My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book is a pleasant surprise. It starts off slow and it does take some effort to keep reading but things become more interesting and by the time it ended, I wanted to read the next book, The Chaos. There are very realistic elements within the book like the way society tends to view and treat those who are in the lower strata of society. I find myself introspecting about how I view those who are not at all privileged.
The main character, Jem, is very interesting. She is a child who has been born with a gift, or a curse, of seeing numbers when she looks into people's eyes. At first, she did not understand what they meant and thought everything was normal until she realized that those numbers were actually dates -- dates that people will die. Because of the "darkness" of her gift -- it can hardly be a wonderful thing to know when people will die -- Jem avoids people as much as possible. It is during her attempts to hide from people that she meets her one and only friend.
During a visit to the London Eye, Jem notices something very disturbing. So many of the people within the queues had the same numbers. She becomes frightened and convinces her friend that they should run away. That becomes the beginning of a very big change in their lives which forces them to flee.
Rachel Ward writes a very good story. She is able to take the reader into the mind of the characters and to understand what they are going through. Although the book may start off pretty slow, the story evolves into something very interesting. Elements in the book reflect reality rather well though I have no idea about how true the things are in London as I live in India where the divide is clear and something no one can miss (at least not those with actual eyes).
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