Review by Booklist Review
So few young-adult novels start with a wedding, but it's a pivotal element to this debut dystopian romance. Since the decline of the U.S. 50 years ago, people have been split between the Lattimers and the Westfalls, East and West, inside the fence and beyond the wall. Ivy Westfall, now 16, is slated to marry Bishop Lattimer in order to unite the two sides and bring some sense of unity to their society. Ivy's family, however, has decided that she will murder Bishop to restore her family's legacy. It's only made worse when she realizes that the Lattimers aren't the all-consuming evil she has been raised to believe, and that Bishop might even be a decent guy, which makes her mission even harder. The slow burn of their unexpected romance borders on new adult, but it stays relatively tame, even in a few steamy scenes. The novel is less about the devastation of the world and intriguingly more about the people left behind. The promise of a second book will excite potential readers.--Comfort, Stacey Copyright 2015 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-After the brutal war that decimated most of the country, Ivy Westfall's grandfather founded Westfall and envisioned a democratic nation in which everyone had a right to vote. However, after a conflict between the Westfall and the Lattimer families, the Lattimers won power and governed Westfall as a dictatorship. All of her life, Ivy has been trained to hate President Lattimer for his imposed laws-specifically arranged marriages. When it is her turn to marry, she is assigned to Bishop, President Lattimer's son. Going into the marriage, Ivy's father and sister encourage her to kill her new husband and return the Westfall family to their rightful position. This mission becomes increasingly difficult as Ivy develops feelings for her husband. She is forced to make a decision that will alter her entire life. The Book of Ivy begins as most dystopians do-with a ceremony and the main character forced into a situation as dictated by the government. However, the novel quickly separates itself from the mediocre and presents a fantastic plot that makes readers think about the blurred lines between right and wrong. VERDICT Well-developed characters and intricate world-building combined with complex relationships, political corruption, and betrayal, leave readers begging for the second book in this series.-Lindsey Dawson, Saint John's Catholic Prep, Frederick, MD (c) Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
In this YA novel set in a post-apocalyptic future, a teenage girl is charged by her family with killing the president's sonwho is also her new husband.Two generations ago, nuclear war almost destroyed the world. A small town of less than 10,000 survivors was founded by narrator Ivy Westfall's grandfather, but President Lattimer's father won the struggle for control. He now rules autocratically rather than heading up the democracy Westfall favored. Criminals are exiled and left to die. To soothe old wounds, the town instituted a tradition: Sons of the winning side marry the daughters of the losers, and vice versa. Now Ivy, 16, must marry Bishop Lattimerson of the president, who had Ivy's mother killed. Nervous as any young girl might be about marrying a stranger, Ivy has an additional burden: She has promised her family that she will kill her new husband so as to aid the rebellion. Ivy, outspoken and reckless, soon realizes that Bishop is gentle, thoughtful and guilty of nothing, which presents her with a terrible dilemma: "If I kill Bishop, my family will be in power, but Bishop will be dead and what will I be? A murderer." When Ivy is given an ultimatum to poison Bishop, she faces a terrible decision. In her debut novel, Engel employs the first-person, present-tense style that's almost de rigueur in this genre. Together with the emotionally fraught situationsimply having to share a house with a man is unsettling for Ivythe book has immediacy, and there's justification for plenty of teenage angst. Ivy is forced to question her family's motivations as Bishop keeps surprising her, and she surprises herself with her growing feelings for him. The worldbuilding is mostly well-thought-out, with some complicated issues: Westfall lacks resources to make jewelry but can make electronic security systems? The pace becomes slow, too, and it seems as if the real drama is still to come in a planned sequel, which may frustrate some readers.An intriguing start with a brave heroine; too bad readers must await the sequel for some real action. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
