Evergreen series #1
by
Harper Cody used to worry about the SATs or a getting a new laptop for Christmas… but now, she only wants to keep her little sister alive.
At 5:59 a.m. early in September, life as she knew it came to an end with a nuclear flash ninety miles away in Colorado Springs. For two months, her family sheltered in the basement of their home, surviving on whatever canned goods Dad could scavenge. Passing evacuees told of a safe haven in the mountains, but her father refused to leave. He thought their home was safe… until a gang of looters kicked in the door.
Four years ago at thirteen, Harper won trophies for competition shooting, but killing a man pointing a gun at her is nothing like nailing targets at a range. Hesitation cost her parents’ lives. With no other options, she grabbed her little sister and ran away from the only home she’d ever known into a world she no longer recognized.
The promise of safety in Evergreen gives her hope, but unless the girl voted sweetest in her class can find the nerve to kill, Harper—and her kid sister—are as good as dead.
- 1 To Be Read list
Publisher: Division Zero Press
Editors:
Cover Artists:
Genres:
Tropes: Fish Out of Water, Found Family, Post-Apocalyptic
Word Count: 93000
Setting: Evergreen, Colorado post nuclear war
Languages Available: English
Tropes: Fish Out of Water, Found Family, Post-Apocalyptic
Word Count: 93000
Setting: Evergreen, Colorado post nuclear war
Languages Available: English
Evergreen by Matthew S. Cox is a young adult science fiction novel about a seventeen-year-old girl called Harper Cody who has been plunged into an apocalyptic scenario caused by a nuclear flash. Her life changes irrevocably. She spends two months, together with her parents and younger sister, hiding out in the basement of the family house in a town called Lakewood. They live on canned food that her father scavenges from nearby. Passing evacuees tell of a haven in the mountains but her father refuses to leave the ostensible safety of their house. Eventually, a dangerous gang of looters finds them and, after a fight, Harper's parents are killed. Despite Harper's prowess in competition shooting, she realizes it has not prepared her for pulling a gun on a real person. The sisters are forced to flee the house with nothing but the clothes they have on.
The unpredictable nature of life in this desolate new world provides an edgy background to the familiar 'the end of the world as we know it' story line. The realistic description of the breakdown of society is explored from Harper's point of view and teenagers will have no trouble identifying with her. In fact, Matthew Cox serves up a great selection of strong and interesting characters in this novel. I couldn't wait to see how Harper and her sister dealt with the loss of their parents and was not disappointed with the way the plot developed. Evergreen is a great introduction to a science fiction dystopian first novel for young adults. Anyone interested in this genre should definitely have this book on their reading list.
