Elemental by Antony John

Elemental

Author: Antony John

Lexile: 580

Length: 326 Pages

Genre: Dystopia

Awards: None

Reading Ram Star Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

        Thomas lives in a small colony in what he thinks is the middle of nowhere. It is an extremely tiny civilization with a grand total of 16 people living in it. They live on the tiny island of Hatteras right next to Roanoke Island. The plague, a horrible incurable disease, has cut the world into pieces. Hatteras Island is one of the only small colonies left. Then one day there is a storm, and the Guardians, a.k.a. the rulers of their colony, send all of the children to the storm shelter on Roanoke Island. Thomas and his friends worry when the Guardians don't show up to collect them after a day. Then they find out that the Guardians and all of their families have been kidnapped by pirates who think that one of the kids is the solution to the plague. Thomas and his friends have to rescue their families and the Guardians from the pirates, and uncover secrets they were never supposed to know.
        I really like this book a lot, it is a really good one. But the name, Thomas, reminds me a lot of another book, The Maze Runner. I guess it's a popular name, it kind of makes you think that the person is just a regular character or something, then they become more. That's probably the case in this book. I really liked how in this book, it talked about Roanoke Island, and that currently is a mystery, so I thought that was just cool. One thing I didn't like however, was that it had almost magic in it. This book is a dystopian book, and they generally don't have magic in them. Just a lot of science and a wrecked futuristic world to live in, i.e. The Hunger Games, and Divergent. But I mean, the author can do whatever they want, but still. This book is the first book in a the Elemental series, the next one is called Firebrand. I would definitely recommend this book to middle school kids and possibly Freshman in High School. There was kind of a lot of sickness, blood, fighting, and whatnot. But it is a really great book, and you should really consider trying it out in your free time.