Everything Under the Sun
by Jessica Redmerski
August 28, 2017
YA/NA Dystopian/ Post apocalyptic
683 pages
Thais Fenwick was eleven-years-old when civilization fell, devastated by a virus that killed off the majority of the world’s population. For seven years, Thais and her family lived in a community of survivors deep in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains. But when her town is attacked by raiders, she and her blind sister are taken away to the East-Central Territory where she is destined to live the cruel and unjust kind of life her late mother warned her about.
Atticus Hunt is a troubled soldier in Lexington City who has spent the past seven years trying to conform to the vicious nature of men in a post-apocalyptic society. He knows that in order to survive, he must abandon his morals and his conscience and become like those he is surrounded by. But when he meets Thais, morals and conscience win out over conformity, and he risks his rank and his life to help her. They escape the city and set out together on a long and perilous journey to find safety in Shreveport, Louisiana.
Struggling to survive in a world without electricity, food, shelter, and clean water, Atticus and Thais shed their fear of growing too close, and they fall hopelessly in love. But can love survive in such dark times, or is it fated to die with them?
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MY TIDBITS
Action, adventure, intrigue, hope and heaps of emotion make this a world to dive into and get submersed in until the last page.
Thais lives with her blind sister, father and mother in a small village, which is struggling to survive after the end of modern day life thanks to a horrible disease which wiped out most of the population. When her village is burned down and everyone is murdered or hauled off to 'live' in one of the cities, only Thais and her sister survive. But it doesn't take long before they too are captured. While her sister is chosen to work in a brothel, Thais is taken to be a possible wife for one of the leading council man. Thais isn't about to let her or sister's life be determined like this.
Meanwhile, Atticus has managed to become a part of the more trusted circle of the city's ruler. He knows the men are ruthless and life cruel, especially in how women are handled as objects. He hasn't forgotten how it was before the world fell apart, but the only way to survive is to go with the new times. This works until he receives the chance to improve his ranks and finds himself in charge of sorting which 'jobs' the captured women will be given. When he comes across Thais and her sister, he begins to question his life heavily and finds himself in a place where he never wanted to be: between doing what is right or giving up on the morals he once had.
A lot happens in this book, which becomes clear alone with the length of six hundred plus pages. The first chapters start off with grabbing momentum. Sympathy for Thais hits immediately as her world is described, wonderful in some respects but with a horrible danger and tragic past always casting a heavy shadow. Her hopes are basic and normal, but the hurdles she and her family face are clear and harsh. The author spends no time in letting the plot shoot into action, making sure the reader is hooked.
The world is rich and comes to life right away. The descriptions leave enough details and familiarity to allow the reader to settle into Thais' and Atticus' life, while still gaining an understanding of their reality. Every moment sits along with the emotions, making it easy to dive into each and every scene. The harshness of the society demands sympathy, and it's easy to cheer Thais on and hope she and her sister find a way to master their situation.
While the first third of the book was full of tension and overcoming a terrible situation, the book takes a turn and shifts pace into a different direction for the middle section. Here, the tension falls back a bit and concentration falls n the developing relationship between Thais and Atticus. It goes deep, allowing the reader to get to know each character like a best friend. In many ways, it felt like a different story arc, creating almost three different tales in one book (front, middle and ending). There were parts which could have been tightened quite a bit, which slowed the pace down more than necessary. Fans of deep character development and romance will enjoy every moment, though.
The story is written from two points of view, Thais and Atticus. It's easy to follow as each one is introduced with their name before the section/chapter. However, the author does something new with this approach too. Although a chapter might come from Thais or Atticus' point of view, the thoughts of the other drop in sporadically by use of a bracket and bold type to indicate change in thought. It's not a style I have seen before and wasn't one I personally cared for, since these thoughts were (in my opinion) not always necessary, could have been fed in differently to match the point of view and often jarred the flow.
All in all, it's an engaging read with a wonderful plot and amazing characters. The length was a bit heavy but it was still a tale worth diving into and the beginning to what promises to be an exciting series.
And here she is...
Jessica Redmerski is a New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author, international bestseller, and award winner, who juggles several different genres. She began self-publishing in 2012, and later with the success of THE EDGE OF NEVER, signed on with Grand Central Publishing/Forever Romance. Her works have been translated into more than twenty languages.
Jessica is a hybrid author who, in addition to working with a traditional publisher, also continues to self-publish. Her popular crime and suspense series, In the Company of Killers, has been optioned for television and film by actor and model William Levy.
She also writes as J.A. Redmerski.
You can find and contact Jessica here:
- Amazon Jessica Redmerski: https://www.amazon.com/Jessica-Redmerski/e/B074WD7NK3/
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