Summary
It is 2033, and the world hovers on the edge of explosion as
unexplained crop deaths lead to severe global food shortages. Is the United
States, the Sickness is taking lives slowly, creeping its way into every
family. Thirteen-year-old Fi Kelly has already faced the Sickness in her own
family, toughening her at a young age. But when her dying father makes a
shocking confession, Fi realizes that her toughness will be pushed to its
absolute limits.
Saddled with an impossible secret and mission of saving her
little sister, Fi gets out to transform herself into the warrior that she must
become to survive the coming collapse. Along the way, she will discover that
evil can be accidental . . . and that love can be intentional.
- Number of pages: 376
Review
Eden’s Roots deserves a round of applause and a cheer or
two. If any other bloggers have read and reviewed this book along with me, then
I hope it is safe to assume that they were just as equally captivated by this
amazing sci-fi story as I was, but I would love to put my two cents in as well.
Fi is a narrator and Leader like no other. I followed her like a member of her
Family would, and I am proud to say I survived this journey right along side
her. The world is coming to an end in the ways of the normal every day-to-day
life. To be honest the details as to what exactly is going on left me a little
fuzzy, but I will try to summarize and explain the details without giving too
much away. Food, regular food, has been contaminated over the years, processed
and manipulated so many times that over eventually it has generated so much
disease and created the “Sickness”. The “Sickness” in this book refers to
cancerous diseases, though I believe other kinds of diseases are considered as
well. The amount of Sickfood soon starts to kill all forms of vegetation, and
basically the world is in for a global Famine. Anyway, no one really knows
about the Sickfood, except a selected few such as scientists who are preparing
for the worst and have created a safe haven where they can reconstruct and
rebuild. One of those few people is Fi’s dad who is one of the main scientists
working on the effort to build this haven, Eden. When he becomes Sick, he and
his family are crossed off from the list of candidates allowed to join this new
colony and have a better chance of survival. Before his death he gives all he knowledge
to his daughter in the hopes that she can lead her sister and mother to safety.
It was incredible seeing how a girl that is pictured as
normal, as ordinary, is transformed into this character with the burden of much
older and wiser people, a person who leads many souls to safety. The process
written in which she does become a warrior with all the fighting and toughness
included was a bit lengthy, but overall created a picture of complete and utter
dedication. Fi is really no average girl, but then again isn’t there something
more than average in all of us? Along the way she meets and connects with a
group of people that I have come to love as well. Each and every individual was
spectacularly created to contribute and share some love with me, as the reader.
The journey was arduous, the conditions frightening, and I felt it all first
hand.
I really want to focus on how this book was written in
regards to point of views. It had a switching view from Fi, to her best friend
Sean, to another boy that you meet along the way. They all tie together,
obviously, but it was Fi’s mind that was kept dominant. She was the core of the
story, as well as the core of her Family being Leader. I felt her burden, her
determination, and her uncontrollable rage. That’s what really made the story
amazing. It made it real, you know?
It wasn’t a story about a girl who become a super hero and a hard ass and
overall seems untouchable, neither about a girl who is weak and in the end
shows her true colors. This was a book of survival, and it emanated off of Fi
like an odor. She felt pain, fear, and worry along with happiness, excitement, even
peace. I admit to some well-deserved tears on my part (much to my families
amusement). It wasn’t laugh out loud funny, but I also felt humor and love
written between words. I found it a great experience.
I also loved how real the situation all seemed. This book
frightened me in that aspect a bit. The Famine, the Sickfood, the fact that a
lot of the things that we have and do today were portrayed in a different light
to show how terribly it could all go wrong. It seemed possible. I do have to
warn my readers that this book is mild in many ways, but it could get very
graphic in many others. Like I said, this is a survival story, and the things done in this book were things that
may seem out of hand, but it was done in order to survive. It brought up some
serious questions that I found interesting to think about. What would you do to
survive? What would you give, sacrifice for the good of yourself and loved
ones?
As I look over my review I realize that it is a bit long,
and I am pleased with that. Why? Because it means that this book opened my
brain a bit more, and had me thinking, reaaaally thinking. It wasn’t a book to
just follow along. I really thought if that makes any sense. It was . . . and
“intelligent” book, I guess. Like food for thought! From 1-10? Eden’s Roots
gets an 8.5
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