Review: Dread Nation

Author: Justina Ireland
Date Started: 26-05-2019
Date Finished:09-06-2019
Pages: 444
Star Rating: ✪✪✪✪

Synopsis from Goodreads

Jane McKeene was born two days before the dead began to walk the battlefields of Gettysburg and Chancellorsville—derailing the War Between the States and changing America forever. In this new nation, safety for all depends on the work of a few, and laws like the Native and Negro Reeducation Act require certain children to attend combat schools to learn to put down the dead. But there are also opportunities—and Jane is studying to become an Attendant, trained in both weaponry and etiquette to protect the well-to-do. It’s a chance for a better life for Negro girls like Jane. After all, not even being the daughter of a wealthy white Southern woman could save her from society’s expectations.

But that’s not a life Jane wants. Almost finished with her education at Miss Preston’s School of Combat in Baltimore, Jane is set on returning to her Kentucky home and doesn’t pay much mind to the politics of the eastern cities, with their talk of returning America to the glory of its days before the dead rose. But when families around Baltimore County begin to go missing, Jane is caught in the middle of a conspiracy, one that finds her in a desperate fight for her life against some powerful enemies. And the restless dead, it would seem, are the least of her problems.

My Thoughts

The main character is extremely stubborn and strong-willed. I really like this in the main character of a book. I really like the plot of this book, and even though some elements were kind of familiar from other YA books. I think it was done in an interesting way and carried out really well by the Author.

I really like the friendship which developed between Jane and Kate. I felt the author focused more on this friendship than the ex-romance between two other characters. The story revolved around two female characters, they rescued themselves from the situation they had found themselves in and didn’t need any of the male characters. I like this in a book as I don’t personally feel like this is done often enough.

I liked Justina’s writing style and I think this book tackles some very important issues that are still extremely relevant today.

Have you read this book? What did you think about it?