Book Review - Article 5

Article 5
Author: Kristen Simmons
Series: Article 5 #1
Genres: Dystopian | Young Adult
Release Date: 31st January 2012
Publishers: Tor Teen
No. Pages: 362
Source: Borrowed
Rating:
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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The Bill of Rights has been revoked, and replaced with the Moral Statutes.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 with 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.

So its no secret that I'm a big sucker for Dystopian books right? Well if it was, than let me be the first to tell you that indeed I am. So when I came across Article 5 I added it to my TBR shelf right away and there it stayed for years, sadly forgotten. I wanted to read it for a long time so when I came across it in my local library I was excited and happy to finally delve into what I thought would be another great addition to the already near perfect genre. Sadly that's not what I got with this book. The most upsetting thing for me while reading this story is how it had such great potential, the idea behind it was just genius and I was sure it was going to be a winner, and though it was a fun and easy read I feel like it just lacked a lot.

ARTICLE 1
The United States embraces the Church of America as her official religion.
ARTICLE 2
Literature and other media considered immoral are hereby banned and shall not be owned, bought, sold, or traded in any capacity.
ARTICLE 3
Whole families are to be considered one man, one woman, and child(ren).
ARTICLE 4
Traditional male and female roles shall be observed.
ARTICLE 5
Children are considered valid citizens only when conceived by a married man and wife.

Those are the Moral Statutes of The United States of America and also happen to be the reason I was dying to get my hands on the novel. I mean the premise of the story alone was enough to catch anyone's eye. But when you have a premise like that, and next to no back story it just doesn't work. Instead you are left scratching your head and speculating as to why the world has turned the way it had. Don't get me wrong, backstory isn't a 100% necessary in most other genres, its nice but not always needed, when it comes to Dystopian novels having no back story and trying to get away with saying there was a war or something terrible happened doesn't work because you need to seriously explain why in order for the readers to connect to the book.

When it comes to the plot it feels like not a lot happens other than a road trip. I mean don't get me wrong, things obviously happen as Ember is not only taken from her home and forced into a reformatory because her mother broke the rules, but is treated badly there by guards that think they can do what they like with the girls, but the majority of this book is made up of Ember and Chase on the road and her not being able to make up her mind about him being good guy or not, putting herself in danger because she doesn't trust him. This ladies and gentleman is not just the reason why it feels like nothing happens, but also the reason why it's hard to really call it a Dystopian novel as its more like a romance with only a little post apocalyptic feel to it.

Reading the book it felt more like a sequel, not just because of the lack of back story to everything around them but because of Ember's and Chases relationship. Though we had a few flash backs scattered around the book of when they were a couple , most of the time it felt like we were just meant to already know how they felt towards each other and what they had been through to get to that point in the relationship, they rekindled a little on the road but it came across more as an insta-love because we weren't around the first time to actually connect and swoon over the relationship, does that make any sense at all or am I just rambling?

Even though I've done nothing but highlight the negative things about the book I did like some of the characters. I really liked Ember's friends Ryan and Beth, sadly you don't really get to read much about them so I'm hoping for more character development on their part as the series goes on. I also really liked Chase and as the book went on I really felt for him, Ember put so much emphasis on the fact that he left to go be a solider but there was much more to his side of the story than just up and leaving one day and I think Ember is really unfair when it comes to Chase. Ember as a character was someone who sadly I just could not connect with no matter how much I tried. Like already mentioned she blamed others for a lot of thing without taking any responsibility in it, she was a little bit too much of a 'woe is me' type of character at times. I also couldn't help but feel like she was purposely put in situations by Kristen Simmons to try and highlight how terrible the world they lived in was, but instead it just made Ember come across as reckless and selfish.

As you could have already guess I wasn't a big fan of this book, I think myself I just felt more disappointed than anything. For all its faults though the world building was something I enjoyed because I felt like I could really picture everything around Ember and Chase. Will I continue the series? Yes I will. I'm not sure when but I want to see what happens and hope that a lot more time has gone into explain what happened.