Article 5

By: Kristen Simmons

Narrated by: Jenny Ikeda

Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's Summary

Kristen Simmons’ thrilling debut novel Article 5 is the first in an eagerly anticipated dystopian trilogy. In a world where soldiers have replaced police, arrests are made for minor infractions, and the Bill of Rights has been replaced with the Moral Statutes, 17-year-old Ember Miller longs for the days when things were different. But when her mother is arrested for noncompliance with Article 5 by the only boy Ember has ever loved, her peaceful, low-profile life is thrown into chaos.

©2012 Kirsten Simmons (P)2012 Recorded Books, LLC

Holds Its Own Against the many YA Dystopian Novels

I’ve read a lot of young adult dystopian novels and Article 5 ranks in the middle of that stack. It’s not in my top favorite but it wasn’t in the bottom either. I enjoyed Article 5 but there some parts of the book that felt familiar. The story was similar to Delirium and Pandemonium, and the romance was reminiscent of the love stories found in countless other YA novels. However, Article 5 has many original traits and can hold it’s own against the YA dystopian masses.

In the world of Article 5, the United States is a country rebuilding its society after a devastating war. Citizens who do not follow the government designated religion, have children out of wedlock, are the children of unmarried parents, rebel against the government, etc are thrown into a reformatory or are killed. The new government of the United States wants to eliminate those who would disagree with or taint their vision of new moral society. In other words, the government is basically putting people in internment camps and committing genocide.

It was hard for me to believe in this world as I can’t picture our country ever turning into this. I wished the author had expanding on more on what happened, besides a war, to make the country turn out like this. Scenes where the war was described were consistently vague. I’m hopping the next book might explain more but I have a feeling it won’t. The first book is usually where the author provides a history for their story.

So what did I like?

Article 5 is fast paced and the action starts right at the beginning and continues all the way to the last chapeter. The story moves along so quickly that any of the things mentioned above become non-issues. I also liked how the main characters, Ember and Chase, grew up together and had a strong bond. Many YA dystopian novels the two main characters meet for the first time and I appreciated this change. It was intriguing to have their history revealed bit by bit as the story moved along. Their relationship had a little bit of mystery behind it and it pulled me in.

The characters have an equal amount of pros and cons. Chase’s character is easy to like and I’m sure teenage girls every where are drooling over him. He’s tall, muscular, handsome, and protective. He’s also self-sacrificing which can be viewed as good and bad. After awhile got tired of him always throwing himself under the bus. While I understand why he is this way and I wished he would stick up for himself just a little bit more.

Ember is also easy to relate to and is smart, most of the time. She has moments of genius when she gets herself (and Chase sometimes) out of trouble. Then she has dumb moments where she walks right into trouble. She also seems to be pretty dense when it comes to recognizing that Chase clearly is in love her. She pushes him away for most of the book and this is as frustrating for the reader as it is for Chase. Ember redeems herself in the end.

I also enjoyed the narration of Jenny Ikeda. I’ve listened to one of her audiobooks before and enjoyed her voice. She has young voice but not too young. Many young adult audiobooks these days have very nasal sounding narrators. Ikeda’s narration is just right.

Overall, I had fun listening to Article 5. It’s fast tempo and resilient characters keep the reader hooked. It’s not my top pick for dystopian novels, but I think other readers who don’t read as many dystopian novels as I do would really enjoy it. I plan on reading or listening to the next book in the series.

10 of 10 people found this review helpful

Great Story with Brainless Heroine!

I feel as if I have a love/hate relationship with this story. Not surprising, when you read all the reviews. People generally are on the "I love it!" side or the "This was a total waste of my time" side.

On the positive side, the story was pretty good. Some true lovers of the genre were disappointed that everything wasn't explained. For example, the war wasn't explained. Was it a civil war? Were our borders breached? I'm not sure it mattered in the long run. There was a war, it was terrible (as are all wars), it's over now, and the FBR is in control as we start the story. The Articles, as well as martial law, were made clear.

The pacing was good. There was a lot of action and suspense. It was predictable if you read this sort of thing all the time; there were no real surprises. There were some really creepy scenes, which added to the appeal of the book. It was nothing if not entertaining. This speaks to the writing, which was good. It wasn't overly flowery or poetic, which would have been inappropriate for this sort of plot. There was really nothing profound, either. And I didn't find it witty or funny or smart. These are things which would have made it better, but the book was still good without them. I think it just reflects that this author is young in her writing.

I had some serious problems with the characters. First off - great name, Ember Miller. Love that name! And for someone with such a great name, you'd think she'd have a functioning brain cell! There were so many times I found myself yelling at her idiocy that I almost gave up. It was hard to like a main character who wasn't just badass stubborn, but just flat stupid. She did impulsive things, didn't really learn anything from her mistakes, and most of all, didn't change until the very end. She never apologized for her behavior, blaming Chase for everything. And the thing that bugged me the most was the way she held this idealistic expectation of the world even when time after time it proved to be a bad place. I wanted to smack her and yell "Duh! What did you THINK was going to happen?" What may have been planned as naivete came across as willful, spiteful, childish behavior. She was anything but sympathetic.

I did like Chase. He was as likable as Ember was irritating. His PTSD was believable. He was honest. The only fault I think he had was his dogged determination to "just keep her safe." I think one of my favorite parts of the book was when [ they have the conversation on the road after getting away from the crazy lady in the trailer. He finally tells Ember that she's an idiot. (hide spoiler)] Emotionally, Chase did all the work. It might have been ok if she had at least appreciated it.

The angst and tension between the characters really got on my nerves. Just when I thought they'd finally be honest and get somewhere in terms of trusting each other, they would retreat or make asses of themselves. And here's the thing: I had to keep reminding myself that these two were 17 and 19 years old. Ember's maturity level should have risen far before it did based on her circumstances. If she was supposed to have street smarts from growing up poor and avoiding the soldiers, then she should have had more common sense than to think she could trust people.

In the end, Ember did redeem herself, so I suppose that also redeemed the story for me. It's ok to dislike a character in a story as long as the story is still good. I don't think Simmons wrote a bad story, or wrote a good story badly. She just wrote a really irritating character with no common sense. For me to have gotten as mad at her as I did tells me that Simmons did a good job. If I hadn't cared about Ember, then it would have been a badly written book.

Jenny Ikeda does a great job with the narration. And all things considered, it's a good read. I'm looking forward to the sequel, since Ember has (hopefully) finally gotten a clue. It's about time.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Somewhat Disappointing! Semi clueless teen romance

This book promised so much, and delivered so little. What seemed like a potentially interesting dystopian world became little more than a roadtrip filled with teen romance and angst. I'm not sure when dystopian became the new romance novel? Not that I mind a little romance but that was where most of the writing was dedicated. Even that was somewhat disappointing because either they were the most clueless characters on the planet or the author just felt that was the only way to hold the audience in suspense. I just wish it was more story and less "semi clueless teen romance".

So in short this was not horrible, if you are looking for a well put together dystopian adventure this is not the book for you!

However if you were looking for a slightly tense teen dystopian romance you have come to the right place! Kick back and enjoy.

This book had a lot of potential but fell a little short.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Done before and much better

I bought this because it was on sale and had a 4 star rating and because I like dystopian fiction. I should have read the reviews. It is bad YA fiction. It raises or rather, nods at themes too mature for middle schoolers and too poorly fleshed out for high schoolers or adults. Basically a little simple minded and poorly researched. This is not "A Handmaid's Tale" for kids.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Don't Waste Your Time - You've Read This Before

This is a Hunger Games clone without the games - no, scratch that. It's an angsty teen romance novel set in a dystopic world that has no explanation at all. The main character is the weakest, sissiest and clueless girl ever, with the author using all the common tropes of information withholding etc. to try and build tension. I'm not sure if there is a single idea or event here you haven't already encountered before.

Do yourself a favor and avoid this one like the plague. Even the Divergent series looks good next to this one.

5 of 8 people found this review helpful

Great Distopian Novel

The author told Ember's point of view very nicely. It was great how you were able to hear all of her thoughts and worries. She is a strong character who tries her best throughout difficult circumstances, even acknowledging her own mistakes. I enjoyed how she would flash back to when her life was normal, it gave good background to the present.

Some tedium

Any additional comments?

The basic plot of this young adult novel is ok; we are in the near-future, when the forces of fundamentalism have banned any activity deemed unChristian. The protagonist, Ember, is the daughter of an unmarried woman who has been taken away for trial because she had an illegitimate child. Ember is also taken, and the plot revolves around she and her boyfriend escaping. Again, while the basic plot is good, Ember just doesn't spend enough time looking at the obvious. I suspect that the reason why she has to spend so much time doubting her boyfriend is because that is the basic tension in the book. If it weren't there, there would have to be some other filler. I wanted to yell at Ember, "Think! If he is such a jerk, why is he here? Can't you figure out he loves you?"

0 of 1 people found this review helpful