Tuesday, July 12, 2011

The Third by Abel Keogh

Genre: Dystopian
Published: April 2011, 263 pp.
Source: Review copy from publisher (Cedar Fort)
Review:  3/5 stars

Brief Summary:  In the not too distant future, Ransom Lawe and his wife Teya struggle to make ends meet in a world where, due to global warming and other environmental disasters, food, energy, and...children are rationed.  Families are allowed to have only two children and, as you may guess, Teya becomes pregnant with a third child.   
My Thoughts:  The Third by Abel Keogh caught my attention from the very first chapter.  The world he has created seems very possible and that makes it unnerving.  It was refreshing for me to read a dystopian novel with adult main characters instead of teenagers.  In ways I could relate more to the characters and what their lives are like since they are parents like me.  However, in other ways I felt like I was never really invested in the characters and I didn't care about them very much.  They seemed to make so many stupid decisions and mistakes that I got to the point that I wasn't very sympathetic.  So, while I did enjoy and like the book,  I think I would have liked it more if I could have liked the main characters more.
Recommendations:  I would recommend this book to any of you dystopian fans out there.  It is especially nice to read a little dystopian that's not YA for a change.
Ratings: 2.3.1 There is a scene in which a character is intending to rape someone.  There is some violence in some scenes where a character is beaten up and there is a physical threat to a baby.  I don't remember any profanity.

Thanks for reading!

6 comments:

Suey said...

Sounds like a good one despite the main character issues. Gah, I hate it when that happens though!

Laura at Library of Clean Reads said...

I haven't heard of this one yet, and I agree with you that the premise lends itself to adults with issues we can relate to. Just the synopsis had me already interested in reading the book.

Kathryn Cooper said...

I've recently started a clean teen book blog that you might be interested in. Maybe you could put my blog button on your blog.

http://cleanteenfiction.blogspot.com

belinda said...

I am a new author,will you please read my book," MY LITTLE SECRETS" author Belinda Davis, My book is a love story that happen in the south and I know it will make a great movie! Thank you for your time Belinda!

Allysa from Harry Potter Books said...

Great review, although I must say I think the major character's decisions were important for the book coherence.

alisonwonderland said...

I hadn't heard of this one. I'll have to take a look at it ...