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California. 2130 AD. The Republic of America is engaged in a vicious war with the Colonies. Life is hard for many in the Republic: plague terrorises millions in the slums while all resources are targetted at the military class. The regime is authoritarian and ruthless but the population believes that the constant struggle against a vicious enemy means that it has to be. All citizens undergo the Trial during adolescence. A high score means military college followed by privilege. A low score means life in the slums working in factories. A fail sends you to forced labour camps from which nobody ever returns.
Day failed his Trial but escaped transport to the camps and operates a guerilla campaign of vandalism against his the state. June is the only person ever to have achieved a perfect score and she is about to embark on a fast-track career in the military. When her brother dies at Day's hands, June is sent to track him down. As their paths collide, both Day and June are about to discover secrets about the Republic that will challenge everything they ever thought they knew...
Lord. Yet another entrant into the overheated dystopian market. I say ''Lord'' but I love this genre, so ''Yippee!'' wasn't far away either. Novels have fashions, and like most fashions, they go from the original and creative, to the commercial but high quality, to the write-by-numbers template. The current trend for dystopia began with wonderful books that had something profound to say about the human condition, such as [[The Knife Of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness]] or used it to illustrate a current theme, such as longevity and population control in [[The Declaration by Gemma Malley]]. It then moved on to high-quality, plot-driven commercial novels, such as [[The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins]]. And now we're beginning to find ourselves in the write-by-numbers phase.
