Welcome to my stop on the Viral Nation Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours I'm delighted to be a part of this tour.
Guest Post to follow after the book review once I have received it.
Viral Nation (Viral Nation #1)
Publication: 2nd July 2013
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Pages: 320
Genre: Dystopian/Post-Apocalyptic
Age Appropriate: Young Adult
After a virus claimed nearly the entire global population, the world changed. The United States splintered into fifty walled cities where the surviving citizens clustered to start over. The Company, which ended the plague by bringing a life-saving vaccine back from the future, controls everything. They ration the scant food and supplies through a lottery system, mandate daily doses of virus suppressant, and even monitor future timelines to stop crimes before they can be committed.
Brilliant but autistic, sixteen-year-old Clover Donovan has always dreamed of studying at the Waverly-Stead Academy. Her brother and caretaker, West, has done everything in his power to make her dream a reality. But Clover’s refusal to part with her beloved service dog denies her entry into the school. Instead, she is drafted into the Time Mariners, a team of Company operatives who travel through time to gather news about the future.
When one of Clover’s missions reveals that West’s life is in danger, the Donovans are shattered. To change West’s fate, they’ll have to take on the mysterious Company. But as its secrets are revealed, they realize that the Company’s rule may not be as benevolent as it seems. In saving her brother, Clover will face a more powerful force than she ever imagined… and will team up with a band of fellow misfits and outsiders to incite a revolution that will change their destinies forever.
Brilliant but autistic, sixteen-year-old Clover Donovan has always dreamed of studying at the Waverly-Stead Academy. Her brother and caretaker, West, has done everything in his power to make her dream a reality. But Clover’s refusal to part with her beloved service dog denies her entry into the school. Instead, she is drafted into the Time Mariners, a team of Company operatives who travel through time to gather news about the future.
When one of Clover’s missions reveals that West’s life is in danger, the Donovans are shattered. To change West’s fate, they’ll have to take on the mysterious Company. But as its secrets are revealed, they realize that the Company’s rule may not be as benevolent as it seems. In saving her brother, Clover will face a more powerful force than she ever imagined… and will team up with a band of fellow misfits and outsiders to incite a revolution that will change their destinies forever.
My Thoughts.
Loved it, loved it, loved it, this would have to be one of the best dystopian/post-apocalyptic books I have ever read!
This book had me transfixed and I loathed putting it down for things like work and sleep and stuff, I was so absorbed in the world that Shaunta had created, eager to rush through it and get to the end to see what was waiting for me, luckily there isn't really a cliffhanger of sorts although it did have me wishing I had the second book to go straight on with.
The concept of this story had me from the get go, the idea that people are dependant on a drug injected daily, to stop a deadly virus from spreading or in the case of the unfortunate people who initially were dying from the virus before the supressant was developed to keep it dormant.
To have the lead heroine Clover autistic was something different that I've never read before in a book, and it was incorporated very well into the story and was used to further the plot in a major way, that explains how the Company will use any means necessary to further their hold over the citizens.
Clover is left to be looked after by her older brother West, after their Father is sent to live in barracks closer to his job as an executioner, but West longs to be able to be free enough to do what he wants to do instead of worrying and spending his time looking out for her, so when Clover is accepted into the Academy a school for extremely gifted people he's ecstactic, not only for her but also for being able to get on with his own life and not be depended on all the time.
Unfortunately Clover has a service dog Mango who she depends on when she gets worked up to calm her down, but the Academy will not let her enroll with her dog and so instead she is sent to train for a job as a Time Mariner, people are sent into the future to collect information, this also helps in discovering crimes before they are ever committed and the perpetrators are executed before they have a chance to even do the crime, Clover never really has a problem with this until the day she finds her brother on a poster wanted for murder.
Knowing that people will be tracking him down to execute him, they must escape and try to prevent the murder from ever happening, joining up with a group of runaways they set out to find the truth within the lies that the Company have told them and with the help of a presumed dead deserter they set out to do just that.
I loved all these characters, so fleshed out and likeable you can't help but care about them, especially towards the end when they make their plans to become the resistance and destroy the Company for good.
The plotline was superb, top rate and the world-building just took this book to another level.
I highly recommend this book, anyone looking for a fantastic dystopian then pick this one up, you won't be sorry!
I give this 5/5 Stars.
About Shaunta.
My name is Shaunta Grimes.
I’ve been many things. Some I was born with, or created in a permanent way. Like being a mom, a wife, a daughter, a sister. Some I created, and they stuck. Like being a teacher. Others came about out of some passion or another, and they come and go. Like being a rural Nevada newspaper reporter, or running a drug court treatment program, or starting an online vintage clothing store.
No matter what I do, though, I always come back to telling stories.
You can find me at the book and movie blog, Story Carnivores, that I write with my friend Brian Rowe. Also, come join the party on Twitter or Facebook. I also blog pretty regularly at Fierce Fatties.
I’d love to hear from you, too. You can reach me at shauntagrimes@gmail.com.
Links.
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