L. J. Epps

The opening of the novel - in the middle of an action scene - is compelling, and the concepts addressed by the text are interesting. Emma is the last child to turn 18 in Territory L, where the poor are forced to live on meager rations and forbidden to have children. Things are better in the Territory M, but young adults are only permitted to attend college there if their parents have been promoted to middle class. Babies are only born to the rich in Territory U.

I received a complimentary copy of Extinction of All Children through Voracious Readers Only with the expectation that I would read the novel and then write a review. I chose this novel because I was interested in the premise, but the further I read, the less I enjoyed it. Despite the potentially meaningful topics of addressed by the book, the execution is not compelling.

Because all the characters are over 18, it's not clear that the intended audience is young adults, but the novel lacks the sophistication expected of a text aimed at adult readers. Even YA novels typically use more sophisticated writing, so perhaps the intended audience is actually upper elementary school students. The main character's thoughts and actions also make more sense if she is 9 or 10.

Extinction of All Children uses tropes common in young adult dystopian literature, but without internal consistency. First, Emma is trained in combat, but not as part of the resistance. She is arrested for making a speech criticizing the president's unjust laws, and one of the prison guards trains her. Emma herself questions why the president wants to improve her stay in prison by releasing her from her cell. It would have made more sense if, after her dangerous speech, Emma fled to a resistance group.

Overcoming sexism is a familiar element of YA novels with female heroines, but it doesn't make sense for the female president to proclaim that "women are weak, mentally and physically," because that undermines her own position as leader.

Third, as a young girl, I enjoyed the training sequences in books like Protector of the Small because I could imagine myself as the character learning to defend the weak. In contrast, Emma's training consists largely of her teacher describing how to fight; as Emma herself notes, it would be more engaging if the author instead depicted Emma practicing combat skills. In addition, as a martial arts instructor, the descriptions given by the trainer are inaccurate. The lack of believability undermines this section of the novel.

There are also frequent grammatical and typographical errors that distract from the plot. "They sewed their own clothes from wood" should probably read "wool," for example. Errors in tense, punctuation, and number are present on the following: "if people refuse, they were put in the jail...those who couldn't afford it, we're put on a payment plan, even if you didn't want to be."

In addition to textual errors, the writing style of Extinction is unsophisticated. Since the book is first person, this might be appropriate if the protagonist were a young child However, the main character is 18. The premise of the book - that there are no more children - might explain this choice. Even that premise is undermined, however, when Emma is characterized as "an 18 year old child" in contrast to the "grown individuals." Furthermore, since the book is set in a fictional future, the author could have chosen a younger age to mark adulthood. The simplistic vocabulary and syntax is distracting.

Overall, Extinction of All Children addresses important issues present in our society, but the ideas need further development and better execution.
… (más)

Craigluy is a world divided according to class. Lower, middle and upper classes are separated and live totally different lives. In Territory L, Emma Whisperer is the last child to turn 18. The last baby to grow up. Lower class citizens have been deemed irresponsible and are no longer allowed to have children. Anyone who comes up pregnant is arrested, forced to bear the child and watch as the baby is taken away to be killed. It is a brutal world to live in. Those in Territory M and Territory U have other options, but President Esther controls all aspects of society no matter which class. Emma Whisperer....the last child....wants to change everything. She wants everyone to live together again...for people to be free.

The Extinction of all Children series is a trilogy. Book one introduces Emma and centers around Territory L. The storyline moves from L to the middle class area and on to the upperclass walled-in territory in the final book. I enjoyed how the characters developed throughout this series. Emma knows in the first book that she wants to see President Esther's policies destroyed...to remove the segregation from the people of Craigluy. Over the 3 books, Emma and the followers/supporters she gathers go from dreaming of freedom to actually fighting to try and make it happen. President Esther is a worthy, tricky adversary. She is wiley and wise. I found myself not able to totally hate her. Down at her very core, there is some good....at one point she actually had the best interests of the people at heart. But it got twisted inside her mind. Absolute power really does corrupt.

All in all this series is a very enjoyable read. I found the premise a bit unrealistic, but the story for me was enjoyable enough to override my sense of realism. The charcters are nicely developed over the 3 parts of the story. There is a lot of action, and the story moves along at a nice pace. There is plenty of suspense and some nice twists in the tale.

Enjoyable read! Nothing inappropriate for older teenagers, but be aware that there is discussion of abuse, death, imprisonment, murder, infanticide, torture, violence and other topics that may require a trigger warning for some students/adults reading this series.

**I voluntarily read review copies of the three books in this series by L. J. Epps via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**… (más)

Craigluy is a world divided according to class. Lower, middle and upper classes are separated and live totally different lives. In Territory L, Emma Whisperer is the last child to turn 18. The last baby to grow up. Lower class citizens have been deemed irresponsible and are no longer allowed to have children. Anyone who comes up pregnant is arrested, forced to bear the child and watch as the baby is taken away to be killed. It is a brutal world to live in. Those in Territory M and Territory U have other options, but President Esther controls all aspects of society no matter which class. Emma Whisperer....the last child....wants to change everything. She wants everyone to live together again...for people to be free.

The Extinction of all Children series is a trilogy. Book one introduces Emma and centers around Territory L. The storyline moves from L to the middle class area and on to the upperclass walled-in territory in the final book. I enjoyed how the characters developed throughout this series. Emma knows in the first book that she wants to see President Esther's policies destroyed...to remove the segregation from the people of Craigluy. Over the 3 books, Emma and the followers/supporters she gathers go from dreaming of freedom to actually fighting to try and make it happen. President Esther is a worthy, tricky adversary. She is wiley and wise. I found myself not able to totally hate her. Down at her very core, there is some good....at one point she actually had the best interests of the people at heart. But it got twisted inside her mind. Absolute power really does corrupt.

All in all this series is a very enjoyable read. I found the premise a bit unrealistic, but the story for me was enjoyable enough to override my sense of realism. The charcters are nicely developed over the 3 parts of the story. There is a lot of action, and the story moves along at a nice pace. There is plenty of suspense and some nice twists in the tale.

Enjoyable read! Nothing inappropriate for older teenagers, but be aware that there is discussion of abuse, death, imprisonment, murder, infanticide, torture, violence and other topics that may require a trigger warning for some students/adults reading this series.

**I voluntarily read review copies of the three books in this series by L. J. Epps via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**… (más)

I seriously struggled with the writing in this book. Too many times the wording made so little sense it kept me from following what was going on in the story. For example in chapter 6: why are you shooting a rat in the ac duct work if you are trying to sneak away? Why would you yell to "hurry up" if your trying to escape quietly out of the building? Chapter 7: "We end up at a set of steps. There are three large steps that we walk up. " It just comes off as someone trying to reach a word count or something.
I really like the plot of the story, the idea behind the divisions in classes and Whisper trying to break down the walls but there are so many distracting things about this story I just found myself very frustrated most of the time. I would not recommend this book.… (más)