Tak Padne Náš Svět

First off a praise. Megan Crewe has created a virus that is unlike any I have ever read about before, and therefore a hundred times more terrifying. Thinking back, every virus I've ever read about has done ungodly things to people. Skin falling off, limbs atrophying, things that make people run away from you. Crewe's disease? It causes people to be...friendly, albeit overly so. I thought this was brilliant. What better way to spread a virus than through friendly human contact? For that matter, what scarier way?

Also brilliant in the Way We Fall is the way that the story is told, or so I thought. We see the outbreak through the eyes of Kaelyn, a young girl who lives on the island. However instead of her speaking to us as a reader, she is writing a journal to her friend who left the island to go to school. For me, this was a perfect way to see into the world that Kaelyn was living in. All her fears, all her worries, are penned into that journal beautifully. After all, who better to share the deepest parts of yourself with than a friend?

This book dives into the darkest part of human kind, and what happens when we have to fight to survive. Kaelyn learns early on that there are two types of people when the world fires back at you. There are those who band together, and those who take for themselves. Those who create, and those who destroy. Crewe offers us a look at what happens to a community when disaster hits and, while beautifully executed in the story line, it definitely isn't always an easy read.

Although The Way We Fall didn't grab my attention at page one, it was one of those books that was a slow burn for me. By the time that I was a few chapters in, I was scrambling to read more. What Megan Crewe has created here is a new type of dystopian terror. Isolation, greed, survival. It is all played out here in gritty harmony, and it makes The Way We Fall an overall fantastic read. In the world of dystopian fiction, this is something new. I honestly have to say that I loved it.

A friend once told me that dystopian lit breaks into two categories: During and After. Here, The Way We Fall is a during. We watch as a virus overtakes a small island off the coast of Canada. The problem, for me, is that I prefer After books (Blood Red Road, Divergent, Hunger Games, etc). This one felt on par with others I have read, but more generic. Crewe does not spend a great deal of time on description and because of that, I found myself not really caring about any of the characters. Even though we are reading the MC's diary (written as letters to an old friend) I don't think I understood her motivation for half of her actions. Her relationship with her father was really unclear. Ditto mom. And what is up with the brother?

Anyway, what was really great was the idea that the MC was a natural observer. That totally fit with the story. Also the character of Gav, well done. Guys in teen fiction are usually one dimensional, Gav was really well thought out.

I can see me reading the sequel. I will also put this into the hands of readers of How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff (a great “during” novel) and Life as We Knew It by Pfeffer series (come to think of it, all of these titles are really similar).