RESISTANT: A WORLD DIVIDED by Erika Modrak

5 stars

If you’re craving the world of young adult dystopias, then Resistant will sweep you into a ravaged near future where a pandemic virus has wiped out much of humanity and four resilient idealistic teens have to rise up in order to set things right.

Two teens, Cat and Abel, have grown up in the walled, domed, quarantined, and heavily guarded enclave of The Community. They spend their days focused on school and research to discover a working cure. Cat’s beloved Mom is slowly dying from some vague illness, not the virus, that’s sweeping through the community with deadly aftermath. Cat’s father is the formidable, intimidating, cold founding Scientist leading both The Community and its scientific efforts. Abel is a refugee orphan taken in at The Community’s founding, and on to something being terribly wrong in The Community. He’s searching for a possible way to escape and wants to enlist his best friend Cat alongside him.

Meanwhile, in a forest “camp” comprised of long abandoned homes on the outside, a group of healthy survivors fend for a precarious survival. Part of this depends on secretly picking up key items such as fuel delivered at a bridge pick-up adjacent to The Community. Wren, a rebellious teen is the daughter of the leader of the outcasts, a doctor who keeps her own closely held secrets. Ryder, an orphan, adores her and holds out the allure of trips outside the camp on his motorcycle. In a bridge pick-up of supplies, things turn dangerous, shots get fired, and Wren barely escapes with her life.

What follows is adventure, life-threatening dangers, teaming up to overcome seemingly unsurmountable hurdles, and a quest for the truth. True to the best of dystopian tales, teens not fully indoctrinated into their society’s ideology become painfully aware of the deep fault lines in their parents’ generation decisions. They get thrust into heroism as they spring into action to actualize a better future. What follows involves overcoming self-doubt, working towards ever increasing clarity as to what’s going on, finding their own moral centers, defending against danger from all sides, and rooting out of tyranny.

Best of all, Book 2 is coming!

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced reader’s copy of this book.

Stacy DeBroff

Stacy DeBroff, founder and CEO of Mom Central.com and social and digital consultancy, Influence Central, is a social media strategist, attorney, and best-selling parenting author. A sought-after expert for national media, she trend-spots regularly with national brands and speaks frequently to national and international audiences on a wide range of subjects, including influencer marketing, social media, entrepreneurship, and consumer trends. A passionate cook, gardener, reader, and tennis player, she adores this new chapter of post-college-age parenting.