Wasteland

Wasteland #1

by Susan Kim, Laurence Klavan

Welcome to the Wasteland. Where all the adults are long gone, and now no one lives past the age of nineteen. Susan Kim and Laurence Klavan’s post-apocalyptic debut is the first of a trilogy in which everyone is forced to live under the looming threat of rampant disease and brutal attacks by the Variants —- hermaphroditic outcasts that live on the outskirts of Prin. Esther thinks there’s more to life than toiling at harvesting, gleaning, and excavating, day after day under the relentless sun, just hoping to make it to the next day. But then Caleb, a mysterious stranger, arrives in town, and Esther begins to question who she can trust. As shady pasts unravel into the present and new romances develop, Caleb and Esther realize that they must team together to fight for their lives and for the freedom of Prin.

Genres: Dystopia, Young Adult, Science Fiction, Post Apocalyptic, Fiction, Apocalyptic, Fantasy

328 pages, Hardcover

First published March 26, 2013

About the author

Susan Kim & Laurence Klavan cowrote the graphic novels City of Spies and Brain Camp. Susan is also a five-time Emmy nominee for her work in children's television and a Writers Guild Award winner for best documentary. She wrote the stage adaptation of Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club, teaches writing at Goddard College, and is a blogger for the Huffington Post. When Susan was little, her family spent a lot of time on the road. Susan enjoyed it, but it made her anxious. In Wanderers, Susan explores her worst fears about being far from home and having to rely on people you don't even know, much less trust.

Reviews

[Christina (A Reader of Fictions) · Rating 1 out of 5]

I like to begin my reviews with the good stuff about a book in most cases, before transitioning into my criticisms. Well, here's what I can offer about Wasteland: it's an easy read. The fairly simple sentences are quick to plow through. Also, it's mostly boring, which actually ended up being a sort of good thing, since, when it isn't boring, unfortunate things are generally happening. Be warned that there will be spoilers toward the end of this review.

The World Building
The foundation of this post-apocalyptic world is shaky at best. Having finished, I have little to no idea what happened to the world or how long ago. There are a couple of vague references to some sort of climactic changes, violent earthquakes and so forth, but that's not really enough. I want to know why the rain makes people sick and how the Variants came to be. The sun shines hotter and more damaging, presumably a result of a further decreased ozone layer. While I understand that the characters might not know much, authors generally can find a way to give the readers a bit more than that.

What made me so determined to really know what had happened was a desire to figure out how things had gotten this way, because everything seemed inconsistent. The events can't have been THAT long ago or I doubt the kids would still be surviving off of supplies from the industrial age. There's even one building still using gas for power. If it hasn't been that long, then why is every single adult dead? It sounds like people die young because of how hard life is or because of how easy it is to stumble into infected water and become diseased, but a few adults should still be around, right? Yet, it seems that no one can live past the age of nineteen. WHY? You can't just set a specific age like that and not explain it!

About the supplies, Wasteland differs from every other post-apocalyptic novel I've read in that regard. See, usually, humans, at least in the years following the disaster, survive largely off of canned goods while figuring out how to subsistence farm. Here, though, the kids don't try to learn farming or hunting of animals (survivalists, they are not) and live ONLY off of supplies left from before the whatever-the-fuck smashed society. Plus, apparently all of the canned goods have spoiled and only the dry goods are edible. I was puzzled by this reversal of what I'd read before, so I went to look in my pantry. The canned goods definitely have letter expiration dates and are less vulnerable to bugs and other animals. Everything about this was just weird to me.

So these kids, right? They live in this town of rotted buildings they call Prin. The oldest ones are around 18. At the age of five, they start work. They have three jobs: Gleaning (???), Harvesting (searching far and wide for more stuff in houses and cars), and Excavation (digging). This does not make for survival, people. Even once you learn the bad guy's plans, it's only a short term solution. This whole "society" is TSTL. Any time after twelve, they start partnering off, which is basically getting married. Am I the only one who thinks it's weird that they're all settling down into monogamous relationships. It's weird if you don't, and I don't feel like that's not the most natural pattern for a bunch of teenagers to fall into, even if they would supposedly be more mature do to the brief lifespan and early age at which they begin "work."

Moving on, we're to the point where I have to talk about the last big element of the world building: the Variants. So, for no reason that is apparent, there are these Variants, insultingly known as "mutants" who are hermaphroditic, and get to choose their own gender when they come of age. They're wild and sort of live off the land, at least more than the "norms" do. I was concerned about this as soon as I read the blurb, but I really try to give authors the benefit of the doubt. I mean, WHY would you put that in for no reason? Well, I don't know, but that sure seems to be the case.

So, the Variants, for one thing, are almost NEVER actually referred to by that term, instead called "mutants" pretty much always. They're portrayed as feral and wild and lesser, but, hey, that's from the perspective of the people of Prin and they might learn something, right? Plus, Esther is friends with a variant named Skar, so surely their friendship will be the bond that helps them come to terms! Not so much. Instead, the Variants cease being peaceful and begin attacking Prin all at the behest of the bad guy (which is sort of a spoiler, but it's so damn obvious that I really don't care). When this is finally figured out by a townsperson, this happens:

"Mutants.
For the first time, Caleb thought of the ugly word, one he had used a thousand times without thinking, and he winced, for they, the variants, were nothing but pawns, poor and pathetic."
- Page 193 of the ARC; note that quotes could change in the finished copy

For one bright, shining second there, it seems as though the light is dawning and someone has learned how horrific they've been this whole time. Then it all comes crashing down. Great, the hermaphrodites aren't evil monsters after all; they're just "poor and pathetic." That's so much better. Actually, no. Needless though this should be to say, I'll say it clearly: I find this egregiously offensive.

On the other hand, I will say that the Variants do seem much more suited to life in this world and that they have a much more intelligent speech pattern than the norms, who mostly speak in dialect. How the Variants ended up better-educated is another mystery, but we'll let that go. These things make me think that, in the end, this is intended to be a positive depiction, but it doesn't go anywhere near counteracting everything else.

Worse, the Variants hardly appear in the story, and, when they do, they take on the role of villain or pawn. Even once a shaky alliance is formed, they're compared to the Native Americans with the norms taking on the role of the more "civilized" settlers. This comparison is perhaps meant to be touching, but I find it seriously upsetting, considering how that turned out in history and the fact that the Variants aren't even invited to the meal they provided. Nor was there ever ANY reason for the Variants to be hermaphroditic, which makes everything even worse.

The Writing
I don't usually mention this, but Wasteland has a heck of a lot of telling. The only emotions I felt as I flipped through were irritation, anger and disgust, caused by the offensive nature of the world and the hackneyed romance. I should have felt fear for the characters and hope for the romance, but there's no effort made to show us how these kids really are. Everything is delineated. Esther does not fit in. Caleb is strong but tortured. They're in love now. Umm, okay. The telling is to the extent that scenes that might have been interesting are completely skipped, and the reader starts a new chapter with no idea how the characters got to where they are and has to read a short infodump to explain what was missed. None of those sections included twists or had any plot reason to be skipped. So far as I could tell, they happened solely to avoid showing things.

Kim and Klavan also made the questionable decision to use third person limited with rotating POVs. Of course, this storytelling method can be used quite effectively, but Wasteland is a good example of what not to do. The point of using a limited third person perspective is to allow for a closeness to the characters, while still being restricted to their knowledge. The characters all remain quite distant, perhaps because of how often the POV shifts. The POV moves almost at random, going into most of the named characters' heads at one time or another, and even some who don't even merit names. Several POVs show up only once, which is almost always a terrible authorial move, and certainly is here.

The Characters
As you probably expect by this juncture in the review, I was not impressed with Kim and Klavan's characterization either. The only character who is even remotely dynamic is Esther, who still remains flat and unreal. All of the others have but one motivation driving their existence and lack the complexities that make a character written on a page come to life. It's a sad day when I feel like the most realistic character is the baby, because at least they don't really have personalities yet anyway. Oh, and they all have Biblical names, even though there's nothing else said about the Bible or any reason why a bunch of teens on their own would just happen to choose Biblical names for their offspring.

The Plot
Every single bit of Wasteland felt like I had read it before, and where the book was headed always felt glaringly obvious. Now, to be fair, I've read about 150 dystopian and post-apocalyptic stories at this point, so I've got a bit more experience under my belt than the average reader. Still, I expect more from my books, and am not impressed when I read a post-apocalyptic novel that feels like it's cobbled together from pieces of what came before, a blundering Frankenstein monster of a book.

On the plus side, the plot does not focus on the romance, though it might as well have, since Kim and Klavan do not take the time to set the romance they felt compelled to include effectively and there wasn't a whole hell of a lot going on anyway. The plot consists almost entirely of the town needing to figure out that Levi, the obvious bad guy, is evil, and then figure out a way to throw off his rule. In the meantime, he hires the Variants to attack and they worry about that. Mostly, Esther runs around and thinks about how she doesn't fit in.

Then Caleb comes to town, defeats some Variants, proving what a sexy badass he is. He and Esther do not like each other on their first two encounters. On the third, they are suddenly inexplicably drawn to one another. Within the course of a handful of meetings, in which they don't do much talking or bonding, they fall in love and partner. As I mentioned before, we're told how in love they are, not made to feel it:

"But something had shifted inside her, a strange new emotion moving into the other. Her desire to ease Caleb's suffering had been joined with another desire, one even more powerful, like two streams meeting and converging in a riverbed, mingling in a current against which she had no strength.
She had never known this feeling before."
- Page 199 of the ARC; note that quotes could change in the finished copy

What makes this even more upsetting for me is that Caleb was actually partnered before, his wife murdered and child kidnapped. His sole motivation is finding his son and revenging himself on whoever did that to his family. Yet we never learn anything about his bond with his partner or even what her name was. We're told he loved Nameless but that he feels even more strongly about Esther in a matter of days. Everything about their relationship is rushed and unbelievable. Telling the reader something is true doesn't make it believable. This is lazy writing, and I'm getting really tired of seeing it in young adult fiction.

I am also getting sick of these idealized sex scenes. Caleb and Esther have kissed once, when they find each other after a worrisome separation and partner. Once they're partnered, conditions are right for making love obviously. Here's how that goes, according to Kim and Klavan: "Soon, they were moving together, awkwardly, then expertly, bright with sweat" (239-240 of the ARC). Now, I do appreciate the nod to awkwardness, but I'm seriously supposed to believe Esther and Caleb are having expert-level sex not just on their first time, but Esther's first time ever. This is not a realistic expectation to be giving to teen readers, and it's not like adding expertly to the description makes the scene any sexier, since that was the whole of it.

Then, there's the bad guy, Levi. He lives in fear of the sun and the water, never leaving the Source, his fortress. He's skinny, pale, dark-haired, and weak, but possessed of a might intellect and can make people work for him. He turns out to be driven solely by the desire to destroy the life of his brother Caleb (SHOCK!), because their parents didn't want the sickly kid and got rid of Levi. What is with this trend of the evil characters in dystopian/post-apocalyptic lit being related to one of the MCs? It's not surprising anymore, so can we stop? What really takes the cake is that, at the end, Levi is easily defeated by Caleb, while Esther runs off with Caleb's baby because gender roles, and commits suicide, so that Caleb doesn't have to get his hands dirty by killing anyone, except maybe some Variants at the beginning, but they hardly count. Fuck this shit. I'm done.

In Conclusion
It's not often that I say this, but I recommend Wasteland to absolutely no one. It's sole redeeming quality is that it's an easy, fast read, by nature of the simple sentences, which is no reason to read something. Every element in here has been done better elsewhere. Do yourself a favor: go read Blood Red Road or Ashfall instead.

[Wendy Darling]

...hermaphroditic outcasts?

[Emily Elizabeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

As seen on Ed and Em's Reviews!

Are you looking for a book that doesn't have characters you can connect with, sloppy point-of-view switches, so many points-of-views that you lose track and an unbelievable world with so many inconsistencies that it will make you want to punch things? Then Wasteland is the book for you!

Apparently, this book is about a girl named Esther, though it's told from many perspectives. She lives in Prin, where everyone in residence is under the age of nineteen. By the time anyone turns nineteen, they are dead. Not only do they have that to worry about, but all of these minors are also having babies, starting at around fourteen-years-old and most of them are stillborns. No one knows why. AND ON TOP OF THAT, they are constantly getting attacked by these mutated hermaphrodites that everyone wants dead except Esther (of course). So Caleb moseys on in to town and screws everything up, or something.

This is, hands down, one of the worst books that I've ever read. There are so many "wrongs" and absolutely no "rights." I mean, how did the world come to be this way? You can expect me to believe that the world just suddenly went rogue. You need a detailed background story! That is essential for a dystopian story. Where did all these hermaphrodites come from? Why are they the bad guys? Why is everyone dying before they can reach nineteen? What is this plague/disease thing? How is it caused? Why do you get it at a certain age? Why do only a few people have the ability to read and they are all from different age groups? When did the apocalypse begin? Why is rain water bad? Why are so many babies dying? There are so many questions and no answers. None. Nada. Zip. Zilch. We are brought into this fog where we know nothing but are supposed to care about every little detail. No can do. It was literally impossible to care about any of these characters. I noted at 25% into my e-ARC that it wouldn't bother me if they all fell off the face of the planet.

As if the unanswered questions weren't enough, there is a god-awful case of insta-love. One of the worst I've ever read (though that fits in well with this book). The two "main characters" fall in love in the span of the maybe one-hundred words spoken between them, after meeting like three days (I think) prior. I laughed and was horrified by the big scene where they get together.

Wasteland made me so angry and frustrated because it was annoyingly dreadful. Though I have to be honest, I was more than a little bit skeptical when I read the summary. I was willing to give it a chance though, and I regret it. It was just that bad. Not even the prose was very good. The way the authors wrote left me feeling nothing for the characters. Their reactions and emotions were extremely forced, so much so that it was almost painful to read. Their interactions were awkward and often unrealistic.

I have so many issues with this novel that it's a miracle that I even finished it. Apparently, Wasteland is the beginning of a trilogy, though the ending was very final. I look forward to not reading anymore of this series or other works by these authors.

I received an e-copy of this novel from the publisher for my honest opinion and review via Edelweiss.

[Dear Faye · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you read the synopsis of this book, you can see it gives a lot of promise. A dystopian world? Check. Post-apocalyptic? Check. Shady characters and possible conspiracies?! DOUBLE CHECK! If you're like me, then you probably got super excited, imagining a book that will ultimately blow your mind. But before you get too thrilled, I must say this now: this book, unfortunately and sadly, is nothing but a disappointment. A huge, flat disappointment. In fact, if there's anything that Wasteland is, this is it: a waste .

I really don't like giving 1 star ratings and reviews. But it needs to be said. Wasteland joins the huge pile of books that could've had a great premise if it weren't for its bad execution. And when I say bad, I actually mean horribad. Here's why:

Problem #1: Horrible world-building.

Ok, if you're going to a do book that's in a post-apocalyptic dystopian setting and society, then you better have done your research and planned out explanations on how this screwed-up world came to be; otherwise, you leave your readers with nothing to visualize and no idea of the backstory. This is what happens here. We're told that adults have all died, and only children and teenagers have the capabilities to exist, but only until the age of nineteen (But how? Why is this so?). There are also hermaphrodites or "mutants", as they call them, that live amongst these kids (But how? Why is this so? What made them mutate and become as such?). We are told that the rain is dangerous and can kill you, and that the sun has become even hotter, resulting to much difficulties (Why did they become so? In fact, what was the apocalypse in the first place?!).

These are only some of the questions you'll find yourself asking once you start this book, and trust me, those don't even cover half of them. Readers are given little to no explanation with regards to world-building, making it hard (for me, anyway) to appreciate this novel. I know - it's fiction, and we gotta suspend our disbelief, right? But in my opinion, there's a standard when it comes to writing post-apocalyptic books. There's a reason why the world became so. There's a reason why everything degraded that resulted to this kind or that sort of dystopian society. If all I'll get are a shaky, passing sentence here and a vague mention there, then forget it, you're not getting anything more than 2 stars from me. It is because of awesome world-building that books like the Lunar Chronicles become really popular, since a proper execution of such would give readers a sense of a new world full of tension but also possibilites. Leave that out and you might as well have given us a blank page.

Problem #2: Horrible characters

Characterization is horrible. If you're not into simple-minded, one-dimensional, whiny, stupid, and foolish characters, then turn around and run as fast as you can away from this book, because this particular one is full of them! No one stood out, no one gave anything new to the plate, no one was any bit interesting. It was all the same old, same old, rehashed formulas. We have Esther, the main character and the main contributor to the huge headache this novel gave me. She's fifteen, and is in that stage of being rebellious just, well, for the heck of it. She keeps on whining how everyone else in town doesn't treat her with respect, how they isolate her for being such a freeloader, when in truth, she is a freeloader and is always breaking the rules. :| She does this all the freaking time, going pseudo "philosophical" and then whining about it.

Um, hello?! If I were them, I'd give you the cold shoulder, too, loser! In my opinion, she got what she deserved :|The rest of the characters weren't that good as well. All of them lacked depth, making them very simple. What makes these individuals a huge bore-fest is the fact that their emotions were almost always summarized in a fleeting sentence or two, leaving me feeling nothing, and then... that's it. If you're looking for depth and complexity, this is not the book for you.

Problem #3: Horrible writing

The writing leaves so much to be desired. The prose and narration are very simple and easy to read, but to be honest, the whole thing still felt like a big struggle to me. It tells us this, it tells us that, but it shows ab-so-lute-ly nothing. It reads like a whole summary, and you get a feeling that a lot of things have been skipped. I thought there were some internal narration in the first few pages, but as you go on, it eventually decreases and then gradually becomes non-existent. The multiple POVs here don't really give us better angles and views of the story - they simply made the whole book a scattered mess. The romance between the two main characters also felt so forced and unnatural as hell, using the wrong adjectives and adverbs (lol what the hell was their love scene????!!!!!) to describe some events.

I really don't recommend this. At all. And I'm really sorry for that because I was super looking forward to this book, because the synopsis made me pumped up with excitement. Alas, it was just not meant to be.

For a better review of this book, check out Christina's review HERE.

Check out my other reviews over at The Social Potato!

[Jennifer]

Made it to 25% and just couldn't go any farther. Writing isn't that great and the premise is very strange....a town of creepy children being attacked by vicious hermaphrodites just doesn't do it for me.

[Andye.Reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

At a Glance:

Wasteland was kind-of like a combination of Gone by Michael Grant and Blood Red Road by Moira Young, with all of the action, and none of the magic. This book was strange (and not in a good way), awkward and disjointed. I didn't connect with the writing or the characters, the world-building was practically non-existent, and though I tried really hard, I didn't end up finishing it. (80%)

Audiobook:

The only reason that I got as far as I did in this book was that I was listening to it on audio. Laura Knight Keating did a pretty good job of reading this story, though in the end, it just wasn't enough to keep me interested. If you think you'd like to give Wasteland a try, the audio would be a good pick!

Cover:

I like the cover well enough. It caught my eye and is what initially grabbed my attention.

Action:

There's a lot of action in this book. Sometimes it gets pretty gruesome, with kids killing and torturing other kids. I didn't really understand why the kids hated each other so much, or why they hated the HERMAPHRODITES (yeah, you read that right), but they did, and they showed it. Also, doesn't really fall under action, but there was one really sick birthing scene.....GROSS!

Romance:

This was one of the worst romances I've ever read. This was basically their progress:
Day 1: Meet and become instantly drawn to each other.
Day 2: Say a couple of words to each other.
Day 3: Make out
Day 4: Get partnered (married), have sex, say it's FOREVER!
....that's as far as I got.

Heroine:

Esther was whiny, selfish and lazy. While everyone else worked hard for their survival, she ran around with her friend. Until Caleb came to town, then suddenly she was the hero....only she wasn't very good at that either.

Hero:

Caleb was decent. He was mysterious and fought for what he believed in, and didn't conform. Plus he'd do anything to get his baby back. (Yeah...he has a baby from his previous marriage....) I liked him, though I couldn't understand why he would be interested in Esther.

Favorite Supporting Character:

I think I'd have to go with Levi. He was the only one in the entire book that had a brain, even though it was a sick, evil, twisted brain.

Something I loved:

Uh.....

Something(s) I hated:

No backstory

Where did the plague come from?
What happened to the planet?
Why did everyone hate each other?
Why 19? What made them die at that age?
Why were there hermaphrodites?
Why did everyone hate them?
Why were the hermaphrodites practically exactly the same (behavior-wise) as the humans? They even got "partnered" like the humans. There was no distinction besides looks (and body parts).

....and so much more!

Cliffhanger?

I didn't make it to the end. I hear it's a series but that this book wraps up.

Would I recommend it?

Take a guess.

Will I buy/keep it?

No, I have it on eAudio, and it will not be taking up space on my iPhone.

Book Doppelgangers:

I feel like I'm doing a disservice to these books but.....
Gone by Michael Grant, Blood Red Road by Moira Young

-Andye
ReadingTeen.net

[Sarah Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Source: I own a copy of this book.)
15-year-old Esther lives in a world where everyone dies of a horrible sickness by age 19.
In order to survive the teens must scavenge gas, which they then exchange with a boy called Levi for food.
The ‘mutants’ – strange mutated people with violet eyes, are kept at bay, but increasingly seem to be attacking the town.
Why are the mutants attacking the town? Where does Levi get the food from? And what happens when the food runs out?


This was an interesting dystopian, and I enjoyed it.

Esther was a character who changed during the course of the story. She started off as quite a selfish person, who would rather play games than do her work, but by the end of the story she seemed to care more about other people, and actually pull her weight a bit, although it took an awful lot to get her to that point!

The storyline in this was pretty good. I liked the world building, even if there were some things that were maybe not well explained (like where Levi got the food from!), and I liked the twists later on in the book. I did have an idea of what was going on with Levi and the town, but I didn’t guess the connection to Caleb.
There was some romance in this, although it did seem to come out of nowhere. It seemed like the two characters had only met once before, and were suddenly confessing that they loved each other! Maybe you have to move quick when everybody dies at 19, but it certainly did happen suddenly!
The ending to this was pretty good and hopeful. Not sure where the next book is going to go from here though.
Overall; good dystopian,
7.5 out of 10.

[Rachel V. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked Wasteland and can't wait for the next book in the trilogy. It's about a future where all the grownups have died, you are considered old if you reach 19. They live in the old buildings scrounging for food and bottled water. The water and even the rain are deadly. There are a new race of people, the Variants, kinda like Native Americans in that they've learned how to live off the land, but their eyes, skin, features, and abilities, are very different from the others, basically adapting to the new world. The townspeople, the Norms, hunt for gas, food, clothes, and trade them to Levi,a boy who found and moved into a warehouse full of food and water and has guards to keep people out. They do what he says and he gives them what they need, but one girl is tired of living by his rules and realizes that something is wrong with the rules. Wasteland is different, reminds me a little of Mad Max or Hunger Games but different enough not to be a copy cat at all. I received this as a digital advanced readers copy through Edelweiss.

[Ash · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the ending but the start was kinda confusing

[Vanessa · Rating 1 out of 5]

So two award-winning journalists decide to try their hand at the current craze of YA dystopian novels. But WASTELAND is what happens when non-fiction writers think that writing a coherent, engaging, and imaginative YA novel is not so hard. Throw in a controversial situation, maybe some race-themed antagonism, a couple of clever adjectives for spice, and voila. Easy peasy, right?

They should keep their day jobs.

Esther is our main protagonist. She's fifteen, the prime age for partnering and having a child of her own. But she avoids it, instead ignoring the boys' attentions and skipping out on the mandatory work assignments so she can run off and play with her mutant friend, Skar. In the meantime, the other kids of the town of Prin are barely surviving on the water and meager supplies provided by Levi in trade for their work.

Then one day Caleb arrives in town and everything changes.

Told in an awkward omniscient PoV narrative, our main character Esther must find a way to live in a world that doesn't seem to fit her sensibilities. She easily befriends the outcasts, but runs the risk of becoming outcast herself. Caleb's motivations are more straightforward. Levi, as the villain, is a more complicated creature and it takes time to understand him. Then there's Esther's sister Sarah, her variant friend Skar, her autistic friend Joseph. None of them felt like very deep characters, that the authors were going through the motions of characterization and it felt awkward and forced. Even the romance between the main characters was clumsily written (there's more to say but it would mean spoilers).

We never learn what happened and why everything is all post-apocalyptical--they hint at global warming, but that doesn't explain the mass devastation, since they still search through abandoned areas for supplies, so it must have been recent. Their foraging lifestyle does not make for long-term survival. Also, why does everyone die by the time they're nineteen? Seems like a pretty specific age, but we never learn why. The most important thing we never learn is where the Variants (mutants) come from--they aren't human, so why are they there other than a contrived plot device?

Despite the prose being easy on the eyes, the pace was slow and dull, mostly as a result of a distant omniscient narrative that makes it impossible to really get into the characters' heads. And if you've read enough dystopian YA novels then this book's plot feels predictable, clear to the end.

I have so many questions and no answers. There just wasn't enough meat to this story for me, but then again I'm not the target audience. Nevertheless I'm not going to be passing this book along to my tender-hearted fifteen-year-old daughter. Instead, she'll be reading the PARTIALS series by Dan Wells.

Recommended Age: The publicity says 14+ (I had an advance copy) but I would say 17+ because of the sex scene and themes
Language: Nothing
Violence: Torture, teens fighting, some blood, death by fighting and disease
Sex: One brief graphic scene; teenagers must "partner" in order to perpetuate the human race

***Read this and other reviews at Elitist Book Reviews.***

[Maddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the spoiler in the middle of the book. Just really was not expecting that. I had no idea that Caleb and Levi would be brothers!
I was also confused because throughout the whole book because I thought Joseph was young - like under the age of 19 - but he's not!!!! He's 26! There was not even any indicator that he was old, which I thought was odd.
I also liked how Esther was friends with Skar, which was predictable, but in the end the variants helped them.
It always annoys me how the amazing guy gets with the outcast girl, and the amazing guy's always just plain amazing. But then it also gives me hope because I'm not exactly the most popular person haha. If only I had a bf at all, ever. :( Oh well haha. At least I can live vicariously through books.
I like it how Esther doesn't hate Caleb's partner, but she will do anything to help Caleb even if it doesn't involve her.

[Katie_la_geek]

DNF at 25%

I did not finish this book so I am not going to rate it or properly review it, but I am going to briefly tell you why I didn’t finish it.

Frankly I found this book quite bizarre and not in a good way. There were some un-pc moments which I am not going to talk about in detail, I was not offended but some people might be. I will leave that for you to decide if you chose to read it.

I stopped reading this because I felt it was a little all over the place.

There was a lack of information and characterisation, I had no real idea what was going on and it left me uninterested.

[Stephanie White · Rating 2 out of 5]

With so many great dystopian novels on the book shelves at book stores.. I was very disappointed by this one. The characters weren't well developed, the world building was awful and the writing was atrocious. I don't like to give bad reviews so I will end on the positive that at least I will only have to read the first one in the series.

[Nara · Rating 1 out of 5]

The world building in this book was absolutely terrible. Y U NO EXPLAIN ANYTHING AUTHOR?!
Romance was horrible + a love triangle. ish.
I was so, so close to DNFing, but thought I'd press on in hope that it would get better. Nope.

[Amie's Book Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

WASTELAND
By Susan Kim & Laurence Klavan

This is a young-adult, post-apocalyptic, dystopian novel. It is the first book in a trilogy.

Although the catastrophe that befell the earth is never fully explained, we know that earthquakes decimated the landscape and that all rain that falls is poisonous and carries a plague-like sickness. The sun is dangerous and people cover every inch of exposed skin. Life is harsh and everyone is just trying to survive as best they can.

I have noticed that other reviewers have railed against this author for her lack of world-building. I do agree to some extent, but I have faith that since this book is the beginning of a trilogy that there will be more world-building in the next books.

There are two main groups of survivors in this book.

The "regular" survivors live in a town called Prin. at the age of fifteen, the town residents are expected to be partnered or married. At the age of seventeen they are expected to have children of their own. By the age of nineteen people succumb to a plague-like sickness, and as soon as symptoms appear they are banished to the wasteland to avoid infecting more people.

The town relies on supplies doled out from "The Source." This is a warehouse-like structure that is strictly controlled by a teenager named Levi. I would have liked a bit more information as to exactly what 'The Source' was before the apocalypse. This part of the storyline did feel unrefined to me.

Levi doles out food and bottled water to the town's residents based on jobs he has them perform. There are three main jobs available; Harvesting, Excavation and Gleaning. The townspeople are not told why these jobs are important, nor do they seem curious about Levi's motives. The workers are so focused on where their next meal will come from that they do not question him. This is believable to an extent. People who are starving rarely have anything on their minds other than food, so I can accept that hole in the plot.

What I did not like about 'The Source' plot-line was that even though Levi had guards, the author implies that no one had ever tried to break in to steal food. I find this very hard to believe. Starving people are desperate people and it would have been more believable if Levi had somehow caught and punished at least a few would-be thieves and that fear of his retribution kept others from attempting the same thing.

The second group of survivors call themselves "Variants," but the townspeople call them "mutants." The variants are "...hermaphroditic, hairless and disfigured." "The variants had always lived far from town, shunning the ways of Prin and it's people. They dressed oddly, not bothering to shield themselves from the dangerous rays of the sun. Rather than work, they eked out a meager living from hunting with feral dogs... Their life expectancy was even shorter than that of the people in town."

The residents of Prin see the Variants as enemies and tensions are rising between the two groups. The people of Prin believe the variants are not really human, most see them as animals.

Esther is fourteen and she doesn't fit in with the rest of the town's residents. Her best friend is a Variant named Skar. Esther believes the variants are human and thinks the prejudice against them is unwarranted. Esther wants more from life than what she sees in Prin, but she has no idea of how to achieve her goal. She hates the tensions between the townspeople and the variants, especially because of her friendship with Skar.

Things seem to be coming to a head. The townspeople are growing increasingly worried and desperate as the attacks by the variants increase in both frequency and intensity. Fear has the townspeople on edge and it seems that violence is likely to erupt.

When a stranger named Caleb arrives in Prin, and sees a boy being attacked by a group of five variants he attacks the attackers. He single-handedly runs the five variants out of town.

It seems that Caleb might provide the townspeople with hope. Will he be able to stop the violence? Or will he add to it? And, exactly who is Caleb?

As the book progresses, we learn more about Levi, Caleb, Esther and the rest of the townspeople and the variants. Motivations more sinister than just the need to survive are exposed and both the best and worst of human nature is revealed.

A romance blossoms quickly (a bit too quickly to be believable) between Caleb and Esther. This romance is definitely the worst part of the plot. I assume the writers did not want to spend too much time on this part of the plot because they wanted to focus on the main story. In my opinion, this was an error in judgement. The fact that they fall in love and are partnered after only a few casual meetings can possibly be explained by the fact that their life expectancy is so limited, but it would have been better if their romance was more believable.

Rating:

I rate this book as 3.5 out of 5 stars.

What I Liked About 'Wasteland'

I love the details the author has come up with to describe the variant's appearance. When Skar is introduced in the first chapter of the book, the description is so vivid that it easy to picture exactly what she must look like.

"The creature was small, with dark, hairless arms and legs, and a bald skull. It appeared to be neither male nor female and wore a brief tunic that was little more than a sack, with a cloth pouch slung across. Its face and body were covered with a dense network of intricate designs, swirling patterns, dots and slashes, strange curls that snaked like vines across the skin in various shades of black, brown and pink. On close examination, you could see the designs were not painted on but were a complex network of crude tattoos and hundreds, maybe thousands, of scars. Some of the marks were so tiny, they seemed like mere threads against the skin; others were vivid, pink gouges of raised flesh. It had bulging lavender eyes and a flattened nose, which crinkled as it's mouth, with its tiny, sharp teeth, twisted upward."

This description not only gives the reader a detailed description of what the variants look like, but it also hints at the fact that their culture might be more sophisticated than it appears. The tattoos and scars must be significant. It instills a curiosity in the reader to want to learn more about these intriguing people.

The author also uses this book to examine many social issues. This includes the issue of prejudice and discrimination. When Esther learns the truth behind the variant's origins she is shocked, but her discovery proves that the townspeople have more in common with the variants than she has been taught to believe. This information can be applied to today's society just as easily as it does to the society in 'Wasteland.'

People tend to fear what they do not understand. The townspeople fear the variants because they are different. But, does different always equate to evil?

There are life lessons in this book if anyone cares to see them.

Esther befriends Skar despite what the other residents of Prin think. This takes courage. She risks being shunned by all her peers, but she has the inner strength to do what she thinks is right. In this book (as in real life)it is always easier to follow the crowd then it is to follow your own path. Esther follows her own path by befriending Skar and she is rewarded by obtaining a devoted friend and also by learning all the stealth skills that the variants have that the townspeople do not.

This book also highlights a fact of life. Human beings are complicated creatures and each person can harbor both good and bad qualities. It is very rare that a person is either purely good or purely evil. The majority of people are made up of some good and some bad qualities. It is the choices we make that determine whether we will choose to let our dark side or our light side dominate.

I love the fact that while being an entertaining read and an interesting story, this book will also make you think.

Overall I think this may be the beginning of an interesting trilogy. I hope the authors will include more back-story in the next book.

More Info:

To read more about this author or about the other books in this series, visit www.epicreads.com

To read more of my reviews, visit my blog at http://amiesbookreviews.wordpress.com

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three stars: A dystopian that lacks detail and world building.

Esther is tired of her mundane existence. She is bored by the endless hours spent scrounging for gas and other articles that go to Levi in exchange for food and supplies. Levi holds all the necessities for survival in a small fortified building known as the Source. He hoards all the supplies and doles them out to the surviving citizens in Prin in exchange for their hard work. Esther would much rather spend the day playing with her friend, Skar, a Variant. Their friendship is frowned upon as the people of Prin consider the Variants to be mutants and dangerous. Esther knows that their prejudice is unfounded, but when the Variants begin attacking the town, Esther is forced to reconsider her friendship. Can Esther maintain her friendship and survive the rugged life of Prin?

What I Liked:
*One of the aspects I liked the most about this book was the focus on prejudice and distrust of people that are different. In the small community of Prin, made up of teenagers and young children fighting to survive in a brutal world, everyone is focused mostly on day to day survival. Anyone from the outside or who is different is treated with scorn and mistrust. Esther is the only one willing to see beyond the prejudices and not only accept the mutant Variants, but also the eccentric, cat hoarding, Joseph as well as the outsider Caleb. Over time, the people in the community slowly learn to let go of those prejudices, mostly due to Esther, and by the end there is a hopeful note of tolerance in place. I liked that the people learned tolerance and thought it was a great message.
*Esther, was another character that I struggled with, but ultimately ended up liking by the end. She is a fourteen year old girl, who refuses to accept her responsibilities and assigned roles in the community, so she is always running away from her tasks and instead playing with her friend, Skar. Her older sister, Sarah, takes care of her by cooking and covering for her, but Esther has no appreciation for Sarah. I was frustrated with her lack of maturity when it came to her relationship with her sister and shirking her duties. However, Esther soon must pay a steep price for her actions, and consequently, she ends up growing and maturing far beyond my expectations. By the end, I had gained a new appreciation for her. I did like that from the beginning she was the one person in town who didn't buy into the prejudices.
*I was wavering throughout with my final rating for this one, and thinking it would be a two star book. I was expecting a cliffhanger, but I was so pleased to find that the book had a sound resolution and ended on a hopeful note that I ended up bumping up my rating because of that. It was so nice to be wrong about the cliffhanger.
And The Not So Much:
*This book had potential, but for me it ended up faltering and falling because of lack of detail in world building and explanations. From the beginning, the reader is thrust into this harsh world where some type of apocalyptic event has transpired and wiped out human society as we know it. The teenagers of Prin are in a daily fight for their lives as they subside in a world that is incredibly hot and poisoned. There are no adults and no one usually lives beyond nineteen years of age. Teenagers are living as adults, and bearing children that usually die. At no point is there an explanation for what transpired to reduce the citizens to this existence. Why is the world poisoned? What happened to the adults? I kept expecting some type of revelation but it never came. I can appreciate being thrown into a world where the characters live in a unforgiving world and they don't know they answers because this is the way their life has always been, but it was obvious that the people were not that far removed from whatever event had transpired. The first clue is that there are siblings, and I wanted to know what happened to their parents, since it was apparent they couldn't have come from the teenagers who were currently giving birth as the mortality rates were extremely low. Sarah can read and so she must have been educated by her parents. Ultimately, it was a big problem for me that the book does not bother to give any kind of explanation as to what happened to the previous society. Furthermore, details are scant on how the citizens are surviving. Where did Levi get all the supplies from were they always stored in that building or was it all from scrounging? Are there animals they can hunt, or are they poisoned? Why is the rain so toxic? I was increasingly frustrated by the lack of details and the poor world building.
*I struggled with Levi. It didn't make sense that as a twelve year old he had the foresight to seize power and control and lord over the small community of Prin. Furthermore, how would he even have a clue about the water supply, supposedly he read a book, but I just didn't buy into his character at all. Also how was he smart enought to build such a strong fortress complete with electricity? It just seemed too far fetched for me. Once again, I was wondering what happened to the parents, and why he was abandoned.
*I was expecting more as far as the Variants, the hermaphrodites. The idea of them was exciting and fascinating, but there is so little information on them. You don't even have a clear understanding of their society and how they choose what sex they want to be. You don't even know if they are descended from humans or are some type of mutant from whatever apocalyptic event transpired. It was disappointing to say the least that there wasn't more information on these people.

Wasteland was a book that started out with a lot of promise. I enjoyed the harsh, desolate landscape and brutal conditions that the people had to overcome to survive. In the end, I could not get past the poor world building and so the book was a miss for me. It did earn another star because I enjoyed that there was tremendous growth with the main character and that it ended without a cliffhanger. I cannot say that I would recommend this book unless you are reader who doesn't mind being tossed into an apocalyptic environment without detailed world building. This book had potential but it wasn't a good fit for me.

Favorite Quotations:
"How can you hate someone you don't even know?"

"You know what I think is sad?" said Sarah, almost to herself. "That boys say anything they want just to get something. And girls always believe them."

"Make a bad thing into a good thing."

"Friendship," Levi mused. "That's just business mixed with sentiment. Two people at the same level....if they're of service to each other, they call each other 'friend'. But if they aren't equals, the whole idea is impossible. It can't exist."

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and I was not compensated for this review.

Posted@Rainy Day Ramblings.

[Gretchen Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a solid “meh” read. It started off pretty slow with some tense moments along the way. I thought the ending was pretty good too. I personally thought the characters kind of sucked. Not a ton of character development and we don’t really get to know who they are or what they’re about to begin with. It’s hard to imagine all of the characters as teenagers, which is what they are. No adults in this town? It’s just weird. I’ll probably start the 2nd book of the series just because I’m curious as to what could possibly come next. But again, it’s a solid “meh” read.

[Scott Shjefte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harsh environment so only the young live. EOTWAWKI. Libby library Audiobook.

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

*Genre* YA Dystopian
*Rating* 3.0

*First thoughts*

I went into this book with my eyes opened along with a pen and paper to take copious notes. I left all preconceived notions behind and allowed the author to sway me into either liking this book, or not. This is all my opinion, and subjective to my likes and dislikes and nobody else's. You may find that this is the greatest book since the creation of the Bible or sliced bread. I will politely disagree and move on.

According to the synopsis, this is the first book in a so called trilogy. However, the way it ends allows for this to be a standalone since most if not all of the plot lines are wrapped up prior to the ending.

What we do know. This is a post-apocalyptic world filled with teenagers who are required to either be part of the Harvesting, Gleaning, or Excavation of PRIN and surrounding areas. There are no adults to oversee their actions since 99 percent of those who reach 19 don't live to see their 20th birthdays. They are guided by a so called leader who is supposed to be elected to a 1 year term. He, however, is guided by the mysterious Levi who the townsfolk trade goods with in return for food and water. There are no options that allows for anyone to skirt the work requirement. Those who try, are Shunned and sent off where they will more than likely die in the blazing hot sun.

One of the main characters of the story is Esther. Esther is a 15 year old who enjoys playing games with her Variant friend Skar while scoffing at the work requirement. She lives with her sister Sarah who has turned down all forms of partnering. Partnering isn't a requirement in Prin. Just sort of a suggested way for two people to fall in love and protect each other. Esther has also turned down what little requests she's received. Like I said, she's almost a free spirit when it comes to doing anything particularly useful. She's not the expected heroine that I expect from these sort of books.

The other main character is Caleb who has come to Prin in search of his baby boy. He's probably the most likable character in this book because he has a mission and his anger towards the Variants is totally based on perceived circumstances, rather than actual. Caleb has learned how to fight and defeat the Variants, but in the end, he realizes that he may need their help in order to find his baby.

The things I liked and didn't like:

1. I absolutely did not like the world building in Wasteland. There's absolutely no explanation as to why the characters in this book are living in a virtual oven with yellow skies and rain water that can kill or cause plague like symptoms. This is a huge glaring weakness for this book in my opinion. If, in fact, I decide to read the next book in this trilogy, I want the authors to actually tell me what happened to the world.

2. I absolutely did not see any so called racism in this book. Yes, there are a group of individuals called hermaphroditics better known as Variants who are excluded from living among the norms. Each Hermie chooses a path they want to live, either male or female. One of the characters, Skar, is best friends with Esther and teaches her how to hunt, gather, and have fun. There has been speculation that the Variants are like American Indians who live off the land and trade goods and services with the bad guy but aren't allowed to be any where near the norms. Speculate away.

3. We don't have any clue why everyone seems to die at the age of Nineteen except for one character who just happens to live in a hotel above a major story plot. The author does not explain how this particular character was able to live longer than anyone else in recent history. Like I said previously, I need more explanation as to what happened, and why people die so young.

In the overall scheme of things, this isn't the most interesting Dystopian novel that I've read over the past 2 years. It's not the worse either. It just seems that somewhere in the translation of putting the book together, lots of information was either edited out or left out completely by the writers. I am hoping that they realize the errors of their way and make amends.


Recvd via Edelweiss 01/25/2013 - Expected publication: March 26th 2013 by HarperTeen

[Kristen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Review is also on my blog My Friends Are Fiction

The Story:
I wanted to be riveted and engrossed in this book, I really did. I even stopped midway and read a couple of books thinking perhaps I just wasn't in the mood for it. Unfortunately, when I resumed reading the flaws were still glaringly present. For me, the story jumped around erratically and details felt generally glossed over. Perhaps its because its narrated by an omnipresent voice that jumps from one character's story to another with no warning (perhaps its only like this in the arc?) I constantly had to backtrack to find out when the story switched characters after reading a bit and realizing, 'hey, wait we aren't following Esther any longer'. The aspects I wanted much more depth and clarity (character development, the romance, the Variants...) all seemed as detailed as a summary. The entirety of the book felt like it was multiple summaries squished together. The idea behind this book is intriguing: a world where there are no adults and a battle raging between mutants and the teenagers, mystery and love. but none of it hit the mark with me. I never knew enough about any aspect to really get behind it and care. There are some unseen reveals after the midpoint but by then I hadn't cared enough to see them coming.

The Characters:
There was not a single character I cared for. I didn't dislike or like any of the cast- sadly I felt a general void. Our main characters, Esther and Caleb were just your typical characters, nothing stood out to me. Esther's only separation from the typical heroine archetype was possibly her general rebellion. She chose to show her disdain for her society by not pulling her weight by refusing to do work assigned to her. She was friends with a variant which would have given me reasons for liking her and given depth and interest but the relationship was not developed much after the start of the book. One of the most interesting situations Esther finds herself in, the Valley of Death, is sadly devoid of much detail past the descriptions of dead bodies and flies. How she survives and finds herself free of this horrible place was completely ignored and summarized in a sentence. Caleb was probably the best of the characters, I tried to feel for his loses but I had trouble connecting with him. I found the most inspiring aspect of the story to be Caleb's time in the Source...but he was only there for a short amount of time. As for the romantic aspect it felt rushed and when I love you's were exchanged I felt nothing.

Final Thoughts:
Sadly, I can not recommend this to anyone, as I will not read any further in this series. I do not doubt in the least both authors writing ability or their creative ideas but the lack of depth and summary style of writing was just not compatible with me.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be honest, I have a lot of thoughts about Wasteland. While I wish they could all be positive, they are not. In fact, looking back at Wasteland, I sometimes think it was a miracle that I finished this one at all. Which is really disappointing due to its interesting concept and potential.

In Wasteland, no one lives to see age 20. Life is bleak. Water and food are scarce. It is survival of the fittest. In small town called Prin, they make due... surprisingly so.

From the beginning, Wasteland drew me in with the promises of rebellion and post- apocalyptic setting. While some promises were met, Wasteland as a whole bordered on pretty disappointing. From its lack of world-building to superficial everything, Wasteland is a whole lot of details with very little depth. Now, I don't need to have everything explained to me, and not every question will have an answer. However, in a world like Wasteland, there has to be at least a little something for me to work with. Yet, Wasteland didn't give me that. No explanation to how this world became the way that it did. No explanation for why it is expected for everyone to only live to age nineteen. Honestly, no explanations really of any sort. While that may work for some reads, sadly in Wasteland, it does not.

As for our characters, here I am conflicted. Told in the third person, Wasteland, at times, felt all over the place. Giving glimpses into each character whether major or minor. While I appreciated to seeing a little bit of each person, it also takes away from really getting to know any one character. Making it hard to relate or even care from their situation or what they were trying to achieve. This lack of depth for our characters is most apparent when it comes to the romance. Esther and Celeb had potential to be a great romantic force. Instead it came across as...

Caleb: Wow, you looking like a person I would want to get to know.

Esther: Yea, you too. We are fighting for the same thing. Let's team up!

Chapters Later...

They kiss.

Pages Later...

Caleb: I love you. Want to be my partner / mate?

Esther: I love you too! Yes! Let's always be together.

The romance didn't exactly go down like that, but I think you get the idea.

Final Verdict:

After finishing the last pages, I was glad that I finished Wasteland. Are there faults to the read? Um... yes! However, I did finished the book feeling satisfied and with a smile on my face. So, that has to count for something.

Will I read the next installment?

The blurb states that Wasteland is the start of a trilogy. For me, I have no idea why. The ending of Wasteland was solid with no real hint of what could / should happen next. Personally, if this is truly a start to a trilogy, I would be open to reading more, but only if I can get a back story or something.

[Beans · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was expecting a post-apocalyptic adventure about teenagers desperately clinging to their survival after society has crumbled, but what I got was a childish tale about kids fighting with other kids for stupid reasons and with stupid weapons. Seriously? They can't get any weapons oh boo hoo but there's glass everywhere, it wouldn't take Levi's "smarts" to work out that you can craft makeshift weapons out of stuff. There are characters around 17-19 years old, and yet everyone in this book seems to act as if they have the reasoning of a ten year old.

"In that moment, the sun shifted, momentaruly blinding him." LOL. Maybe that's why the apocalypse happened, because the Earth's orbit turned into a jerky frenzy. For some reason I really dislike Esther. She's whiny and immature. Incredibly selfish, she skips her duties and then thinks that Rafe is the one who is in the wrong when she is finally and satisfyingly shunned.

The world they live in is at best a hazy blur. Prin, well I have no idea what it looks like apart from a mental image of some old buildings and ditches. I have basically no idea what anything looks like, so as I'm trying to make an image of a post-apocalyptic town at the same time I'm reading things that just make me think this whole place is exactly the same as it was before, just a little hotter and there's no adults. A few times they mention that they can't drink the water, and yet they have no problems acquiring clean water and food from Levi.

All through this book I was thinking WHY? Why does anything happen in this book? What made the days hotter and the water turn poison? Why are only humans affected by this? Why do they die at 19? Why are their children often deformed horribly? <-- Sounds interesting, but believe me, it isn't.

The romance between Caleb and Esther... well I wouldn't really call it a romance. It's confusing and rushed. When they kissed for the first time I felt no emotion. In fact, it kind of repulsed me thinking about his hot wet tongue slithering around in her mouth like a snake. There was no buildup of emotions, they meet, they talk, they get feelings for each other, they kiss. "Esther would never have left without telling him." What the hell? He doesn't even know her! They saw each other like twice and now he knows her this well? Am I meant to feel good about them kissing? Because I find it hard to even care about their relationship or in fact either of them as characters. I felt more emotion towards the wild dogs that got killed than when Esther's sister gets sick.

And I'm sorry, but the scene where she uses a pair of freaking glasses to start a fire is just hilarious. If a pair of glasses can focus a beam of light the same as a magnifying glass then why aren't people getting permanently blinded every time they wear them on a sunny day.

[Meaghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I literally put this book down after reading it and said hmmm. I just wasn't quite sure what I thought of the whole thing. There were times in this dystopian novel where I was really into and I wanted to know what was going on and there were other times where I found myself thinking that I didn't really care about certain things. I hate that! I was pretty excited for this novel as I love reading about dystopian societies. The book was marketed as a book where everyone dies at the age of 19 and they have children at 17. While this is mentioned throughout the novel I found that the novel really focuses on the division between the citizens of Prin and the genetically altered people who are referred to as variants and mutants. The division between the two groups is based in fear but the main character, Esther doesn't understand why her people are afraid of the variants. Her best friend is a variant and she honestly sees no reason to treat these people differently.
Everyone is really trying to live off of what little they have and in the end sometimes they do some less than savory things to get ahead. Without giving too much away, the political system in Prin has become corrupted by the leader Levi. Levi is a master manipulator with all the inhabitants of Prin and even by the end of the novel I wasn't exactly sure what his end goal was.
One thing that really bugged me about this novel is that some of the elements of the book that are highlighted in the summary seemed to just be blips in the story. One example of this is the fact that the variants are hermaphroditic. This was mentioned once in the book and then not really mentioned much after this. I was confused as to why this was a necessary plot point. The book could have been done without this and I think that this was put in the summary because it's a bit sensationalized and they think it will draw in readers.
Anyhow, overall the story line was just okay for me but I did really like Esther as a character. She was stubborn and didn't like to take any advice from anyone. She stood by what she believed in even if it wasn't the popular opinion. I think I admire that because I oftentimes worry too much about what others think of me so I find it noble to do what you want without worrying about others. Anyhow, this review is a little all over the place but overall it was just okay for me. I think the summary sells the book as something a little different than what you actually get. That's not to say that the novel is bad because it's not. It is an entertaining story but it just raises a few questions for me.

[Millie Dixon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review was originally written over at Millie D's Words.




*A review copy was provided for me to review*

The first time I got a glance by this cover, I was instantly intrigued. There's just something about it that caught my eye. I wasn't sure what to expect from this book, but that was quite alright. Hermaphroditic outcasts and a mystery were sure to keep me interested.

Esther was a different girl compared to the rest of the inhabitants of Prin. She didn't mind the Variants and did not agree with the ways of how they were ruled by Levi. She wasn't mindless and subordinate like her sister and tried her best to stand up for what she thought was right in her own way. Sadly, I didn't really create that connection between reader and character with her. I liked her--didn't mind her or anything--but I didn't feel like I'd care either way what happened with her, unfortunately.

However, I really did care about this story. I got invested in the story and couldn't wait to see what would happen next. So unpredictable! I can't say that I'm a master at figuring the plot of a book out, but I can easily recognize when a story goes generic. So in Wasteland, I couldn't figure anything out. I had no idea what these authors had up their sleeves when writing this book. I was surprised over and over again. I truly loved this story!

My only major problem about this book would be the writing style. I've read some pretty complicated writing styles--yet loved it--but for some reason, this book's writing style confused me! I didn't understand why it would keep tripping me up and I would then get frustrated at myself and then I'd have to distract myself because I wasn't able to read when I was all upset. I'm not saying that the writing was bad; it was just different.

Wasteland was a gritty and unpredictable read about what people will do for survival. This post-apocalyptic read featured a tyrannical evil dude bent on manipulating others for his own gain. Besides the lack of a relatable character who I thought to be too childish for her age and the writing style, this book was good! The story was so original and I had to keep reading to see what would happen. Turns out, Susan Kim and Laurence Klavan are master plotters. I may just like them a lot. Fans of dystopia, post-apocalyptic, and awesome plots will possibly enjoy Wasteland.

[Anna Kay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Esther and all of the others living in Prin are just trying to live through one day at a time. The difference between her and them, is that she is friends with a Variant named Skar and they believe Variants are an abomination. Then the Variants begin to attack the town of Prin, firebombing buildings and killing innocent citizens for seemingly no reason. Around this time Caleb, a stranger, comes to town on a mission. Caleb is determined to find out who murdered his wife and kidnapped their infant son - and more importantly, why they did it. And what does the Source have to do with everything? Esther is shunned and Caleb is run out of town as they get closer and closer to the truth. With time running out, can they figure out what's really going on, save the town and get Caleb's son back? I was wary about this book from the get-go because of the authors feeling the need to make the 'bad guys' hermaphrodites and outcasts. Oh, so just because they don't have one set gender they're deformed and disgusting? Shame on both of you assholes for perpetuating stereotypes, even in dystopian fiction. I managed to slog my way through the book, even without any real world-building to get me involved in the story and some horrifically one-dimensional characters. Esther is a spoiled brat, who lets her sister do all the work and then steals food to give to her friends when her sister isn't watching. She admits that she doesn't know how to do anything, but it's almost like Esther's proud of it, even though it makes her useless, in a high-risk, low-survival world. I liked Caleb, but I feel like I didn't get to know him very well and that while his quest was admirable it was also prepackaged to fit anyone. The romance between Esther and Caleb was unrealistic and majorly based on lust and nothing else. It was sickeningly obvious from their first interaction that they were going to be thrown together. I did like the revelation about what was underneath Joseph's building and way Levi was defeated. Overall, a very lazy attempt at high grade dystopia and I will definitely NOT be reading the next one.

VERDICT: 1.5/5 Stars

*I received this book as part of Around the World ARC Tours, run by the lovely Princess Bookie. No favors or money were exchanged for this review. It will be available for purchase on March 26th, 2013.*

[Kristine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was one of those books that I finished in a day, more because I needed something to occupy me than because I was engrossed in the story. Don't get me wrong--it's not a bad read. It's just not all that interesting. Perfect for a day stuck inside with kids, though. I will say the quality of the writing and the plot improved toward the end of the book, so I will probably give this author another chance.

Anyway, the book is about a group of teenagers trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. Pretty much everyone dies by the age of 19 due to some disease that is probably contacted from the rain, which is poisonous. No explanation is given for why it's poisoned, but it is. People are effectively adults at about 14, partner up, have babies (most of which are mutants) and then die.

In Prin, the town where our protagonist (Esther)] lives, a bunch of teens are trying to make their way. Esther is a mooch, really only surviving because of her older sister, Sarah, who is also one of the few people who knows how to read. Most of the food for the town is provided by a guy named Levi, who broke into a compound the residents of Prin call "the source" and doles out rations of clean water and edible food in return for the labor of the townspeople. Levi has the kids digging for something, which he doesn't reveal to them, but it's not hard to guess what he's after in a world where rain is poison.

There are a couple of aspects of the book that frustrated me. First, there's very little exploration of the history of the world. I can sort of understand that, these being teens who are barely scraping by, but even the ones who are sort of curious aren't curious about why they're in the predicament they're in. Most aren't even curious about possible solutions to their problems, either, which I find unrealistic.

The other main frustration is that the bad guys are mostly nameless, faceless boys with no real motivation. Levi has motivation: he's a sociopath. His minions don't mix with the rest of the town, which seems unlikely to me, especially given they're teenage boys in a world where they die young and there's a huge drive to reproduce. I'd expect them to have girlfriends or prostitution at the least.

It is an easy read, and I didn't hate it. There were simply a lot of things I wish the author had explored/thought through more.

[Wendy Hines · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dystopian world where you marry at fifteen and you die at nineteen, Wasteland is set in a compelling world. In the small town of Prin, the citizens work for The Source, a huge manor house that takes a lot of gas to run it. In return for the gas and other scavenged items, the townfolk receive food, clothing and water. What they don't know is that the one who runs The Source, Levi, has a hidden agenda.

Esther spends her days playing with Skar, a variant. Variants are human-like, but aren't. They have unique capabilities, like speed and the ability to stealth. They also have their own rules and don't work for The Source. They used to have a pretty good alliance with the citizens of Prin until recently. Now, they just terrorize the town and it's people. Esther also spends a lot of time shirking her responsibilities, believing herself to be above the law.

When a newcomer arrives in town, the citizens are wary until he proves himself a good fighter. He's just what the town needs to rid it of the variants and he immediately decrees that anyone caught with a variant will be imprisoned. Esther immediately wants to warn Skar to stay away from town, even though she disagrees with the stranger. But Caleb is on his own mission and he won't stop until he finds what he is looking for - no matter what the town needs and how much Esther appeals to him.

I really enjoyed the world-building and how the plot wasn't predictable. I didn't care for Esther though. I didn't connect with her at all and found her very selfish until the latter part of the book. While some character relationships blossomed, others were stale which is something I hope is addressed in the next book. I look forward to how this trilogy plays out. If you enjoy dystopian young adult with a clever twist, then pick up Wasteland!

[Once · Rating 4 out of 5]

With the success of Hunger Games more novels have drifted away from the paranormal and closer to the more dystopian style genre. Whether or not these new novels find success, is all up to the quality and creativity of the book. In my opinion Wasteland does a great job in both of these categories. The two authors paired together create an enticing piece of fiction. With excellent characters and fresh but sometimes rightfully grim storytelling, this book has all the characteristics of a bestseller. The two have really done a great job of writing a book that causes readers to never feel the urge to put it down.

Wasteland is set in a post apocalyptic time where everyone over the age of 19 is dead. Even with that statistic, life still goes on, for the teens of this world still have a life to live. Life in a barren world is grim but the teens of this new world strive to make it work. In the small town of Prin we find Esther, a unique girl who sees things a little differently than the other citizens of town. However, when a mysterious stranger named Caleb walks into Esther's life the two join together to face a corruption neither of them could have foreseen. Caleb and Esther soon find themselves dealing with family, death, and a romance they never saw coming. A fast-paced and emotionally filled novel transforms into a winner for me. The two authors really know how to convey their characters feelings and to fill the plot with multiple twists and turns. A great read for anytime of day, Wasteland has the potential to be a great series.

[Christal · Rating 2 out of 5]

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Wasteland has left me feeling pretty neutral. It wasn’t a horrible book, but it didn’t wow me in any way either. The story was a basic dystopian where everyone is struggling to survive, but we aren’t given any type of setting context to ground the story. Why is the rain poison? Why doesn’t anyone live past 19? Why is the world so destroyed? None of that is explained. Instead, this felt more like an installment from a larger series, like one TV episode taken from a much longer, complete season.

Esther and Caleb are the main characters and of course they had a case of insta-love. Caleb was given a desperate back story, but we really don’t learn anything about Esther or why she behaves and reacts as she does. All we know is that she is friends with Skar, a variant or mutant, and that their friendship is forbidden. The story revolves about Levi, the villain, and I never got a true read on him. The reasons we are given for his behavior didn’t seem like enough justification for his actions and all in all, they didn’t make a lot of sense to me. I did like the ending of the book and was satisfied enough with it to not feel the need to carry on in this series. Recommended for die-hard lovers of YA dystopia, but for anyone else, I’d say give this one a pass.

Thank you to Edelweiss and HarperTeen for providing an ARC copy of this book!

[Tasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great premise, so-so execution. I loved the authors' graphic novels Brain Camp and City Of Spies, which also have great premises and plotting, and the storyline here is compelling, with characters in a tough, potentially complicated Dying Earth situation. But the writing is frustratingly blunt and simple, and so are the emotions that drive people. Everything feels rushed, with people veering from one emotional extreme to another and reversing their motivations — or instantly falling in love — within the space of a sentence or two. It's reminiscent of Michael Grant's Gone series if the entire thing was compressed down to one hurried volume. So much about the world is never explained or developed, and never makes sense. For instance, the book summary presents the "married at 15, pregnant at 17, dead at 19" concept as though it's a Logan's Run-like societal imperative, but it's just one of many arbitrary statements meant to provoke drama, and never fleshed out in the book. People assume they will be dead by 19, but there's no specific reason, apart from harsh conditions, and their society is barely sketched out, so it never seems plausible that such a community could sustain itself. A quick, exciting, but unsatisfying read that leaves a lot of big questions behind.