Me on Rage Within

Title: Rage Within
Author: Jeyn Roberts
Release Date: September 4, 2012
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Aries, Clementine, Mason, and Michael have survived the first wave of the apocalypse that wiped out most of the world's population and turned a fair amount of the rest into murderous Baggers. Now, they're hiding out in an abandoned house in Vancouver with a rag-tag group of teenage survivors, trying to figure out their next move. Aries is trying to lead but it's difficult when there are no easy answers and everything feels wrong. Clementine is still on a desperate search to find her brother. Michael is haunted by the memories of what happened to him on the road out to the west coast. But Mason is struggling with the worst problem: that he's a danger to his friends. As the Baggers begin to create a new world order, the four teens will have to rely and trust each other if they want to keep surviving.

Rage Within is just as powerful as its predecessor, dark, dangerous, and very deceptive. When the apocalypse hits and ruins the world, what happens next? This is the immediate after that will determine who will continue to survive, who will take charge, and who will have all the control. What also arises is the question of change. Is it possible to be the same person you were before the apocalypse hit? Can you change, can you do what you need to in order to survive, and still be the same person? This book highlights mankind's quest for survival, to live on through horror and despair, and to find a new way of life.

Now that all of the four main narrators are in Vancouver, now that they've all met, nothing is any easier. There is a common goal, but they all have their own missions, their own problems, and they need to come together so they can keep surviving. Or else the Baggers will win.

The Baggers are an interesting enemy/non-enemy. People but not people, people where the darkness has taken over, people without morals but with rules and actions and procedures. The idea that they're planning something is frightening, because it could spell the end for those normal people still struggling to survive.

Nothing. The ever-elusive, cryptic, frightening and all-knowing Nothing. Nothing is everywhere and nowhere. Nothing lives. But where? The reveal, while unsurprising, was perfect.

The group has to deal with a lot, the aftermath of the earthquake and the Baggers, but what if the people close to you are the ones you have to be wary of? As Nothing claims on page 202, "we all have a dark side." But we also have an innate desire to live, to survive. In the end, it all depends on which side is stronger.

(I purchased a copy of this book.)