Title: The Invasion (The After Series #3) Author: J. Taylor Genre: Middle Grade, Dystopia Publisher: Friesen Press Source: iRead Book Tours Format: Ebook Release Date: July 24, 2025 Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
With no central government to support Canada, chaos reigns as invaders seek control, and the Resistance rises to challenge them. Charlotte and Anna find themselves entangled with those protecting their country, desperate to prevent the intruders from seizing power and dismantling what remains of their nation.
Fleeing through unfamiliar territory, Charlotte and Anna’s resolve is tested as they evade relentless pursuers determined to capture or eliminate them. Although hopeful they can make a difference, every step forward is fraught with uncertainty, the looming threat of captivity pushing them to their limits.
Despite fear and exhaustion, the determination to protect Canada’s future keeps the girls moving, even as the shadows of war close in around them.
Review:
This was an intense and fast paced third story in The After series. Anna and Charlotte’s world grew bigger as they got involved in the Resistance group. I wasn’t sure how they would finish everything that needed to be wrapped up in this story but there will be another book in the series. This story was more heartwarming than the first two.
The Invasion is a great middle grade story!
Thank you iRead Book Tours for providing a copy of this book as part of a sponsored campaign!
Title: Survival (The After #2) Author: J. Taylor Genre: Middle Grade, Dystopia Publisher: Friesen Press Source: iRead Book Tours Format: Physical book Release Date: January 24, 2025 Rating: ★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
In the wilderness of Nova Scotia, Charlotte and Anna confront the formidable challenges of survival such as finding food, building a shelter, and establishing a new life. Their bond is tested, however, when an unknown individual enters the scene, potentially driving a wedge between them. As tensions rise, a catastrophic event further complicates their situation, leading to a separation that leaves them struggling to reunite. Book Two of The After Series explores themes of resilience, friendship, and the harsh realities of survival, highlighting both the strength of Charlotte and Anna’s connection and the obstacles that threaten to tear them apart.
Review:
This is the second book in The After series. Charlotte and Anna are on their own trying to survive. This story had a few heart wrenching moments. It reminded me of The Last of Us in the way that the girls were on the run, looking for ways to survive.
Survival is an intense and heart wrenching story.
Thank you iRead Book Tours for providing a copy of this book as part of a sponsored campaign!
Title: The After (The After Series #1) Author: J. Taylor Genre: Middle Grade, Dystopia Publisher: Friesen Press Source: iRead Book Tours Format: Ebook Release Date: October 10, 2025 Rating: ★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
Despite the deadly virus that caused borders to close and governments to fall ten years earlier, fourteen-year-old Charlotte and her family have lived a challenging yet relatively peaceful life, isolated on their acreage in rural Nova Scotia. However, when Charlotte discovers that an interloper has infiltrated their property, she must decide between keeping the potential threat a secret or embracing the potential for companionship that the intrusion represents. As the chaotic world that lurks outside the fence surrounding her farm disrupts Charlotte’s life even further, she must reach deep within herself and find the courage to become the mature young woman she claims to be—or risk losing everything that she and her family have worked so hard to build.
Review:
This is a postapocalyptic middle grade story. A virus killed many people, leaving Charlotte’s family to live isolated on a farm. The virus reminded me of Covid, but it was much more destructive. This story shows what could have happened if we didn’t have a vaccine. There were some sad parts, that go along with a deadly virus. I’m curious to see what happens in the rest of the series!
The After is a great dystopian middle grade story.
Thank you iRead Book Tours for providing a copy of this book as part of a sponsored campaign!
Content warnings: death, death of animal, virus
Other books in the series:
Survival (The After Series #2)
The Invasion (The After Series #3)
Have you read The After? What did you think of it?
New Year’s Eve in Times Square—an elusive secret society starts the countdown clock on humanity.
365 days until the end of time…
The chilling prediction haunts Mirai McGarry, a young woman who dreams of being a renowned artist even as multiple sclerosis begins to ravage her health.
In the midst of the chaos, a powerful doomsday cult emerges as a safe haven for the masses. Their allure is undeniable, unnatural, and for Mirai, devastatingly personal. Her efforts to thwart them are futile until a mysterious messenger provides the first insights into a dark conspiracy.
When Mirai opens the eyes of a handsome cult member, inspiring him to break free, he joins her odyssey to seek out the one man prophesied to end the madness. With the world around her—and her own body—beginning to crumble, Mirai must confront the mastermind of a nightmare before the countdown is complete.
The Artificial Conspiracy is a philosophical thriller that explores a wide panorama of human nature and challenges the assumptions of our oldest why do we suffer?
Review:
This book is a thrilling dystopian. There were so many twists throughout the story that kept me guessing until the end. The story began with multiple subplots but they were intricately woven to be connected to the main plot. I highly recommend this thriller!
The Artificial Conspiracy is a psychological thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat!
Thank you Bookinfluencers.com and Jesse Muehlbauer for providing a copy of this book as part of a sponsored campaign.
Title: The Meadows Author: Stephanie Oakes Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, LGBTQ, Dystopian Publisher: Dial Books Source: Publisher Format: Paperback arc Release Date: September 12, 2023 Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
A queer, YA Handmaid’s Tale meets Never Let Me Go about a dystopian society bent on relentless conformity, and the struggle of one girl to save herself and those she loves from a life of lies
Everyone hopes for a letter—to attend the Estuary, the Glades, the Meadows. These are the special places where only the best and brightest go to burn even brighter.
When Eleanor is accepted at the Meadows, it means escape from her hardscrabble life by the sea, in a country ravaged by climate disaster. But despite its luminous facilities, endless fields, and pretty things, the Meadows keeps dark secrets: its purpose is to reform students, to condition them against their attractions, to show them that one way of life is the only way to survive. And maybe Eleanor would believe them, except then she meets Rose.
Four years later, Eleanor and her friends seem free of the Meadows, changed but not as they’d hoped. Eleanor is an adjudicator, her job to ensure her former classmates don’t stray from the lives they’ve been trained to live. But Eleanor can’t escape her past . . . or thoughts of the girl she once loved. As secrets unfurl, Eleanor must wage a dangerous battle for her own identity and the truth of what happened to the girl she lost, knowing, if she’s not careful, Rose’s fate could be her own.
A raw and timely masterwork of speculative fiction, The Meadows will sink its roots into you. This is a novel for our times and for always—not to be missed.
Review:
Every child hopes to receive a letter to attend a special school for the best and brightest children. Select kids aged 12-14 receive a letter, sending them to the school for four years, with a few other children the same age. Eleanor was invited to the Meadows, which is in a secret location, surrounded by endless fields. However, she doesn’t know that the school is meant to reform students to fit in with the way that society insists they follow. When Eleanor meets Rose, she realizes there is another direction her life can take. Four years later, Eleanor is working as an adjudicator, someone who makes sure that former children of those schools have been reformed. Eleanor can’t stop thinking about Rose and the mysteries that surrounded her time at the Meadows. She persists in finding answers, even if the cost will be her life.
This was an incredible story. It was set in a dystopian world where a climate disaster destroyed a lot of the world. Society is run by the Quorum, who monitors everyone with cameras and microphones to make sure they are living by their rules, particularly that men and women are not having relationships with the same sex. The most disturbing part is that this isn’t far off from the real world. Conversion therapy, like what was happening at these facilities where the kids were sent in the story, is still happening in the world. There was also a mystery element to the story while Eleanor looked for Rose after leaving the facility, that kept me turning the pages. I really didn’t want this story to end but I did love the way it ended!
The Meadows is a new YA dystopian that everyone should read!
Thank you Penguin Teen Canada for sending me a copy!
Content warnings: homophobia, abuse, death of parents
Have you read The Meadows? What did you think of it?
A fierce and illuminating debut from FOLD founder Jael Richardson about a young woman who must find the courage to determine her own future and secure her freedom
Set in an imagined world in which the most vulnerable are forced to buy their freedom by working off their debt to society, Gutter Child uncovers a nation divided into the privileged Mainland and the policed Gutter. In this world, Elimina Dubois is one of only 100 babies taken from the Gutter and raised in the land of opportunity as part of a social experiment led by the Mainland government.
But when her Mainland mother dies, Elimina finds herself all alone, a teenager forced into an unfamiliar life of servitude, unsure of who she is and where she belongs. Elimina is sent to an academy with new rules and expectations where she befriends Gutter children who are making their own way through the Gutter System in whatever ways they know how. When Elimina’s life takes another unexpected turn, she will discover that what she needs more than anything may not be the freedom she longs for after all.
Richardson’s Gutter Child reveals one young woman’s journey through a fractured world of heartbreaking disadvantages and shocking injustices. Elimina is a modern heroine in an altered but all too recognizable reality who must find the strength within herself to forge her future and defy a system that tries to shape her destiny.
Review:
The nation is divided into the wealthy Mainland and the policed Gutter. Elimina was taken from her mother in the Gutter and raised in the Mainland. She didn’t get to live a privileged life because her adopted mom was always protecting her from the prejudices of the Mainland. After her mother dies, Elimina is sent to an Academy where she will be trained for a life of servitude. Elimina was raised on the Mainland so she doesn’t fit in with the other Gutter children in the Academy, which is further enforced when she gets put in a position of power in the school. Then, Elimina’s life takes an unexpected turn that leads her back to the Gutter. She must find the strength to keep going and stand up to the injustices that she faces.
This was a coming of age story set in a dystopian that has roots in history. Elimina had a youthful innocence when she arrived at the Academy. She hadn’t had much experience with people from the Gutter, even though that was where she was born. She is suddenly forced to grow up after her mom dies and she meets friends with horrific backgrounds. The story takes place over a couple of years, but Elimina has to become an adult during those years.
This story had strong themes of systematic racism and slavery. The children were purchased by employers and had to work off their debt to society to earn their freedom. However, most people didn’t ever earn that freedom no matter how hard they worked. Elimina was right between the Gutter and the Mainland since she grew up on the Mainland but was born in the Gutter. She had experience in the Mainland but she didn’t know much about the Gutter despite being born there. Elimina was in a unique position to bridge the gap between the two societies.
Many parts of this story were difficult to read. Some possible content triggers are racism, abuse, rape, death in childbirth, and suicide. Though these are difficult things to read about, they are part of the history of racism that this story was about. It’s important to read stories like this to learn how to change in the future.
This is a beautiful debut from Jael Richardson, the founder of the Festival of Literary Diversity!
Thank you HarperCollins Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
What to read next:
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
The Centaur’s Wife by Amanda Leduc
Have you read Gutter Child? What did you think of it?
Title: Day Zero (Day Zero Duology #1) Author: Kelly deVos Genre: Young Adult, Thriller, Dystopian Publisher: Inkyard Press Source: Publisher via NetGalley Format: Ebook Release Date: November 12, 2019 Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
If you’re going through hell…keep going.
Seventeen-year-old coder Jinx Marshall grew up spending weekends drilling with her paranoid dad for a doomsday she’s sure will never come. She’s an expert on self-heating meal rations, Krav Maga and extracting water from a barrel cactus. Now that her parents are divorced, she’s ready to relax. Her big plans include making it to level 99 in her favorite MMORPG and spending the weekend with her new hunky stepbrother, Toby.
But all that disaster training comes in handy when an explosion traps her in a burning building. Stuck leading her headstrong stepsister, MacKenna, and her precocious little brother, Charles, to safety, Jinx gets them out alive only to discover the explosion is part of a pattern of violence erupting all over the country. Even worse, Jinx’s dad stands accused of triggering the chaos.
In a desperate attempt to evade paramilitary forces and vigilantes, Jinx and her siblings find Toby and make a break for Mexico. With seemingly the whole world working against them, they’ve got to get along and search for the truth about the attacks—and about each other. But if they can survive, will there be anything left worth surviving for?
Review:
This is an amazing dystopian story!
The story was fast paced and thrilling. The action started right away, with a terrorist attack on multiple banks following an election in the United States in the future.
Unlike other dystopian books, this book doesn’t seem like it’s set too far in the future. The terrorist attack that sparks the problems in Jinx’s life are very realistic. The political world with two warring parties is also familiar in today’s world. This made the story much more tense, knowing that it is a real possibility for the future.
I thought there would be more coding and technical references to the story. The entire event started with a coded program, but I thought there would be more of Jinx playing the online game she liked. Hopefully that will come in the next book.
I loved this book and I can’t wait to read the next one!
Thank you Inkyard Press for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
What to read next:
This Mortal Coil (This Mortal Coil #1) by Emily Suvada
Fat Girl on a Plane by Kelly deVos
Author Info:
KELLY DEVOS is from Gilbert, Arizona, where she lives with her high school sweetheart husband, amazing teen daughter and superhero dog, Cocoa. She holds a B.A. in Creative Writing from Arizona State University. When not reading or writing, Kelly can typically be found with a mocha in hand, bingeing the latest TV shows and adding to her ever-growing sticker collection. Her debut novel, Fat Girl on a Plane, named one of the “50 Best Summer Reads of All Time” by Reader’s Digest magazine, is available now from HarperCollins.
Kelly’s work has been featured in the New York Times as well as on Salon, Vulture and Bustle.
Title: The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games #1) Author: Suzanne Collins Genre: Young Adult, Dystopian Publisher: Scholastic Press Source: Library Format: Ebook Release Date: September 14, 2008 Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
Could you survive on your own, in the wild, with everyone out to make sure you don’t live to see the morning?
In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before – and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.
New York Times bestselling author Suzanne Collins delivers equal parts suspense and philosophy, adventure and romance, in this searing novel set in a future with unsettling parallels to our present.
Review:
I’ve finally read this book, eleven years after it was published! I wanted to catch up on the series so I can read the upcoming book next year.
This is one of the few books that I’ve read the book AFTER watching the movie. I usually read the book first, so I get so much more out of the movie. I wish I had read this book first. Since this book is told in first person perspective from Katniss’s point of view, there are lots of her thoughts that can’t be portrayed in a movie. I understood a lot more of what happened in the movie after reading the book.
I’m curious to see what happens in the next book! I don’t remember what happened in the second movie, so it will be a bit of a surprise.
What to read next:
Catching Fire (The Hunger Games #2) by Suzanne Collins
Shatter Me (Shatter Me #1) by Tahereh Mafi
Have you read The Hunger Games? What did you think of it?
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