Book Title: Pure
Author: Julianna Baggott
We know you are here, our brothers and sisters . . .
Pressia barely remembers the Detonations or much about life during the Before. In her sleeping cabinet behind the rubble of an old barbershop where she lives with her grandfather, she thinks about what is lost-how the world went from amusement parks, movie theaters, birthday parties, fathers and mothers . . . to ash and dust, scars, permanent burns, and fused, damaged bodies. And now, at an age when everyone is required to turn themselves over to the militia to either be trained as a soldier or, if they are too damaged and weak, to be used as live targets, Pressia can no longer pretend to be small. Pressia is on the run.
Burn a Pure and Breathe the Ash . . .
There are those who escaped the apocalypse unmarked. Pures. They are tucked safely inside the Dome that protects their healthy, superior bodies. Yet Partridge, whose father is one of the most influential men in the Dome, feels isolated and lonely. Different. He thinks about loss-maybe just because his family is broken; his father is emotionally distant; his brother killed himself; and his mother never made it inside their shelter. Or maybe it’s his claustrophobia: his feeling that this Dome has become a swaddling of intensely rigid order. So when a slipped phrase suggests his mother might still be alive, Partridge risks his life to leave the Dome to find her.
When Pressia meets Partridge, their worlds shatter all over again.
Format: Trade (UK) Paperback, 416 pages
ISBN: 9780755385492
Publisher: Headline Fiction
Publication Date: February 01, 2012
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OUR THOUGHTS
Pure takes dystopian fiction and turns it on its ear with this highly original, provocative, intense, and very, very well written story.
Ms Baggott has created a post apocalyptic world of the most powerful contrasts. In the dome, the blessed few are perfect; leading ideal lives waiting for the outside world to stabilise enough for them to re-inhabit the earth. In the outside, those wretches not blessed with a ticket to the dome when the detonations went off, are walking horror stories. When the explosions occurred people were fused; fused to each other, to the buildings, to the intangible objects they were holding; and not just physically fused, their DNA was somehow altered, so their children are bizarre mutants also.
In many dystopian novels the basic theme is one of the ‘protected’ discovering that there is a world that’s been hidden from them, and usually someone from the ‘outside’ teaches them the reality of the way things are. But in Pure we’re giving so many twists, so much misinformation no one, inside or out, really knows what the truth is, not even those who think they’re controlling the truth.
This is what makes pure just an incredible page turner, despite the true horror; the constant twists cause addiction, creating a strong desire to know what’s going to happen next. When combined with great characters it’s a winning combination.
Although the characters themselves are all a little predictable, they’re well developed, and the interaction is cleverly written, allowing for discovery and further development in a natural pace.
The story is non-stop, from horror to love, from action to creation and discovery, it’s well paced to keep the pages turning, and is guaranteed to cause sleep deprivation.
Some of the elements are quite horrifying, and I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it for those with delicate sensibilities, but the ending is well worth it.
This is the first part in a series, but is a complete story within itself, so no need to worry about suffering through horror to be left hanging. Pure has received a lot of hype, and it’s justified, this is going to be a great series.
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