Author: Jeff Hirsh

Genre: Dystopian

Publisher: Scholastic

Pages: 288

After a war with China caused a plague to be unleashed, resulting in the collapse of America, Stephen and his family are scavengers. They roam the land looking for anything that they can find to trade. When his grandfather dies, and an injury results in his father lapsing in to a coma, Stephen finds himself in Settler’s Landing. While most are welcoming, one boy and his influential father believe him to be a threat and want him gone. He finds himself drawn to Jenny, the rebellious adopted daughter of the family who took him in. She is also a bit of an outcast, not only because of her actions, but because she is Chinese. A prank that they play on the boy and his family late one night has devastating results for the entire settlement. Will this result in another collapse?

While I won’t say that this was one of my very best reads of the year, it was an enjoyable quick read. It was well written, and the characters were pretty well developed. It had a good, clear plot point, and a nice little plot twist that you don’t really expect. Overall, I would say that it was a pretty good book, and good if you want to grab something that reads pretty quickly.