Article 5 by Kristen Simmons

Release Date: March, 2012

Publisher: Pier 9

Pages: 364pgs

The Story

New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C., have been abandoned.

The Bill of Rights has been revoked, and replaced with the Moral Statutes.

There are no more police - instead, there are soldiers. There are no more fines for bad behavior - instead, there are arrests, trials, and maybe worse. People who get arrested usually don't come back.

Seventeen-year-old Ember Miller is old enough to remember that things weren't always this way. Living iwth her rebellious single mother, it's hard for her to forget that people weren't always arrested for reading the wrong books or staying out after dark. It's hard to forget that life in the United States used to be different.

Ember has perfected the art of keeping a low profile. She knows how to get the things she needs, like food stamps and hand-me-down clothes, and how to pass the random home inspections by the military. Her life is as close to peaceful as circumstances allow.
That is, until her mother is arrested for noncompliance with Article 5 of the Moral Statutes. And one of the arresting officers is none other than Chase Jennings . . . the only boy Ember has ever loved.

The Review

This review is very difficult for me to write because I absolutely adored this book and every single detail inside of it. If you've heard about the hype then it's correct. It is one of the best and one of the most entertaining dystopian reads I've ever read in a while. And honestly . . . there are no words to describe this unique dystopian tale except that it's awesome, it's startling and all the words have truly hit home for me.

In the world of ARTICLE 5, the War has changed everything for mankind. With the rights of each citizen having been revoked and therefore must adhere to the current Mortal Statues, seventeen-year-old Ember soon gets her own dose of reality and with the laws of Article 5 being revised, her and her mother's life are now in danger because of it. Ember knows the true realisation of her life and the consequences she may soon have to face - where people are always arrested for crimes of the simplest of things - and yet despite knowing of those strict laws surrounding her world . . . she's still willing to put herself out there and continue to fight for justice. However as she struggles, the last thing Ember expects is to have help from a familiar face . . . a boy named Chase whom just happens to be her childhood boy-next-door neighbour and also her longtime crush. But with Chase being one of them - a military officer like so many others - Ember will need to question where everyone's - including herself - loyalties lie.

Dystopian books have become a hit or miss factor for me, either because nothing WOWS me anymore or simply because it's hard to come by an amazing and honest dystopian book. With so many greats out there such as The Hunger Games or even The Forest of Hands & Teeth, it's still really hard to compare them to others or find another title that is simply better than the rest of them. For this book however, I found that it certainly measured up to the great stars of the dystopian genre and found it was so much more entertaining and equallly as addictive as the bestsellers out there. With Kristen Simmon's debut novel ARTICLE 5 it's without a doubt one of those books that comes around unexpectedly and rocks your world forever. With the perfect blend of spine-tingling action, breathtaking and wildly-intense suspense, vivid imagery and an almost world-like atmosphere, it's no wonder why I loved this book so, so much and why so many have praised it up on the high bar!

With the storyline rocking my world (clearly) so did its main characters! Ember was straight off one of the strongest characters I've ever come across and is one of the best, too! What I admire most in my heroines is what they stand for in their broken societies and for Ember's character in particular, she was one of those few girls that stands up for herself no matter the consequences that stands in her way. Being her mother's rock and the strongest person within her family, Ember had no choice but to take charge when it was necessary and even when she faces severe series of torment - both physically, emotionally and psychologically - just by reading about her fears alone and her mere desperation to find out what happened to her mother made it so much easier to sympathise with her and I guess in a way I formed a bond with her. She's a survivor and a bit of rebel . . . my favourite kind of heroine if I do say so myself!

In the case of love interests, Ember's relationship with Chase was a great thing to have in a book such as this one. You have to love those childhood friends and childhood crushes. I mean, beyond the surface of these two characters right here - Ember and Chase - and the past that they tried to leave behind them, you can immediately sense a variety of unresolved feelings rotating between the two of them, but just like Ember's character, this boy Chase manages - just barely - to keep these intense feelings hidden inside of him and that's why I loved this boy so much. Throughout the book you get to see two sides to Chase - one from the past who is both sweet and tender and the other one of the present is broken, hardened, and cold. Seeing those two sides of him only proves how well the author has created depth to her characters (really she has created so much depth to them) and oh boy Chase . . . his presence alone was incredibly intense and he soon begins to crack open Embers heart once more - the heart of the past - and morphs it into something so beautiful that I will never stop talking about it. Yup, I'm totally gushing over him right now and I regret nothing!

Overall, the author captures the brutality of war, love and a little bit of everything in between so creatively and I'm addicted to it all. Jam-packed with pulse-racing action, engaging characters, impressive world-building, skilled writing, and of course filled with a breath of fresh air to make this book come to life . . . ARTICLE 5 has definitely become one of my favourites for this year so do yourself a favour and go check it out!

The Rating

5/5 stars