The Watch

Red #1

by Amanda Witt

From the author Kirkus Reviews calls "hottest of all" comes "a fantastic series" with "a touch of class" ...

Sneaking out after curfew, avoiding the cameras and the guards--Red has done it a thousand times. But tonight is different.

Tonight she gets caught.

* FINALIST in The Wishing Shelf Book Awards *

A hit with adult and teen readers alike, THE RED SERIES brings a fresh twist to dystopian fiction. Perfect for fans of the Hunger Games, Divergent, and Maze Runner series.

Raised in a walled city, constantly watched and controlled, Red longs for freedom. Then a crisis comes, and she learns the truth: You can go into the woods; you might even come back again. But you will never be the same.

Genres: Dystopia, Science Fiction, Young Adult, Fiction

283 pages, ebook

First published September 1, 2015

About the author

Amanda Witt's fiction has been called "hottest of all" by Kirkus Reviews and "arresting" by Publishers Weekly. She lives in Texas with her husband, cats, and dog--and, for the first time in a quarter century, no children.

Reviews

[MissBecka Gee · Rating 5 out of 5]

***********GIVEAWAY WIN***********
How the hell did this series sneak past me? Seriously ALL FOUR BOOKS have been out for TWO YEARS and I have never heard of them?! How is that even possible?!
THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING!!!!!
It grabbed me with the very first page.
The writing is wonderfully descriptive, making it beyond easy to get sucked into the emotions and scenery. Everything was so warmly written that it was impossible not to feel what I was reading. The story revealed just enough to keep me reading while still making me completely insane that I had no idea what was coming next. It ends with soooo many questions which made me happy that I didn't know about them till after all the books were already released. Less wait time.
As it is I'm freaking out that I now have to wait till the other three books arrive to finish the series.
Seriously how the hell did I not know about this sooner?!

[Valicity Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dystopian societies can go really well or really bad. I was a fan of The Hunger Games, that’s past tense by the way, so I was rightfully cautious about pouring my heart into a book that would most likely end in a twisted love triangle and everyone else dead or just abandoned completely.

Thankfully, that didn’t happen here.

There are things about Red that draw you in. Dystopian world, first of all. Everyone and everything on lockdown, fast paced action scenes, excellent writing with delicate detail and complex characters. A strong female lead who doesn’t back down in the face of danger. There is so much to like here, I’m trying—really trying—to think of something I didn’t actually like.

I’ll let you know when that happens.

I liked that the character’s name was Red, very cool or very cliché, you decide. But I liked it. So simple yet powerful. This character speaks to the readers as not just a female but a hero in general. How far are you willing to go to find help for the ones you care for? How much can you handle? How much can you risk? How much will you put on the line?
You can challenge yourself while reading this book. You can ask yourself if you have the wherewithal to face the woods without regret and dare to think you will come back the same.

An excellent psychological thriller that I would recommend to readers of all ages. There is some gore in there but it’s not enough to send the kids to bed with nightmares.

What I liked most about this book was the opening. The tone and the pacing was set right from the start which definitely got me interested. I didn’t know the whole situation right off the bat but I could pick up on the author’s style and I liked it right away. Witt writes like she’s been doing this for fifty years with a team of creative advisors backing her every step of the way.

There’s only so many things that can happen in a dystopian book. The world is corrupt, in walks the rebel protagonist to shake things up. The Watch is just a bit cooler than that in the fact that Witt isn’t afraid to go there in her writing. There are multiple deaths, violent ones, and it kind of shakes you when you read. This is real. That’s the message that seeped through the pages of this book. The writing takes you to the next level. Its hard not to get sucked into Optica which I truly enjoyed. I like feeling like this is happening right now, right in front of me…for a book that chills you to the bone, that can be a good and bad thing.

I would recommend this to any fans of The Hunger Games or other dystopian novels. YA readers will especially love this thriller. The ending obviously points to the next book in the series so if you want to pick up a great series starter, I would suggest you start here. You won’t be disappointed.

*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a stand-alone book, Red: The Watch is intriguing. Its real strength, though, is in the writer’s skill in setting up characters, situations, and themes to be developed throughout the series. The four books of the series could well be published as four parts of a single novel, a very good one. I recommend reading the entire series, then glancing back over this first book to see the significance of details that may have seemed insignificant the first time through.

[Vee Bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Watch written by Amanda Witt is a YA dystopian novel about a small community that is heavily controlled and watched by a group aptly named the Watchers. The community is called Optica and it is located on an island. Those old enough to work are assigned jobs (mostly menial) and all is going along as well as it can, but now the group is not able to get enough to eat and decisions have to be made. Since this is a dystopian novel, it's a given that these decisions are not pleasant.

The story is mainly about a 17 year old that has been given the unoriginal name of Red since she has red hair. She has many questions about why and how Optica is run the way it is, but there are few answers. I'm being deliberately vague so as not to give spoilers, but when she discovers that some unpleasant decisions have been made, she's determined to not comply.

This is pretty well-done and I like how the story gradually unfolds as Red learns more about the Watchers and what their purpose is. I would definitely recommend this novel.

Family Corner: No profanity and just very light romance. There is violence, however, but not graphic.

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used to be an English prof teaching lit and creative writing, and I appreciate both "high" and well-written popular fiction. This novel series really impressed me. It's an extremely gripping read from the first pages, and works for young adult on up, with enough meat to the plot and characters to keep readers of various ages satisfied. It's set in a near future after something strange and terrible has happened, but it avoids the grim nihilism of so many dystopian novels. There is real evil but there is also hope and light through the darkness.

It also has many of the elements people expect from a "good read" in this genre -- action, romance, love triangles, mystery, and solid world-building. It's all handled in a fresh way that develops very organically.

The author's writing style is very easy on the ears, written with a sense of what the story would sound like if read aloud around the fire. The main character, beautiful seventeen-year-old Red, is a young woman you can root for but who also has some growing up to do.

The science fiction elements are in the service of fascinating character exploration and psychology. They don't overwhelm the characters and their story. One doesn't even have to like typical science fiction to love this series. It'd probably be better to call it a novel series of the fantastic, though the author is careful to make the futuristic, world-building elements fully plausible.

If you read the first few pages, and certainly the first three chapters, you'll likely be hooked and won't need any positive review to push you forward, other than maybe the reassurance that the rest of the series develops beautifully, offers a satisfying series of plot twists and new characters along the way, and concludes with a great ending. I highly recommend.

[Billy Buttons · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was entered and was a FINALIST in The Wishing Shelf Book Awards. This is what our readers thought:


Title: Red, The Watch
Author: Amanda Witt
Star Rating: 5 Stars
Number of Readers: 22
Stats
Editing: 9/10
Style: 9/10
Content: 10/10
Cover: 10/10
Of the 22 readers:
17 would read another book by this author.
22 thought the cover was good or excellent.
12 felt the blurb was enticing.
12 thought the well-developed characters were the best part of the book.
10 felt the author’s no. 1 skill was his/her ‘pacing’.

Readers’ Comments
‘Very fast-paced with an array of interesting characters. The author works well with speech and keeps the reader enthralled with plenty of twists. I enjoyed it very much.’ Female reader, aged 38
‘The author created a fascinating world. There are a lot of characters and the reader must work hard to keep on top of them all. This is very much a set-up book for the rest of the set. But it’s still excellent. The cliffhanger which, personally, I feel is overused, is big in this story but it works; I do want to read the next. The cover’s excellent and the blurb’s spot on. Very good.’ Female reader, aged 41
‘A little confusing in the beginning but that just wet my appetite. A superb plot and packed full of fascinating and complex characters. Good ending and a powerful start to the Red books.’ Male reader (editor), aged 52
‘Interesting mystery. The author works particularly well with suspense. Characters well-developed and the dystopian world is competently planned and described. The odd clumsy sentence but nothing to worry about.’ Male reader, aged 18

‘Fascinating and highly addictive. A FINALIST and highly recommended.’ The Wishing Shelf Book Awards

[Catherine Griffin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Young Adult dystopia science fiction at its best: a fast-paced, highly readable adventure with a touch of class.

Teenager Red has red hair and rebels against the authorities of the isolated, dystopic city of Optica, where everyone is under constant surveillance. Yep, it is Young Adult dystopia. You will rightly expect a love triangle. But I read this in one sitting, which means it’s either pretty darn good or I really didn’t want to start on my tax return. Maybe both.

The writing suffers from some inordinately long sentences, but otherwise there’s little to find fault with. Highly readable throughout, well edited, and very good in places. If you enjoyed The Maze Runner or The Hunger Games, you’ll like this.

The ending doesn’t resolve much and clearly leads into the sequel, which is available along with two others in this series, but not on Kindle Unlimited.

No romance to speak of, several violent deaths but not much blood and gore.

[Aly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love a strong female lead character and this book has it. I was drawn in right away to the book and the adventure inside. I love all the characters and I will read the next book because I want to find out what happens next.

[Tami · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would rate this a 2.5. It's similar to the Hunger Games. For a young adult, this would be a good book, but there's not enough substance beyond that. It also ends right in the middle of the story, so while the book isn't long, apparently this book is just the first half of the story.

[John Rennie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fairly standard young adult dystopia with all the usual plot elements you'd expect in a work of this sort, a plucky young heroine who is special but doesn't realise it, an authoritarian elite who rule by terror and are corrupt (though of course there are good apples among them) and so on. No-one reading this will encounter anything startlingly new.

But it's a well written and enjoyable book and I'm happy to give it four stars on that basis. It is blatantly the first of a series and ends on a cliffhanger, which I feel is a bit hackneyed in this day and age. As a rather old young adult I found it a bit too derivative, and my interest was waning towards the end to the extent that I have no plans to read the remainder of the series. However if you want a fun read then this book will provide one and on that basis I recommend it.

[Carolyn F. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read a similar book about a sort of experiment on Long Island and the world fell apart but they kept going. I don't know if this book will be more of the same.

I red a lot of comparisons to the Hunger Games but this isn't really like it at all except that they're both Dystopian. I'm hoping that a lot of the questions that are left hanging will start to be answered. 3-1/2 stars

[Pete · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every element of life in the walled city of Optica is tightly controlled by the ever watchful Wardens. Citizens accused of breaking the rules suffer public humiliation or execution. Red (named for her hair color) is a rebellious teen. Skirting the rules, she tries to learn the true reason for Optica, why she’s considered “different,” and what the mysterious Guardians plan for the citizenry.

The world building in this novel was extremely well done. Optica is dark and depressing—very Orwellian. The society is tightly controlled by Wardens who are armed and in most cases devoid of sympathy for the general population. Video cameras constantly observe the citizenry. At night, a searchlight mounted on a high central tower like the eye of Mordor swivels its beam across the streets. The main character, Red, was likable enough to keep me rooting for her as she lurched from one risky encounter to the next.

I had two issues with the story. The first is personal—there were a lot of named characters, and I found it difficult to keep them straight in my head. I know not every reader is challenged in this manner, but I am.
My other issue was with the way information about the genesis of Optica and the true allegiances of the secondary characters close to Red was unresolved. While the author offered many hints, she kept salient information back, and this teasing technique pulled me out of the story a number of times.

This is first in a four book series, so a certain amount of set up is to be expected, and of course the objective is to encourage the reader to move to the next title. But most of the story takes place in and around Optica, and the novel ends elsewhere with a cliffhanger of enormous proportions, leaving many threads created in Optica hanging and open. I’d have liked more resolution before being moved on to the next part of the story.

Disclaimer: This review was originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog.

[J C Steel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Watch, by Amanda Witt, is set in a closed community under constant surveillance, where walls provide protection from the things that are rumoured to haunt the surrounding woods. Red, so-called for her flaming red hair, is the maverick in a society of martinets, the only child born during the time of the ashes, the only person on the island with that distinctive shade of hair, and she is both watched and shunned because of it. Red’s existence is precarious, and her penchant for breaking rules with her charismatic friend Meritt makes it more so. It isn’t until a dangerous brush with the Wardens that Red becomes increasingly aware that it isn’t just her existence that’s precarious...

Amada Witt offers an action-packed story in The Watch, fast-paced and with rags and tags of buried history drawn unexpectedly from dark corners as the plot progresses, building a fascinating dual picture of a highly-regimented society underlaid by foundations that are crumbling into the abyss at an ever-increasing rate. Red, the wild card, is a strong protagonist, the unknowns in her background drawing the reader on page by page in the quest to discover more. This book offers a wealth of adventure, mystery, and plot twists that will draw you in and surprise you right through to the final paragraph.

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

After a strong start, the plot advanced very slowly with long descriptions of a not very original oppressive society. And it's disappointing that this is not a stand-alone novel. It ends suddenly with many questions unanswered. Not sure I would care to read the next novel just to find out the ending.

[Nicola · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars!! Immensely readable - reminds me favourably of Carrie Ryan's Forest of Hands and Teeth. Also Jessica Sorenson's dystopian series comes to mind. Quite a different storyline but similar pace and strength with characterisation and world building.

[John Paul Witt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like this book. Starts out seeming like just another dystopian, but ends up being much classier than that. Read the whole series and it won't let you down.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just loved everything about this book! From the suspenseful plot which doesn't reveal all of its secrets at once, to the well-developed characters and world building that pull you into the story and keep you engaged all the way to the very surprising ending, The Watch is a wonderful start to The Red Series and a great read for young and old alike.