I received this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

New World: Rising (New World #1) by Jennifer Wilson
Genres: Dystopian (YA)
Pages: 234
Goodreads

Since witnessing her parents' murders at the age of eleven, Phoenix's only purpose in life has been to uphold her mother's dying words- to be strong and survive. But surviving outside of The Walls- outside of The Sanctuary- is more like a drawn-out death sentence. A cruel and ruthless city, Tartarus is run by the Tribes whose motto is simple, "Join or die." Refusing to join and determined to live, Phoenix fights to survive in this savage world. Trusting no one, she lives as a rogue, fending only for herself. Then in a moment of rash judgment, she breaks all of her rules to save a child, and in that moment her life is turned upside down. When the rescue mission goes awry, Phoenix is captured by an underground group who claims no allegiance with either the Tribes nor The Sanctuary. She finds herself in the most dangerous game of survival she has ever played. In her captivity, only one person- the handsome and oddly sympathetic Triven- shows Phoenix something she has never before experienced: kindness. While warring with unfamiliar emotions and still skeptical of her captors' motives, Phoenix quickly realizes that these people may just hold the key to her lost memories. But who can she trust, when no one can be trusted? Not even herself.

---

“So was I escaping or avenging? Honestly, I wasn’t sure.
Maybe I just wanted to see it all burn.”

---

This book was such a page-turner. I read it in one sitting – which I haven’t done in a really long time. It was exciting, action-packed and an easy to follow plot. At first, I thought it would get confusing because of the multiple Tribes and locations within Tartarus but it wasn’t. What helped was that there was a map and descriptions of the Tribes in the beginning of the novel and that it only put emphasis on a couple of the Tribes.

What I wished there was more of is how Phoenix survived in Tartarus on her own for 6 years. Little snippets are revealed throughout, but I just wanted more (but that may be just me as I really enjoyed her character).

I loved all the characters… I just want to know more! (refer to above statement) Phoenix is the protagonist, she’s an independent and strong 18-year-old. You really get to be inside her mind as she goes through a lot of internal struggles about trust, love and family. She’s a complex character who has to basically change her entire way of living to protect the new people in her life that she’s become to care deeply about.

Triven is a sweet character. While he isn’t necessarily my all-time favorite love interest, he has his moments. The story took a different path with the love story. Instead of the girl falling into (insta)love with the boy, the boy is the one who falls. That was a refreshing take on the cliche.

There are other characters that I want to know more about. First, there is Mouse – the little girl who Phoenix wants to protect. She’s a mute so you don’t know what has happened to her, but I get the feeling she’s going to be a very important character throughout the story. The Sanctuary leader, Arstid, is one of my least favorite characters. I don’t trust her. There is also Maddox, who is a horrible person but, even from the beginning, I felt like there was more to him and a reason why he put on such a tough exterior.

The writing and pacing are fantastic. The story is in first-person through Phoenix – but I feel like it really gets into her mind. Sometimes even first-person can be heavily dependent on dialogue and elaborate action scenes, but this story is more dependent on her thoughts and feelings. That doesn’t mean it gets boring, I think her inner monologues are interesting and keep a great pace throughout the book. There are plenty of action scenes that bring in excitement.

Something else I enjoyed with the writing/pacing was the fact it never spent a lot of time describing unnecessary things. For example, View Spoiler »Phoenix and the Sanctuary soldiers lay out a plan to create turmoil in Tartarus by staging attacks to look like Tribes were attacking Tribes. « Hide Spoiler It briefly explained how they were going to do that, but never went into full detail of all the set-ups they staged. I liked that because it really didn’t matter, what mattered was that it happened and progressed the main storyline. Sometimes books spend too much time on those details just to add more action or just filler.

Basically, there isn’t a boring moment in this book.

At first, I only wanted to get this book because of the cover, but it has become one of my favorite books I read this year. It is a hidden gem in the dystopian genre that everyone should read next. It’s fast-paced, has an interesting main character and the setting is a great blend of Mad Max and Divergent (at least, that’s what it reminded me of). So if you enjoy either of those, you’ll enjoy this book.

*I do want to warn you while there are no overly graphic scenes, the book does have violence and mention of rape.

---

“The books here provided an escape, a place to let my mind wander free and find friends. Not real friends, but friends I could care about without having to commit to. Once I had opened a book and read its pages, those characters could never be taken away from me. Even if the books were burned, they would still live on in my mind.”

---

---

Rating Report
Plot
Characters
Writing
World Building
Overall:	5 / 5