{Audiobook} Review: Article 5 by Kristen Simmons

Title: Article 5
Author: Kristen Simmons
Narrator: Jenny Ikeda
Series: Article 5, book #1
Publisher: Recorded Books
Publication Date: February 10, 2012
Source: purchased
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible

New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C., have been abandoned.

The Bill of Rights has been revoked, and replaced with the Moral Statutes.

There are no more police—instead, there are soldiers. There are no more fines for bad behavior—instead, there are arrests, trials, and maybe worse. People who get arrested usually don't come back.

Seventeen-year-old Ember Miller is old enough to remember that things weren't always this way. Living with her rebellious single mother, it's hard for her to forget that people weren't always arrested for reading the wrong books or staying out after dark. It's hard to forget that life in the United States used to be different.

Ember has perfected the art of keeping a low profile. She knows how to get the things she needs, like food stamps and hand-me-down clothes, and how to pass the random home inspections by the military. Her life is as close to peaceful as circumstances allow.

That is, until her mother is arrested for noncompliance with Article 5 of the Moral Statutes. And one of the arresting officers is none other than Chase Jennings—the only boy Ember has ever loved.

I managed to avoid reading this when it first released last year.  It's not that I wasn't interested in reading Article 5...I'd just had enough dystopians at that point and didn't want to add yet another to my TBR.  Well, technically, I did add it to my TBR shelf on Goodreads, but not my physical shelf, so it wasn't something I had to read at that point.  But I knew Breaking Point was releasing soon, so I snatched up the audio a month or two ago.  And still it sat on my phone, not being listened to.

I even started it a couple of weeks ago, but other audiobooks soon captured my attention (Scarlet and Unravel Me, I'm looking at you) and it took me a bit to get back to this one.  And even once I got back into this world, I never felt fully invested in it.  If it was ever mentioned why the world was in this state, why it ever became acceptable for the government to enact Moral Statutes determining who was moral and who wasn't, thereby deciding who was fit to be a regular citizen and who should be punished for immorality, I don't remember it.

It also doesn't help that I detested Ember as the protagonist.  She reminded me so much of Eve from the series of the same name by Anna Carey, always making terrible judgment calls and constantly in need of rescue because of it.  Ember was always jumping to conclusions, and she never gave Chase a chance to explain, let alone wonder if he even had anything to explain.  It was always about her and finding her mother, with no regard for what Chase or anyone else may have given up for her in the process.  This type of selfish heroine makes me want to pull my hair out and can completely ruin a book for me if given the opportunity.

Luckily, there were other characters in this story who did take the time to think beyond themselves and their own wants and desires, those who saw the bigger picture and wanted their existence to mean more.  It's characters like Chase and Shawn and Rebecca that were the saving grace of this novel.  Chase was by no means my favorite love interest, but he had his moments.  And Shawn and Rebecca were but bit players, but that was quite the steamrolling they took for Ember.

I'm kind of fascinated by books like this.  I didn't love or even particularly like the story, but I know my curiosity will get the best of me, and I will still end up picking up the next book in the series, as I've continued to do with the Eve series.  Morbid curiosity, maybe, but I can't help myself.  I just have to know how it's going to turn out.  It's kind of like my inability to DNF a book.  Sure, it may take me awhile, but I will get the job done eventually.  And I may not have the best things to say about it, but dammit, I finished!

I usually really enjoy any book narrated by Jennifer Ikeda, but even she couldn't completely save this one for me.  I hate to make the comparison yet again, but it's like how even Tavia Gilbert, who I love as a narrator, couldn't save the Eve audiobooks for me.  I guess I shouldn't expect a story that isn't resonating with me to be any better simply because of the narrator, though.

Yes, I'll probably listen to the audio for Breaking Point whenever it's released, but I'm definitely not nearly as excited about it as I was prior to listening to Article 5.  Based on all the great reviews from friends, I guess my expectations were just greater than they maybe should have been.  At least with Breaking Point, I can take that into account and enjoy the book for what it is instead of what I've been told it is.

Favorite Quotes:  

“He was my anchor in the hurricane, yet at the same time, the hurricane itself, so that I nearly always felt safe and afraid simultaneously. There was nothing in the world as confusing and powerful as being close to him.”

“You married me while I was sleeping?”  I asked in amazement. They sky was beginning to bruise with the purple haze, and in it, I could see Chase's face glow a little deeper copper.
“You hit me for kissing you. It seemed in my best interest to marry you while you were passed out.” 


Rating: 

Labels: article 5, audiobooks, disappointments, dystopian, kristen simmons, reviews, tor teen