy it as much as she can? The first half of the book really explores that feeling of wanting to break free – with Lily even managing to escape a couple times, and while I could understand her parents’ frustration; they’re scared Lily’s going to be stolen, her dad is running for President so they don’t need the scandal, I also wanted them to just understand WHY Lily felt the need to escape and try to have adventures.

The first half of the novel really lays the foundation for the rock-and-roll second half of the novel where the pace really ramps up and secrets come out, and the novel just took itself up another level. I was very impressed. I don’t want to mention what occurs during the second half of the novel but it was mind-blowing and I was sitting reading and reading and reading at such a fast pace, desperate to know more, desperate to see what was going to happen! I just thoroughly enjoyed every page of the novel. I loved Lily as a character, and I loved her best friend Rory, and the novel just kept going at breakneck speed, the type of speed I adore because it keeps you hooked. I loved the hint of romance between Lily and Kai, who is the son of Lily’s dad’s Presidential opponent, it was very Romeo & Juliet, and it made my heart MELT. It made my heart race and my palms sweat, it was like Kai was looking and talking to me… I can’t wait for the next novel in the series and to see where the events of the second half of the novel takes Lily and co. I just hope we don’t have to wait too long to read the sequel!