Chapter by Chapter

When I read the synopsis of Wasteland by Susan Kim and Laurence Klavan, it sounded like it was right up my alley. A Dystopian read with a Hunger Games type feel to it.Basically, Wasteland revolves around a settlement called Prin. There are no adults, and a slew of teens have made a life for themselves. Assigned with a different tasked every two weeks, everyone is pulling their weight in order for the town to survive.Unfortunately 15 year old Esther wants to nothing but play with her friend Skar. But Skar is not like Esther. Skar is a variant. In other words, Skar and her people are considered mutants. Mutants who are born hermaphrodicitc until the age of 15 where they chose the sex they want to be. There has been a lot of activity coming from the variant camp. Lots of destruction to the town of Prin by the hands of these variants. No one can understand where all this hostility is coming from, and why they are dead set on destroying their town.Fortunately, a stranger wanders into town named Caleb. And Caleb single handedly thwarts the disgusting actions of a group of Variants, and the people of Prin see Caleb as a hero…as the one who will save them all. But Caleb has his own agenda. One that includes vengeance and a vendetta to settle.With secrets coming to light and an evil plan that has been in the making many years ago, will Caleb be able to save those that he cares about, and will Esther finally grow up and do something that will change her life forever?To be perfectly honest, I was a little disappointed in Wasteland, and there were multiple times during the read that I wanted to DNF it. I felt like the writing was all over the place, and the jumping of point of views was getting to the point of confusion. There isn’t really a warning that the POV is changing…it just does? And then it’ll take my brain a little bit to catch up and see whose POV it is and what’s happening.It was difficult to grasp that the characters in the book were kids. All pretty much under the age of seventeen years of age. And the dialogue and language used would be somewhat inconsistent. There would be times where they sounded like uneducated kids…which is pretty much what they all are since many don’t know how to read… and then all of a sudden, they would speaking more intellectual. And with Esther, it was so annoying to see how she would shirk her responsibilities to screw around. Even knowing full well that she only had one strike left! And then she’s surprise with how things turn out for her? Gah!But the storyline, once you get through the nitty gritty, was one that was addicting. A story of revenge…which personally, are my favorite kind of stories. There were a few characters in the story that were really interesting to follow, such as Caleb and Levi. And the history that comes to light between these two was a great twist to the story.And nearing the end, it was a straight through action packed ride where most everything is wrapped up in a nice neat bow. I recommend this read to fans of reads involving vengeance and who are looking for a Dystopian read that may keep you on your toes.