Sofa Spotlight - Extinction of All Children, L J Epps

Heads up - I was lucky enough to get a free copy of this book in return for an honest and fair review.

So when I picked this up I read the blurb and thought - this sounds really good, yes of course I will read it. Then I saw the title. And if I’m honest if I’d seen the title first I wouldn’t have picked this up. It’s something I had to look past and I’m glad that I did.

(Another downside to the title were the looks I got from people when I told them what I was reading!)

The start of the book really does feel like The Hunger Games and I was little worried that what I was reading wasn’t an original idea. And to some extent there is an element that means a dystopian young adult book will have similarities with other dystopian young adult books. But it didn’t remain like that for very long. It has a plot line all of it’s own. If I have one criticism it is that I wanted to see more. I feel it could have been developed more and had more depth. But that’s not to say that it wasn’t good.

So on to the plot. We are in an alternative America or at least part of America that has been divided up into three territories. The peeps at the bottom of the pile - Territory L are no longer able to have children because according to President Esther, the poor aren’t able to look after children properly. This leaves our heroine Emma Whisperer as the last child to be born in her territory. The story joins her as she turns 18 and is invited to make a speech at a party laid on by the president.

It’s at this point that things take a downward spiral for Emma as she has to make a decision about whether to go along with what the president is up to or stand up for what is right. Her decision is the right one, in my mind, but the rest of the book follows the consequences of what she says in her speech. And it makes for an exciting read.

There’s the inevitable love triangle being set up, which suffers from being a concept that’s been over done in the past. That aside though I think it’s a good read that keeps you wanting to find out what will happen next.

My only criticism is that I felt like Epps could have done more. I would love to have found out more about her siblings and the world in which she lives. More detail here would have been great. But maybe I will find that in the next two books which I will definitely be reading!

One to have a look at if YA dystopian novels are your cup of tea.