The Roar by Emma Clayton

This was such a great science fiction "feel good" book.  It's going to be a little difficult explaining it so bare with me and you can always just email me and ask me questions if you're confused.  The base of the story is that its set in a future where there was an "animal plague" and all the animals pretty much went nuts and started killing people.  So in order to save the human race there were concrete walls built around the city, which takes place in London, and animals were killed and all plant life was killed.  So eventually there became the problem of overcrowding and new communities were starting to be built up since there was nowhere to built out.  It eventually was situated so the The Shadows was were all the poor people lived which were fold up apartments with pretty much no light because the new london where the rich people lived were on top of them.  The Shadows were horrible living conditions.  Moldy and slimy, people dieing from the mold.  They ate imitation meat and pretty much imitation everything since there were no plants or animals left.  Also, because of the plague, the government didn't let the anyone have kids for 30 years!!! So the youngest adult was around 43 when they could start having kids again!  But this arcade game comes along that the government turns into a contest.  They want to help the kids supposedly be as strong and fit as they can be since they're not eating real meat and vegetables and fruit.  So they give them a drink that they make them drink everyday which starts to make them grow at an accelerated rate.  In being the first generation since the plague, some of the kids are being born with "deffects".  Mika has webbed feet, Audrey has borg eyes(fake eyes), Ruben can read peoples emotions, Leo has a tail...just a lot of different stuff.  Eventually the government starts to find the "special" kids in the contest and the stakes get higher.  The kids are pretty much bribed into the game with extravagant gifts that are really for their parents to give them a bette life.  I'm not gonna give too much away, I could write a couple pages worth about this book.  It was awesome!

Usually once I start a book I can kind of get a sense of where it's going.  The Roar was full of suprises and it always left me guessing or wondering what was going to happen next.  There are so many stories within this story that make it so interesting.  It is a longer book being at almost 500 pages, but PLEASE don't let that scare you!! It is an awesome read, AND there is going to be another one!  I'm going to have to check on the dates and let you know.  But this book really is a great one.  It has a good theme of hope over adversity and overcoming situations that would normally be easy to give up on.  I especially loved the relationship of the twins, Mika & Ellie, thorughout the entire book.  Neither one gave up on eachother and would not stop until they would find eachother.  Shows how great a sibling relationship can be!!!  Strongly suggest this a good summer read!  Hope you enjoy!