Enclave

By Ann Aguirre

I did really enjoy this but thought it lost its way around the middle. It started off well in the tunnels from the old subway underneath what was New York City, with the main character Deuce just trying her best to help herself and others survive. The community that had been built in the depths of the tunnel was interesting and I would have liked to have seen this developed more with the tension occurring within and the threats from outside, but this never happens as Deuce and her hunting partner Fade are quickly exiled.

From there, I thought the book quickly got boring. I thought that what happens up in the city was similar to various other dystopian novels I have read. Deuce and Fade quickly realise that if they want to survive then they must head north out of the city. It began to get more exciting as soon as they had left the city limits, with them picking up a few new friends along the way. The last quarter of the book was just as good as the beginning.

I thought the characters themselves were well developed – I liked the fact that they all had their flaws, especially Stalker. He and Tegan add more excitement to the story as I thought it would have been boring had Deuce and Fade been running around for the majority of the book on their own.

The story itself is a mix of The Walking Dead and Fallout. I’d have liked to find out more about the “Freaks” so hopefully more detail will be given later in the series as to what they are and where they came from. The ending left things open for future books in the series. I did enjoy the book, and I’d like to read the rest of the series but I don't think I'm in any hurry to do so.

Date read: December 2016

Rating: 6/10.