The Girl in Red

Red isn't the hero, she doesn't have to worry about this shit.

The best part of this book is that I really don't like Red as a person - she's a Hermione Granger variant - holier-than-thou and an eye-rolling, genre-savvy know-it-all. And I fucking love her.

Seriously, this book was awesome. Primarily character driven, we follow Red on her physical journey to Grandma's house while also managing her grief and the reorganization of her thoughts and coping skills in a new dystopian world.

I loved Adam and their relationship, as tumultuous as it was. Her brother's instinct was always, always to run, but him using his last breath to try and protect Red? Chef's kiss. They barely got along and they were both grieving so poorly with the loss of their parents but god she never thought she'd have to go without him. Chef's KISS. 1 star docked because The Reveal at the end was kind of lame and really took away the "fear of the unknown". My goblin heart obviously wanted to know more about this implied lab-grown, government facilitated creature that incubated in the chest cavities of their citizens but Red's right: not her circus, not her monkeys.