Book Review: Days Like This by Alison Stewart

Days Like This by Alison Stewart
Published by: Penguin Australia
Publication date:  1st August, 2011
Source:  Thanks to Penguin Australia

She has to escape.

But who else is out there?

And can anyone survive days like this?

I want to go back to the days when life made sense. The days before our parents became strange; before the warming ate away at all the living things in the world; before The Committee and their Blacktroopers. Before the Wall.

Lily is a prisoner in her own home. Forced to stay inside by The Committee and guarded by their increasingly distant parents, Lily and her brother Daniel are beginning to ask why. Then, when Daniel disappears just before his seventeenth birthday, Lily knows she is next.

My Review:

Favourite Quote:  Lily felt a tiny shift in the air.  The hairs on her arms stood up.  The troopers were coming.  She sprinted along the street, examining the Wall for some notch or hole to scurry into.  There was nothing - just an endless smooth expanse.  Black clouds writhed under the heavy sun as the morning closed on midday.

In one sentence: Fast paced read that has plenty of heart-stopping moments as it climbs to the climax.

Days Like This is a dystopia novel set in in Sydney.  Where there is a water shortage due to global warming effects, the government has collapsed and the committee has taken over.  They have built a wall to keep the poor and people who would question or fight back with the committee out.  The streets are patrolled by the emotionless Blacktroopers.  And the children are kept locked inside their homes.

I love the concept for Days Like This.  Stewart did a great job of writing a believable and well built world.  With all the damage we are doing to our planet, water shortage and extreme weather seems possible and completely scary.  I also love the setting.  Set in Sydney, I was able to picture it perfectly and it definitely felt Australian.

The plot is a constant thrill ride with danger around every corner.  It is just go, go, go right until the end.   Stewart's writing is easy to read but I lacked emotional connection with the story.  I was entertained but not fully invested in what was happening unfortunately.

Lily is an engaging main character.  I always like a character who doesn't give up, who isn't afraid to get amongst all the action but yet is still caring and kind towards others.  Then we have Keiran who is just a genuine good guy.  Brave, loyal and sweet.  We also have a mixed bunch of secondary characters some likeable and some so not so much.

Romance has a very minor role and yet it felt a little out of place and awkward.  Maybe the awkwardness had to do with Lily being locked inside her house for so many years and having no interactions with other teens.  So possibly this is why it didn't feel natural especially towards Luca.  It is has sort of a brief love triangle or rather a moment of confusion.  Thankfully Lily's connection to Kieran felt more honest, just lacking spark.

Also Days Like This is a standalone.  No cliffhanger and your questions answered.  It is so nice to read a book and not be dying for book two.

Overall, despite my issues with Days Like These it is still a good read.  It is a smart novel that gets you thinking about the future of the world while it takes you on action packed ride.

Overall rating: 3.5/5
Writing: 3/5
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 3/5
Romance: 3/5
Cover: 4.5/5

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*** Day Like This is by an Australian author for those of you participating in the Aussie YA Reading Challenge 2011.