If you like futuristic adventure mixed in with young adult romance, then this is the book for you. TH Hernandez presents two new worlds – the environmentally conscious utopian society of the Union and the wild, raw beauty of the Ruins. In the process of finding herself, Evan is torn between two societies and two boys. As the only person who cares enough about both the Union and the Ruins she finds herself caught in the middle of a conflict that only intensifies as she fights for her survival and falls in love. This is a book I will keep on my shelf and read over and over. The story is beautifully told with depth and emotion. A stunning debut novel.
The first installment of THE UNION, by T.H. Hernandez, is a unique, dystopian, coming-of-age story that follows Evan, a privileged, yet lost young adult who sets out on a quest to find herself and her purpose. Throughout the story, Evan encounters equal amounts of love and danger, and finds herself emerging as an unlikely hero, committed to saving her communities and those she loves, and ultimately, to saving the world.
Hernandez is a deft writer and her skills particularly shine when it comes to conveying romance. While two love interests are portrayed in this story, I swooned most strongly for sweet, serious Cyrus, who arguably owned the lion's share of story time. But the love between Evan and Cyrus seems that of soul mates--not love-at-first-sight, but one that begins with friendship and develops slowly, strengthening even as the two face difficult obstacles.
The second love interest, Bryce, is introduced at the beginning of the story, and reappears at the end. Questions have been raised as to Bryce's honesty and intentions, though he comes across as genuinely affectionate towards Evan and I could see him causing his own share of swooning if, as I suspect, he will get more story time in the next installment.
I'm definitely looking forward to reading more of this thrilling, heart-jerking tale...
uturistic adventure/romance is not usually my thing, but futuristic adventure/romance as done by T.H. Hernandez won me over in The Union. Hernandez depicts play-by-play action sequences with the finesse of Michael Bay, keeping the reader right in the moment and on the edge of his or her seat. And the romance? Yeeeeaaah, she does that, too. Not only did she evoke reader crushes on BOTH potential love options for Evan, but some secondary male characters as well (what's not to love about a brawny family man?). To be honest, it took me a little while to wrap my head around Hernandez's conception of the future US of A, but in the end, that's because the world she's created doesn't fit neatly into our normal utopian or dystopian schemas...and that's a GOOD thing! This story's an original, and so is she. Looking forward to the next book in the series.
