2.5 Stars ( )

FROM AMAZON: From the author of Words in the Dust: an action-packed YA novel set in a frighteningly plausible near future, about what happens when the States are no longer United.

Danny Wright never thought he'd be the man to bring down the United States of America. In fact, he enrolled in the National Guard because he wanted to serve his country the way his father did. When the Guard is called up on the governor's orders to police a protest in Boise, it seems like a routine crowd control mission... but then Danny's gun misfires, spooking the other soldiers and the already fractious crowd. By the time the smoke clears, 12 people are dead. The president wants the soldiers arrested. The governor swears to protect them. And as tensions build on both sides, the conflict slowly escalates toward the unthinkable: a second American civil war.

With political questions that are popular in American culture yet rare in YA fiction, and a plot that's both excitingly provocative and frighteningly plausible, Divided We Fall will be Trent Reedy's very timely YA debut. ( )

This has been so popular at my school that both copies were out most of the year. I'm adding the audio to my library collection for an additional option. ( )

I seldom comment, but this book frustrated me. While it highlights timely topics in state/federal issues, so many things here were not plausible. People who want to avoid capture don't live at home, play in scheduled games, keep work and school schedules, or stay connected with cell phones. An oath made to the national guard isn't secondary to the one made to the US govt and people. And self preservation is NOT the same as self defense!

While the actions of the characters in the story may have legitimacy in the minds of a few (especially those who wave Confederate flags or who squat on federal lands in NV or OR), the "plausibility" of this leading to an armed conflict with an entire, landlocked, rogue state implies that there is still a Constitutional debate here. The South lost that argument more than once. And, yes, Governor Montaigne, the SCOTUS does get to decide whether or not federal laws are Constitutional! That's what they do!

Also, so many stereotypes, flat characters and platitudes! Where is the line between civil disobedience and domestic terrorism? This main character thinks of no one but himself, so who is he actually serving? He didn't even fully understand the issue he was fighting for. Yuck!

But hot girlfriend, football, bull riding, beer, weapons, media-bashing, and car chases, though! ( )

Danny Wright never thought he'd be the man to bring down the United States of America. In fact, he enlisted in the Idaho National Guard because he wanted to serve his country the way his father did. When the Guard is called up on the governor's orders to police a protest in Boise, it seems like a routine crowd-control mission ... but then Danny's gun misfires, spooking the other soldiers and the already fractious crowd, and by the time the smoke clears, twelve people are dead.

The president wants the soldiers arrested. The governor swears to protect them. And as tensions build on both sides, the conflict slowly escalates toward the unthinkable: a second American civil war. ( )