Monday Book Review: Impervious by Heather Letto

It’s been a long time since I’ve had the chance to do a Monday Book Review, so I’m starting off what I hope will be a series of them in the upcoming months by discussing Impervious, a young adult dystopian novel by my fellow ACFW author Heather Letto!

Doesn’t she have a cool cover? 🙂

Title: Impervious

Author: Heather Letto

Genre: dystopian

Age group: young adult

Synopsis: (taken from back cover): “The residents of Impervious are the remnant–the survivors of the War of Annihilation. And though the city is chockfull of pleasures to tantalize and entertain, a beast lurks in the corners, haunting the residents with its presence. The Beast–a mysterious and terminal illness killed off most of Generations One, Two, and Three. And as Gen-Four prepares to take the stage, a provocative, yet questionable, new method to avoid an untimely death incites a cultural rage. But Fran lives counter-culture, off the grid in true rebel fashion. With a life far from opulent, she scurries through dark tunnels, searching for hot meals with Pete while ditching the holographic security team. To her, it’s a healthy trade-off. Unaccountability means The Council can’t steal her sliver of hope–a belief that she’ll see The Epoch arrive before The Beast can pull her into its fetid embrace.”

If you’re a fan of dystopian stories like The Hunger Games and Divergent, you’ll probably be able to get into this story pretty easily. Heather Letto does a great job of creating a very detailed dystopian world quite different from our own, where fifteen years old is considered “mid-life.” This is also definitely a world where those familiar with sci-fi terms will probably feel comfortable, lots of terms like “holographic acquaintances,” “gaming hubs,” “sleeping-niches,” and “cybernetic vacation pods.” The book also reminded me a bit of The City of Ember, a sort of underground post-apocalyptic world in which the citizens have been tricked into believing nothing good can exist beyond the lights of their little inner world.

The book starts with a quote from the Gospel of Mark (4:23–“If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear”), but it is more allegorical in its Christian nature thus far. From a few conversations I’ve had with the author, I know she has plans for a second and third book in the trilogy, and I’d be interested in seeing how these allegorical pieces she’s set into motion play out in the next two books.

If you’re interested, you can learn more about Heather Letto on her website or Twitter.