Note: I received this book in exchange for an honest review

The war inside is a really great young adult book with an imaginary and dark futuristic world, interesting characters, great writing and the plot that makes you want to keep reading, and reading, and reading.

Imagine a future without the sun….the planet so polluted that the sunlight can no longer reach it. Without it, everything is dark, dreary and life is hard. People are alienated and think only of themselves. Even though the book is dystopian, the world and the writing have a fantasy feel to it that I loved.

The characters and the dynamic between them is great. Headstrong and independent Thea and annoyingly handsome, arrogant and cocky Caden cannot stand one another. Thea is used to being alone and taking care of herself and only herself - just like the rest of the world does. It is the survival of the fittest rule that you either learn very young and live or don’t learn.
But then Thea started having these weird dreams that, despite her own rules, compel her to save an injured girl. She soon learns that the girl is anything but usual. Viviana in unusually kind, positive and good-natured. But she and also has strange glowing skin over her heart that freaks Thea out.
When this strange light spreads to Thea’s hands and Viviana’s life is hanging by a thread, Thea has no choice but to trust Caden who supposedly has the map to the last city. The three of them set on a journey that is just a beginning of a great and dangerous adventure that may impact not just them, but the future of the whole planet.

I've already placed an order of the book for the library so that my students can read it and enjoy it as well. I am REALLY looking forward to the sequel. ( )

I am giving this book 5 of 5 stars because it was an imaginative, brilliantly descriptive read!!! I loved it!!! Seriously! I will say I was a little skeptical at first because of the “Dark Nature” of the authors writing, but once I realized that it was her intent to give off that “dark” feeling in her writing and was able to see what the outcome could be, with the hope and possibility of a brighter future that the author was trying to imply…. I FELL IN LOVE!!!

OK… so I have to state that this book is very different than anything I have read. I have read plenty of Dystopian novels but this one is a cold and dark dystopian novel which was a little hard for me to get into at first, maybe for the sheer fact that it is a scarier reality for me than other Dystopian Novels. Basically you can read the synopsis of this book from Goodreads or Amazon… but what drove the overall point of this authors writing home for me…. Was an excerpt from Enoch.

Here is the excerpt from Enoch… it describes the situation of this story beautifully….
“Our planet is dying as you all well know, but it wasn’t always like this!” Enoch Explained. “Before the blackout and before the canopy of pollution that blankets the earth, the sun shone brightly. The Earth was green and lush, and the sky was bright blue, just the color of your eyes, Rain. People were different then. They had families, married, and made children out of love. They grew old together. People sang and danced and created art. It was a wonderful time. But then people became greedy and absorbed in what they called technology. This technology ate up more and more of their time and hearts. Soon they forgot about each other. They forgot to care about their families. They even forgot that there was a whole beautiful world outside that they were polluting to death with chemicals and trash. Before the change ~ people tried to be good and do what is right. After ~ it was every man for himself ~ dark and tragic!!!”

When I read this passage… the whole novel totally clicked for me and I found myself unable to stop reading it!!! I am unable to wait for the sequel because the author left off with a cliff hanger ending…. But that is fine… it makes me await the next book even more. I found myself in love with Caden and Thea actually developing feelings for each other while venturing on their travels to the last know city on earth, The Stronghold. These feelings are what mark a change to the cold heartless world they live in… because they find themselves starting to feel and care about each other and their friends… and this is something that no one ever did in their world. It leaves us all with hope and that is all right with me! And I really like Caden’s bad boy character and Thea’s tough girl character! Throw in Rain and Viv, and Naomi and Enoch and you have a fabulous cast! Thanks so much to M. Kircher for writing such an amazingly imaginative, fabulously descriptive, Dystopian Novel. ( )

When I learned that this was a dystopian book, I immediately jumped on it. A girl is left alone on what is left of Earth, which is very little, as the planet is dying itself. People have become detached completely from society and are no longer found in pairs or group situations, avoiding attachments to one another completely. The world has changed drastically, and the characters are in the dark when it comes to what is going on all over the Earth.

It was great how the author slowly killed off the planet and how much humanity, or lack there of, was changed drastically. I could vividly see the images the author was trying to portray, so all the writing was very expressive and the use of adjectives was amazing.

Since the book is from Thea's point a view, I thought we would be opened up to her mind much more than we were. She seemed like she had no thoughts or feelings about pretty much anything. Also, since we are watching her character develop along the way through the story, I would've liked to know more about how she felt about what was happening around her. What I did gather from her was that she seemed overly cheerful or happy considering her situation, which I found odd. Maybe it was from lack of getting to know her.

By the end of the book, I did find myself left with unanswered questions I wish would have been closed up, but maybe this is an indication of a sequel to come. Who knows.

There is so much more to this book, but I don't want to spoil the whole book for you. Pick it up, check it out. It's unique in the dystopian genre and I think you'll most likely enjoy this book assuming you like dystopian books. I would rate this book a 4/5. Can't wait for follow up books. ( )

A-freaking-mazing. I love end-of-the-world, dystopian stories, and this one was spot on. It’s theme of what is causing the world to be in such a depressing condition, is easily believable, considering our world’s love of technology and the ever-increasing distance we seem to be putting between ourselves and others. Although the Internet and social networking seem to be doing the exact opposite, it’s easy to see that people (especially teenagers) rely on that screen to separate them emotionally. I often find myself preferring to type a quick message on Facebook than actually call and talk to a live person, let alone drive to see someone in person. It’s scary how easily I could see humanity devolving into a similar condition of no trust and constant avoidance of others. I don’t give 5’s very easily, but this one came very close. For a first-time novel, Kircher did an excellent job of characterization and world-building. Rain is my favorite so far, though I can’t quite put my finger on why. I’m glad Thea listened to the dreams and rescued Viviana in the beginning. I can’t imagine how scary going against all you’ve lived and been taught would have been in that situation. Kircher’s underlying themes of trust and kindness being the key to saving the world, come at a time when it seems a lot of humanity is forgetting that. I hope these books find a wide audience. They are easily as good as The Hunger Games, and I can’t wait to see the reception of this author and her future books, both for this series and any others she might dream up one day.

Rating: 4.5

HEAT Rating: None

Reviewed By: Daysie W.

Review Courtesy of: My Book Addictions and More ( )