Title: The Raging Ones (The Raging Ones #1)
Author: Krista Ritchie and Becca Ritchie
No. of pages: 352
Formats: Hardcover
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Fantasy
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Publication Date: August 14, 2018
Date Read: June 24, 2018
★★★★★
Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, iBooks, TBD
Blurb:
In a freezing world, where everyone knows the day they will die, three teens break all odds.
Franny Bluecastle, a tough city teen, dreams of dying in opulence, to see wealth she’s never known. Like the entire world, she believes it’s impossible to dodge a deathday.
Until the day she does.
Court Icecastle knows wealth. He also knows pain. Spending five years in Vorkter Prison, a fortress of ice and suffering, he dreams of life beyond the people that haunt him and the world that imprisoned him.
Mykal Kickfall fights for those he loves. The rugged Hinterlander shares a frustrating yet unbreakable connection with Court—which only grows more lawless and chaotic as their senses and emotions connect with Franny.
With the threat of people learning they’ve dodged their deathdays, they must flee their planet to survive. But to do so, all three will have to hide their shared bond as they vie for a highly sought after spot in the newest mission to space. Against thousands of people far smarter, who’ll live longer, and never fear death the way that they do. (Goodreads)
Review:
Thanks to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
This is one book that you absolutely need to read this year. I’m so glad that the publishers gave me this in advance because you need to know how great this book is. Right off the bat, the premise of the book is intriguing. This world is one in which on the day you’re born, you know the day that you will die. Because of this, you will only ever know one way of living: carefree, working, or leisure. No one has ever not died on their deathday, until now. Franny, Mykal, and Court are the only three that seem to have been able to dodge it. They don’t know why, no one else knows, but because of it, they are inextricably linked to one another. They feel and know each other’s emotions and physical senses. They are three, but one. In order to ensure that no one else finds out, they enter a competition that will send them to space. But in order to go, they must beat all others with the hope that their secret isn’t exposed and that they all make the team.
The most interesting thing about this book is the extremely well-written problem/miracle that these characters have: their link. When reading the blurb, I wasn’t sure how it was going to be written, but the Ritchie’s completely nailed it. There was no hesitation, no wondering, no thinking at any time while reading that it didn’t make sense. This link between the trio is one that at first felt like an intrusive being, but ended up being a common knowledge to all three that they weren’t alone in the world since they were technically supposed to be dead. Franny, Court, and Mykal have such an interesting relationship because of it and ugh! I can’t stress how flawlessly the Ritchie’s have not only blended in the personalities of each character, but the transitions into the link and into each character’s perspective was super well done.
I really liked how the world and the background of the culture were explained to us. We learn early on that there are distinctions, not between classes, but between deathdays. Babes are those who are labeled to die before 12, Fast Trackers are labeled to die between 12 and 29, and Influentials who are labeled to die aged 30 or later. Babes live a carefree life. They’re able to be children with no worry. Fast Trackers have no childhood. They work as early as they’re allowed up until the day they die. Influentials are given more choice. They’re the ones with wealth, the ones who get to plan, and the ones that live what we would consider a ‘normal’ life. The world that the trio lives on is one of a planetary line that is too far from the sun, hence the ice and purple smog that covers the planet. The cities as you learn are really far and few. I loved being able to dive into this world that was so creative and vicious and uncaring about its inhabitants that was one like I’ve read about before.
Franny, Mykal, and Court are written in a way that makes you want to care. They stay with you long after you finish reading the book. You get hooked in their story and want the best for them. Since I finished this book, I have not been able to stop thinking about it. I need to know what is going to happen next to these characters that I have completely fallen in love with. This has quickly turned into one of my most anticipated releases of the year. I can’t wait for you to meet these characters and enter this world that the Ritchie’s have created.
Authors:
Krista & Becca Ritich are New York Times Bestselling Authors and identical twins, one a science nerd, the other a comic book geek. With their shared passion for writing, they combined their mental powers as kids and have never stopped telling stories. Graduates from the University of Georgia in Biology and English & Journalism, the twin writing duo now lives in Atlanta. The Raging Ones is their first young adult novel.
Adventures and Reading 