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Enclave by Ann Aguirre

There is no new territory covered in this teen dystopian/apocalyptic first book in Aguirre's Razorland series.  It starts out with the cliched right-of-passage ceremony in which fifteen-year-old, Girl15, is named Deuce and given the marks of her new position as a Huntress.  Deuce's people live underground in an enclave called College, where no one lives longer than their twenties.  The subterranean dwellers are sorted into one of three responsibilities:  Hunters, Breeders, and Builders.  Builders are in charge of creating everything needed for survival.  Breeders, ahem, breed with other Breeders to keep the population going and care for the brats until they are old enough to attend their own naming ceremonies.  Hunters have the most regarded jobs of patrolling the dangerous tunnels, snaring meat and killing any Freaks (some distant relation to humans with sharp teeth and claws who live on flesh of humans as well as their own fallen) they may encounter along the way.

Deuce's small world is very much that of a dystopian society: elders she had grown to trust with blind deference may not be capable of keeping their enclave safe, including the strict rules set to ensure their survival.  Her partner, Fade, comes from Topside, though no one believes this because nobody survives above ground.  As Deuce comes to trust Fade, she begins to reconsider all she was taught as a brat. 

While nothing new in this story, Aguirre's decision to not disclose Deuce's world and its history of coming into being outright made me curious to learn more of College and the other underground enclaves, as well as the world above and how it came to be.  Not all is illuminated, but hopefully more will be revealed in the books to come. 

Recommended for teens. Pause for violence, gore, and references to rape.

48HBC
time spent reading 3.5 hours
time spent blogging 45 min.
pages read 262