Just when you thought you had read them all…here is another book you should read if you loved The Hunger Games. At times, this book was eerily similar; at others, it held no resemblance whatsoever. Upon finishing it, I am certain that anyone who is looking for something to fill their dystopian craving will be satisfied with this book. I was also pleasantly reminded of the book The City of Ember.

This book takes place not only in the future, but also on a different planet. This will intrigue teen readers, and make them question the idea of life on other planets (a great conversation starter). The protagonist is a strong, fierce female named Phaet. Phaet was a really interesting character, and I will admit that there was a very tense part where I almost started crying. (This hardly ever happens when I read, so you know this was a powerful book.) At times this book was quite detailed, but if you read The Hunger Games and could handle that, this one won’t faze you a bit.

I am pretty excited to see where this series goes, and I bet lots of teens and adults will be scrambling to get the next book once it is released. So get a head start and read Dove Arising as soon as you can. You won’t regret it.

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language: 1 religious exclamation; 8 mild obscenities; 1 religious profanity; 1 anatomical term.

Violence/Gore:  Explosions and screams heard; soldiers destroy homes and land; minor throws hand grenades in an attempt to ward off an attack; verbal threats are made; a minor is manhandled and threatened; an observation of a girl “slugging a little boy” is made; a blister is drained and a brief scene of blood and puss being cleaned up ensues; bullying occurs and threats are made; a minor is in a life or death situation, survives; an aircraft shoots at another aircraft in a several page scene; a description of an aircraft crashing is made with brief detail of the occurrence; injuries and death occur in a war; a boy cuts a girl with a knife and she bleeds in a brief scene; a woman is executed in front of her child in a scene, she is lethally injected; a pair of minors are chased in a scary scene; girl gets injured and her arms starts to bleed; a boy and a girl are put in a compromising situation where they can’t obtain food or water.

Sex/Nudity:  Minors are flirtatious with each other; a boy references an encounter that never happened that could have been sexual; it is implied that a minor sneaks out at night to be with a boy; a minor boy kisses a minor girls hand.

Mature Subject Matter:

Murder, natural disasters, sickness, death, war, suicide, ethical issue of kill or be killed, oppressive governments, children killing children, adults killing adults, sacrifice, starvation and dehydration; personal crises.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

A lethal injection is mentioned as a form of killing.