I looked forward to this book mainly due to the premise which sounded intriguing just by the summary alone. And while the basis for the story's concept was pretty strong, the set-up of the world (a desolated, post-apocalyptic place where a virus called Ferae has turned most humans into savage, mutated creatures) is pretty much standard YA dystopian fare. But I'm not complaining. There's a reason why I'm drawn to these types of books -- they're exciting, they're intense, adventurous, interesting... if written properly.

And ultimately, my love of a YA dystopia comes down to a simple factor: how this author depicts his or her post-apocalyptic dystopian society differently from others running on this same trend, and how well the author incorporates this idea using well-developed characters and a good plot to follow with.

Inhuman already had a good premise going for it, though a little vague. Delaney "Lane" Park McEvoy (she of whom I had been referring to as simply "Delaney Park" because I kept forgetting she has a last name) lives in a societal safe haven away from the rest of the American nation which has turned into a wilderness of life infected by the Ferae Naturae virus. Due to certain reasons (big corporate greed and the fascination of rich people's need to play god in this world), this virus broke out and life became chaotic. I'm sparing the details since I don't really remember all of it anyway -- something about the richest company during that time, called Titan, playing around with animal DNA because the CEO wanted to include a centaur or something like that into her amusement park-like mazes as entertainment. But Ferae broke out, people became infected, and apparently the virus spread like rabies (which isn't really a rabies-like virus) is turning all humans into savage animals when infected -- a blood-borne pathogen, if you will, that affects a human's mental faculties and turns them into wild animals. I was still trying to understand the nature of Ferae, but then the action started, so I just kind of shrugged and moved on.

In order to repent for this problem, Titan's CEO builds a wall, isolating the uninfected half of the population in a safe bubble from the rest of the population in the eastern part of the country now known as The Feral Zone. And this wall is safe guarded by Titan-employed line guards to keep each half in their designated sides on the wall. Familiar set-up, interesting concept, nonetheless.

Just to be safe, I've marked this post with a spoiler tag.

I like where the train of events is going.  A simple fetch that could have been completed by an experienced hunter living in The Feral Zone, but now Lane has to take things into her own hands.  And boy DOES she take things into her own hands.  That girl's a strong one, I tell you what.

At mid-point in this book, I'm more than happy about how things are progressing.  Lane doesn't strike me as a heroine who stands out any more than others have in other YA dystopians, but she's agreeable and I like her.  It took me a while to warm up to her, but not because I disliked her or anything, only really because I didn't have any outstanding thoughts about her at all.  But all of her little quirks and mannerisms, her do-gooder personality, her stubborn pride, and the fact that she knows when she needs to fall back rather than stubbornly charge forward... it makes for a more likable character than you'd usually get to see in those termed "Too Stupid To Live" types who are always out to prove something.

So I applaud her.

As for Rafe (yes, we've moved on from Everson, apparently, who actually went from agreeable to, "dear god, just go away" all too quickly), I like him too.  I was conflicted, cause the guy's a bit of an ass, and I'm more or less for the good boy, most of the time.  But Rafe is a snarky ass, and before I knew it, he picked up my heart and sang to it.  I'm not saying that I'm in love with him or anything, but he's got my attention.  He's rude and a jerk when it suits him, but you can tell he's not a complete selfish prick.

It works.  These guys are all fairly natural and realistic... well, as realistic as you can expect in a post-apocalyptic dystopian.

So, yes, I'm quite enjoying this book.

I'm also formulating a possible guess at what the series is veering into and it's got me quite excited, actually.  I've got ideas, and I hope that the author's got the same ideas, if the hints at the beginning of the book are any indication.  So this might be a series that I'm going to latch onto.

And then some as well...

I have no delusions that I may actually finish this book.  Although, anathema to my own personal policies about books, I went ahead and skimmed some of this one and found it to be exactly as we may predict.

This is going to be a fun and breezy, completely romance based "Ash's journey to fulfilling his romance with Meghan" type of deal, isn't it?

I thought so.

Being that I had trouble supporting their love story in the first place, I'm not sure if I'll be able to take this book very seriously.  So, just as a minor notice:  I'm going to try to read this book, but there will be no review written for it.  If I don't finish this book, this time around, I may come back to it later after I've had time to... digest The Iron Fey series properly.

As far as this book is concerned, chapter 1 isn't bad and coming from Ash's POV might be a refreshing reset for me, seeing as how I'm not a big fan of Meghan.  We still get that magical adventure feel coming through from the Fey world, so at least that won't be a disappointing front.

And since we're also getting a trio adventure with Ash, Puck AND Grimalkin, I'm willing to give it a go for a bit longer (at least until I have to return the book to the library, that is).

This place is like a personal blog, but with book cataloging capabilities.  I am intrigued.  I've already begun to populate it with my wandering mind.  But, more or less, this place will be a place just for books.

Here's my personal blog if anyone's interested, though more often than not, I'm just exporting book reviews with a very sparse personal blog post every few months.

Abstract Abyss

Let's enjoy this place together!

So...

I've got a few quibbles going, but so far the book has managed to hook me.  And it happened almost immediately.  I'm taking this as a good thing unless the book ends up proving otherwise (yeah, redundancy = my blogging fail, but whatevs).

Delaney seems like a legit, standard butt-kicking main female character.  And I like the hints of her father subconsciously training her for travel in The Feral Zone.  That's always fun -- to secretly develop your child into a kick ass hero without even letting her know.  Which, honestly, makes me wonder if Delaney might be a bit slow on the uptake, but we'll see.

Director Spurling is one of those characters you hope will get shot by the end of the book.  Or that her face will get eaten by a mutant, Ferae infected, sickly dog or something... you know, like one of the ones she's putting in harms way just so she can blackmail Delaney.  Yeah, pulling that kind of stunt always puts you on my shit list.  Then again, I didn't really like her from moment one when she was first introduced, so sue me.

What else...  We'll probably never see him again, but I had a feeling Orlando would turn out to be a douche.

And moving onto Everston Cruz...  keeping an eye on that one, I am.

So far so good.  I'll probably end up finishing this book within the next two days.