The three countries that once made up North America are now one - crammed into a huge city where every move of every citizen is being watched. There is hope, though, from the barricade coalition; the people who have fought the incorporated government in wars before and are willing to do so again for the right to live freely. One of those barricaders is Prudence Wu. Pru is seventeen years old and attends a preppy boarding school with her friend Anabel Park - she has nothing to do with the ongoing arms race between the barricaders and the incorporated government, and she certainly has no intention to get involved. Her life changes for good, though, when she is rescued from incorporated territory by a mechanical dragon, and subsequently swept up into the lives of the barricader forces.
AGE RANGE TEEN
THEMES
Sci-Fi
Action
Dragon
Future
War
School
Family
Romance
OVERALL RATING 7/10
Though the plot of Rebelwing is certainly interesting, there are a couple major issues. My first issue with the book is that it is very hard to understand what is going on. Between the constant political talk about a world and government you don't understand and the complete lack of explanation of what is actually going on, it is very hard to know what is happening as you read and I usually had to read the following chapter to piece together what happened in the one before it. Like, how did the dragon appear? IT NEVER TELLS YOU EVER, THE DRAGON IS JUST THERE! The lack of explanation of what was actually going on in the moment was really frustrating. The other thing is how the characters talk. I know I mention this in just about every YA book I review, but it's even worse than normal in this book. I mean, who makes slang-filled jokes about hating their almost-boyfriend when they're about to die? Couldn't they say something more meaningful? All that aside, the plot is very cool and, were it written differently, it could be a great book.
PROS
Great plot
CONS
Unrealistic character and dialogue
Very hard to understand what is going on
Lots of political talk about a fictional political system which gets quite boring