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I loved Vox. I devoured that book and as I was raving about it to one of my librarians, he suggested this book. I couldn’t imagine a society where every word spoken or every gesture would cost an individual over the age of 15, money. How is that even possible? And why? I had to read this book to find out.
I just couldn’t believe how long it took me to finish this book. Usually I finish a book in a few days but this book took quite a bit longer. I thought the plot was great and, in the beginning, when the story was being set up I was hooked but the middle seemed to drag on.
The main character Speth, makes her stance when she turns 15 and decides that she is not giving her Last Day Speech. This becomes a major turning point in the book. Speth decides that she will not give her final free words and she remains silent, and she continues to remain silent frustrating the authorities who are in-charge. It just goes to show that although she is small, she is mighty as her actions cause quite a bit of chaos as others begin to follow suit as they turn 15 years-old and the authorities as not happy as the amount of silent individuals grow.
This dystopian world was very interesting. I enjoyed reading about the Product Placers as they raced across the city making their surprise visits. Then, there were the ads for the different products that popped up out of nowhere. These seemed annoying to me, but to them it was a way of life. The books, the way they were supposed to be treated and respected. How they were cared for and who had them, so what happened to the rest of the books in this society? The cuffs. This whole idea was clever and corrupt. To pay for gestures, trademarks, copyrights and restricted words: this whole idea seemed crazy but if you think about it, it’s about control and being taken care of. There’s probably someone right now, thinking about making this concept work.
I thought it was hard to get inside the character of Speth, she remained silent for a great deal of the book. She also couldn’t gesture and I only could read what she was thinking. I’m looking forward to the next book in this series as I feel that is when I will see what is store for this community. I have a lot of questions that I hope are answered in this next book.
