ARC Review: Renegade by J.A Souders

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Publication Date: November 13th 2012
Publisher: Tor Teen
ISBN: 0765332450
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Science Fiction / Dystopian
Source: Provided by the Tor Teen
Lootability: ***
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Since the age of three, sixteen-year-old Evelyn Winters has been trained to be Daughter of the People in the underwater utopia known as Elysium. Selected from hundreds of children for her ideal genes, all her life she’s thought that everything was perfect; her world. Her people. The Law.
But when Gavin Hunter, a Surface Dweller, accidentally stumbles into their secluded little world, she’s forced to come to a startling realization: everything she knows is a lie. 
Her memories have been altered. 
Her mind and body aren’t under her own control. 
And the person she knows as Mother is a monster.
Together with Gavin she plans her escape, only to learn that her own mind is a ticking time bomb... and Mother has one last secret that will destroy them all

About the Book Renegade is the troubling story of Evie, Daughter of the People, as her world crumbles around her. Evie lives in Elysium, an underwater Utopia where a lucky few were chosen to escape from the violence and destruction of the Surface World. She is the adopted daughter of Mother, the revered wise woman who rescued the people of Elysium and now rules over them. She governs who may Couple (marry and breed), allocates designations (jobs) and keeps the city running, with a nearly perfect genetic population. "My life is just about perfect."

Article 5 by Kristen Simmons

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Publication Date: 31 January 2012
Publisher: Tor Teen
ISBN:  0765329581
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Dystopian/Adventure
Source: Bookshelf
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Lootability: ***

New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C., have been abandoned.
The Bill of Rights has been revoked, and replaced with the Moral Statutes.
There are no more police—instead, there are soldiers. There are no more fines for bad behavior—instead, there are arrests, trials, and maybe worse. People who get arrested usually don't come back.
Seventeen-year-old Ember Miller is old enough to remember that things weren't always this way. Living with her rebellious single mother, it's hard for her to forget that people weren't always arrested for reading the wrong books or staying out after dark. It's hard to forget that life in the United States used to be different.
Ember has perfected the art of keeping a low profile. She knows how to get the things she needs, like food stamps and hand-me-down clothes, and how to pass the random home inspections by the military. Her life is as close to peaceful as circumstances allow.
That is, until her mother is arrested for noncompliance with Article 5 of the Moral Statutes. And one of the arresting officers is none other than Chase Jennings—the only boy Ember has ever loved.

After the world as we know it has been decimated and a new order has been set up in its place, the ordinary people have no choice but to follow. Until, the new Order starts punishing people for meaningless past transgressions.
When Ember and her mother are taken from their home, and split up for breaking Article 5 of the Moral Statutes, Ember must learn that no one is ordinary and everyone can fight back.