Title - The War Inside
Author - M. Kircher
Genre - YA Dystopian/Paranormal (With Romance elements)
Release Date: July 28, 2013
The end of the world is only just the beginning. So eighteen-year-old Thea discovers when her solitary life on a dying Earth is shattered by a mysterious dream, a devastating choice, and a strange gift that propels her on a journey towards the restoration of all mankind.
Thea is bitter and alone, just like everyone else left eking out an existence on a sunless, cloud-covered Earth. A terrifying dream convinces her to save the life of sixteen-year old Viviana, who has a deadly infection, as well as a freakish patch of glowing skin over her heart. When this light spreads to Thea, causing her palms to glow, she is forced to trust Caden, an arrogant, lazy, and annoyingly handsome boy she utterly despises. Caden has a map to the last city on Earth, and the only place that might have a cure for both Viv's infection and the strange light on Thea's hands. As the trio embark on a journey through the barren wilderness, Thea and Caden discover, and try to fight, their mounting attraction to each other. Along the way they are joined by Rain, Naomi, and Enoch who explain that the light is not a curse, but a powerful gift meant to heal the polluted Earth and reconnect the remnants of humanity. When the group learns that Viv is the key to this planet-wide redemption, and that there are deadly shadows who will do anything to keep humans in the darkness forever, they each must make the difficult decision to help Viv fulfill her destiny...and save the world.
My Thoughts: Wow! This book sure surprised me. I accepted to review this book a while ago and finally picked it up without remembering the premise. I was not sure what to expect. I was immediately captivated once I started reading.
Though this was a dystopian, post-apocalyptic tale, it was also a cautionary tale. In this future, Earth was dying because of humans' carelessness and obsession with technology. Humans were too observed with their devices that they lost the sense of communication with others. Humans have become cold and ruthless creatures with no sense of love or caring for others. They have allowed the world to die with all the chemicals they have put into it. With the neglect, electricity died out and a "canopy" emerged. All of this had me thinking about how we are changing as a population due to technology. This kind of world was very scary to think of because it all sounded true. I really hope we don't come to this conclusion.
As having a dying Earth as our setting, the story itself was very interesting. My mind boggled at how the characters reacted to one another, especially the mothers. The story became more interesting when the main character Thea picked up the young girl Viv. It soon became very fantasy like due to the "light" that the characters ended up showing. There was also a sense of religion hidden within the story's message. None of this deter me from the book; in fact, I was even more fascinated by it.
The characters were developed very well. I could really understand their feelings and their actions. I loved watching the characters grow and change throughout the story. It was like watching these people become more human in the sense of feelings. For example, the main character Thea was independent and very cautious. She did not trust anyone and preferred to be alone. She was also very bitter and uncaring. After meeting Viv, she began to grow feelings and her actions started to change. The other characters were great too, including the villains. The villains were actually scary to imagine, and these creatures had me on edge the whole time.
Overall, this was an exciting read! I enjoyed it tremendously. I loved the cautionary message that it had. The descriptions were very vivid to imagine which had me scared at a possible future for us. The plot was interesting, and the characters were fun as well. I cannot wait to get my hands on the second book! I rate it:
About the Author:
M. KIRCHER graduated with a B.A. in Fine Arts from Gordon College and is currently an author and artist. “The War Inside” is her first novel, but there are more to come including the second book in The Horizons Trilogy, “The Gray Horizon” and “Dreamcatchers”, a futuristic twist on the legend of Rip Van Winkle. She devours YA, science fiction, fantasy, and romance on a regular basis and is immensely happy to pour her time and energy into creating stories for other people to enjoy. Bob Ross and J.R.R. Tolkien tie for her two favorite people of all time.She and her husband write regularly for Relevant Magazine (www.relevantmagazine.com) and Simply Youth Ministry (www.youthministry.com). They also just had their first book published called “99 Thoughts on Marriage and Ministry”, by Group Publishing.
M. Kircher lives in Connecticut with her husband, one energetic son, and a new baby girl.
The premise of this book sounds really interesting. Great review.
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