Life or death depends upon a simple blood test.

Plot Summary: Welcome to the ARC, an underground fallout shelter housing the only known survivors of the apocalypse. The year is 2065 and Elle Winters is a 15-year-old orphan who arrived at the Arc when she was only 2 years old. She has little memory of what life on Earth was like, other than what she is told and allowed to be shown by the authoritative Council. These mysterious and secretive Council members require everyone who lives in the ARC to undergo an annual blood test. If they are shown to be carrying a marker is positive or “tainted”, the infected person is immediately taken out of the arc, never to be seen again.
Elle has a very small circle of friends that include her first potential crush, Sebastian. As the story progresses, she and Sebastian continue to become more suspicious about the process of taking the tainted. Elle has always chosen to believe that the tainted are still alive, but has never actively sought the answers to her questions until someone close to her, is labeled “tainted” and immediately disappears.

Personal Response: I can’t say that I’m a huge fan of the dystopian genre. However, that would not prevent me from recommending this book to teen patrons. I was completely hooked! Yes, there were a few dark and depressing undertones, but there was far more mystery and suspense than violence or severe oppression. I wouldn't hesitate to read the follow-up to this story!

Curricular Connection: This type of dystopian literature is helpful in getting students to think about the future, but it also provides a gripping storyline where young protagonists fight for what's right when the adults in their lives make poor decisions. ( )

Goodreads Synopsis:
Find out what it means to be tainted in this post-apocalyptic future where the secrets are as deep and dark as the fallout shelter humanity survives in.
Elle Winters lost everything when the day of impact transformed Earth’s surface into an icy, desolate wasteland. All she has ever known are the artificial confines of underground fallout shelter, the ARC. Under the Council’s rule, ruthless officials roam the hallways, community comes first and everyone lives in fear of failing their annual testing. With one simple blood test you could be taken away without any warning or a word of goodbye.
There are only a few people in the ARC who Elle truly cares about and she desperately tries to keep them at arm’s length away for fear of losing someone else. Especially, her best friend Sebastian who she denies her feelings for, even from herself.
Chilling secrets and mysterious disappearances plague the ARC, but Elle would never dare to voice the forbidden questions that linger on her lips. That is until they take the wrong person.
No one is truly safe in the ARC and Elle is about to experience her own personal apocalypse. With nothing left to lose she will risk everything to uncover the truth about the tainted.
Will she find what she's looking for or are some secrets better left buried deep underground?
Don't miss the first book in this young adult series!

My Review:
It's the year 2065 and most of humanity was herded underground into the ARC, or the Asteroid Refugee Compound. Basically it's like a big fallout shelter. They're constantly running tests on everyone to check if they're "tainted" or not. The people deemed tainted are never seen or heard from again, presumed dead, but Elle and her friend and ex foster brother Sebastian, are convinced the tainted are still alive, they have to be. The world above ground is said to be pure chaos, radioactive and when the asteroid hit the planet it caused horrible storms on the surface that still rage on after fifteen years. Elle sometimes feels claustrophobic inside the ARC, though she's been there almost her whole life. She's scared to get too close to anyone and tends to keep most people at arms length, simply because she doesn't want to be torn apart again when they're inevitably taken from her. Although she has many friends, barely any of them can she really call family. It's been almost six months since the last tainted person has been taken, and people are starting to worry, and the rumours are flowing. After her roommate Quinn returns from her annual test, she has some off feelings and thoughts about the doctors, saying they were disappointed when her test came back negative, almost like they wanted people to be tainted. Like they were hoping someone would be taken. That's when things really start to get interesting for everyone. Sebastian and Elle stumble upon things they probably shouldn't for their own safety, and begin to stop trusting the government officials inside the ARC. Someone's keeping secrets and they are determined to get to the bottom of it. They just don't know what they're getting into. The characters in this book are realistic, and I really liked getting to know them. Although they're a bit younger than I am, I didn't feel too old reading this book. I really lied the ending and I definitely want to check out the next book in the series, I can't wait to see what happens next. Check out this book if you haven't already!
Thanks for reading! Check out this review and more at my blog.
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Excellent post apocalyptic story. Enjoyed the characters, the pace of the book, and the structure. ( )

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

(Spoilers within).

This book has a pretty decent premise to work with. The surface of the Earth has been contaminated and people have moved underground in order to survive. Even so, the people living underground have to be tested to make sure that they don't get sick, and if they turn up "tainted" they disappear.

The main character, as well as pretty much everyone in the book, has dealt with losing many important people in her life. Finally, she wants to uncover what really happens to the people who are tainted.

It's not bad. I was really curious to see where it would go, but two things majorly bogged down this book: Elle and forced romance. In a book where characters are being carted away to never come back, a lot of time is given to her romantic interests. I found myself pushing through those parts and waiting for it to get back to the actual story.

It's nothing you haven't seen before. She loves her best friend, but she can't tell him she loves him, and she has no idea that he likes her even though it's blatantly obvious (she's also doesn't think she's pretty like the other girls, even though more than one guy is infatuated with her. To quote the book, "But with my large blue eyes, thick lashes and long brown hair they see me as cute, rather than hot.").

At first I gave it the benefit of the doubt, but then the uglier side of forced romances reared its ugly head: jealousy, anger, possessiveness... Sebastian sees Elle with another man and he throws a tantrum. If a high school girl told me that a boy was acting like that around her, I wouldn't find it romantic. I'd tell her to stay far away from him.

The other romantic interest is thirteen years older than her. I don't remember if Elle's exact age was mentioned, but she's still a student. This is creepy. And to be honest, I don't mind that she thinks he's sexy. That wouldn't be weird for someone her age to think that about an older man, but it makes him really, really creepy.

I'm not sure timelines added up. She talks about meeting Ryan a year before, and then talks about him disappearing for months at a time. And based on the brief meeting shown in the book, if that's how their meetings go and then he leaves for months, how much time could she have spent with him total? Half an hour? And how did Sebastian come to the conclusion that she's dating a man that she sees for a couple minutes every few months anyway?

The second thing that bogged down the book was Elle herself. She's very negative towards most other characters.

In the beginning, she gets detention for not paying attention in class.

If I didn't have this stupid detention, I'd already be on my way back home to see Quinn.

Why doesn't she say anything about why she was distracted? Most people are empathetic, and if this is a common situation then it should be easy for her to explain with a simple, "I'm sorry, Ms. Matthews, I've been having a hard time concentrating because my friend is getting tested today." Even later in the book it makes it clear that people are very understanding about this. She probably could have avoided detention easily if she just said something.

The first other girl who wants Sebastian's attention is depicted horribly by Elle, and she didn't even do anything. She just happened to talk to the guy that Elle likes. And this sort of bitterness towards side characters continues through the book. It's very strange and nonsensical in places.

For example, when Chelsea is taken, Elle is upset that other other kids are gossiping and the other half are acting devastated even though they didn't know Chelsea. Then, when Sebastian is taken, she's upset that the other kids are all being sickeningly sweet to her. First: nothing they do makes Elle happy. If they gossip like normal, she's mad. If they're upset, she's mad. If they try to be nice to the person who lost someone, she's mad. Second, why are the side characters reacting so differently based on who was taken? Why are they nice when Sebastian is taken, and rude when Chelsea is taken?

Elle is absolutely clueless about obvious things. She has no idea why Sebastian gets upset when she talks to another guy. She sees Sebastian talking to Chelsea, and then Chelsea is taken and he's upset, and she immediately jumps to the conclusion that they must have been dating. Why? This makes as much sense as Sebastian thinking that Elle is dating some guy she talks to for a couple minutes every few months.

Not only that, but this uncaring attitude towards other characters pops up in weird places and makes both of them seem unexpectedly cold. For example, again with Chelsea: Elle is mad that she thinks Sebastian is trying to find the "tainted" people because of Chelsea's disappearance. Sebastian has to convince Elle that it's not about Chelsea.

What did Chelsea ever do wrong? What would be so horrible about him wanting to find his friend? Why is Chelsea not worth finding? They basically have to agree that this character doesn't matter for it to appease Elle and it's just awful. I felt terrible for Chelsea, having two people sitting there discussing about how meaningless she is and how much they aren't doing this to find her. It doesn't reflect well on the main characters.

Elle has glimmers of hope throughout the book. At one point, another guy, Cam, is trying to get the attention of a girl he likes during a dance. Elle gets close to him and:

When I get to him I stand on my tiptoes to get close to his ear. 'Just ask her to dance already!' I yell loudly.

This is cute. This isn't self-absorbed or forced. This is her genuinely being interested in helping someone else when she knows he has a crush.

Once his arms are around me I begin to cry. Like really, embarrassingly cry.

This is another part that I like, because it's understandable. People don't usually like to cry in front of other people, and most would probably be embarrassed if they had a breakdown in front of someone. I get this. This is a part of her character that I understand and want to see more of.

Unfortunately, that gets overshadowed by this Elle for most of the book:

Away from everyone who doesn't understand what it's like to lose your best friend.

I'm pretty sure every character in this book knows what that's like.

It also takes her about 19 chapters to do anything proactive. Before that, other people have secret connections. Other people have theories. Other people have to push her into doing things, and she complains the whole way.

Chapter 20 and on the book picks up a lot. I liked these chapters and was interested in seeing what would happen.

There was another time that stuck out to me with Elle being oddly angry at people again:

I look at the boy's face on the paper and then angrily shove the picture back into my pocket, not caring if it crinkles. The doctor had been supposed to help me, not get me thrown in remand.

The only thing the doctor did was tell her exactly what she wanted to know so that she could get tainted blood. Which she successfully did. It was her own fault that she got caught. He wasn't involved with her break-in at all, and now she's beating up the photo of his grandson? The message he desperately hoped that he might be able to pass on? Why? He didn't do anything but help her!

But besides that, the last part of the book went pretty smoothly and kept me engaged. I wish the rest of this book had gone like that. In my opinion, Sebastian and Ryan could have been completely deleted and it could have been the Elle and Quinn show, and it would have been better. Nothing about the romance worked for me - both characters were uglier when it was the focus. Jealous, angry, possessive, snippy, mean, clueless, bitter... They didn't become characters I wanted to root for or spend time with. It didn't add to the story for me, either. The same story could have been told without Sebastian, and perhaps in a much more interesting way (imagine if Elle was the one making connections, learning how to play with her CommuCuff, deciding on her own to sneak into restricted areas...)

If you want to read a dystopian book and romances like these don't bother you, then you may enjoy this book. People who have read my reviews probably know that I don't like certain portrayals of romance. I would be interested in seeing what happens next - I just hope Sebastian doesn't take over again. ( )

Completed 11/28/17 ( )