Pure by Julianna Baggott [Review]

4.5 out of 5 Robots!

 

Pure by Julianna Baggott

Series: Pure #1

Genre: Young Adult Dystopian

Release: February 8, 2012

Hardcover: 431 Pages

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

My Copy: Purchased

Reviewer: Shannon

Buy the Book: Amazon

Book Summary:

We know you are here, our brothers and sisters . . .
Pressia barely remembers the Detonations or much about life during the Before. In her sleeping cabinet behind the rubble of an old barbershop where she lives with her grandfather, she thinks about what is lost-how the world went from amusement parks, movie theaters, birthday parties, fathers and mothers . . . to ash and dust, scars, permanent burns, and fused, damaged bodies. And now, at an age when everyone is required to turn themselves over to the militia to either be trained as a soldier or, if they are too damaged and weak, to be used as live targets, Pressia can no longer pretend to be small. Pressia is on the run.

Burn a Pure and Breathe the Ash . . .
There are those who escaped the apocalypse unmarked. Pures. They are tucked safely inside the Dome that protects their healthy, superior bodies. Yet Partridge, whose father is one of the most influential men in the Dome, feels isolated and lonely. Different. He thinks about loss-maybe just because his family is broken; his father is emotionally distant; his brother killed himself; and his mother never made it inside their shelter. Or maybe it's his claustrophobia: his feeling that this Dome has become a swaddling of intensely rigid order. So when a slipped phrase suggests his mother might still be alive, Partridge risks his life to leave the Dome to find her.

When Pressia meets Partridge, their worlds shatter all over again. (Courtesy of the Publisher)

 
Shannon's Thoughts:

Dystopian is one of my favorite genres, so I’ve read a lot of it.  Which means, unfortunately, that I am not easily surprised anymore.  But I am happy to say that Pure managed to take me by surprise.  It was much darker and grittier than I expected.  There was a definite creepy vibe, especially with how people fused with objects at the time of the bomb.  There are several storylines to follow and I liked how they all came together near the end.  It is obvious that Baggott put a lot of thought into her book.  I appreciated that she tries to make her dystopic world make sense.  However, the story tends to suffer a little bit amid the long descriptive passages.  But overall there was a lot to keep me interested.  I was also pleasantly surprised by the love interest.  I expected it to play out a certain way, but it didn’t.  It turned out better than expected actually.  Overall, I really enjoyed the darker elements of this story.  Baggott does a great job of creating a hallowed out and dangerous world.  I thought the characters were really interesting and well flushed out.  If you like dystopians, I definitely recommend adding this to your reading pile.  
Books in the series in the order they should be read:
1. Pure
2. Fuse