Dystopia Challenge Review #5: Razorland by Ann Aguirre

Deuce has been told her whole life that to go topside means instant death. She lives in an enclave called College in the tunnels beneath the ruins of New York, and she's never seen the sun. Her one desire is to prove herself as a Huntress, one who protects the enclave from the Freaks and provides food. But the Freaks are changing, becoming smarter, and those in charge of College refuse to believe it. With her partner, Fade, a wild boy who survived in the tunnels alone as a child, Deuce is sent to the enclave of Nassau, and what they find there changes everything.

Razorland is an excellent, thrilling dystopian adventure story. Ann Aguirre has created a grim, grimy setting for her apocalypse and it's an excellent place to visit for people who like their stories dank and bloodied. Deuce is ass-kicking fantastic. She wields a CLUB, people. A freaking club! True, she does favour her knives and hand-to-hand combat more most of the book, but there's a bit of skull-bashing amongst the fight scenes. And they're good fight scenes too. Grimy and dangerous and often in these nasty black tunnels or trapped in train carriages.

I really enjoyed Deuce as a main character. Her struggle over her role in life, what it means to be a girl in a world where only the strongest survive, was fascinating. Fade, too, is an interesting, layered character, and the romance arc made sense. Sometimes I tire of the supposed "reasons" preventing two characters from falling in love, but there was nothing tiresome about the romance in Razorland.

On the downside, parts of this book feel scrappy, like it has been rushed through the editing phase. The overall pacing is good, but sections seem truncated and certain characters change their behaviours a little too fast. It's a shame to see a book handled with even the smallest amount of roughness, but I will concede that this is an ARC and hope that it gets a little smoothing over before it goes to print.

One more tiny downside: the beginning is a little slow. It took me eighty pages to get into it, but once I did I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Deuce is a very cool MC and fans of Suzanne Collins, whom this book is undoubtedly aimed at, are going to love Razorland for its action and originality.

Razorland is available January 2011 from Feiwel and Friends. I apologise for reviewing this book so long before it comes out! I got hooked into it before I read the date. I promise you it's worth the wait.

In My Mailbox (33): Razorland, Ann Aguirre

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A special surprise from the States this week...


Ann Aguirre's first YA novel, Razorland. Of course I started reading it straight away, got hooked, and then realised it isn't going to be released until next January! Razorland is a little slow to start but now that I'm about 80 pages in I'm finding it pretty darn thrilling. Freaky things slather about in the dark, and did I mention it's post-apocalyptic?

From Goodreads:

In Deuce’s world, individuals become adults—and earn the right to a name—only if they survive their first fifteen years. By this point, each unnamed ‘brat’ has trained into one of three groups: breeders, builders, or hunters. As the names imply, each group has definite roles to play for the survival of the group.

As a Huntress, Deuce’s purpose is clear—to roam the dangerous tunnels outside the enclave and bring back meat to feed the group while evading the ferocious humanoids known as Freaks. This has been the status quo for as far back as anyone can remember; this is, the elders tell everyone, the way it has to be. With the introduction of Fade, a male hunter a couple of years older than Deuce, who had been adopted into her enclave a few years earlier, she becomes aware of the hidden realities of the Orwellian society in which she was born. Deviation from the norm is punished quickly and harshly.

As Deuce’s perception of her world shifts, guided by her complex partnership with Fade, so does the balance in the constant battle for survival in the tunnels. The Freaks, considered dangerous only due to their sheer numbers and ferocious appetite, have long been held as incapable of any level of thought. And yet, as Fade and Deuce encounter them in the tunnels while in a reconnaissance mission to the nearest enclave, the creatures’ behavior is evidently cunning, and therefore more dangerous. It is evident that the danger is imminent, and yet Deuce cannot stem the dark tide that carries her far from the only world she's ever known.

This girl Deuce can kick some serious ass, and she wields a motherfrakking CLUB. No kidding, a club! Too much awesome.

Razorland is available from Feiwel and Friends January 2010.