Synopsis:
All his young life, Noah has longed to see the sky he’s only heard about in stories.
For over one hundred years, Noah’s people have toiled deep beneath the Earth preparing for The New Dawn – the historic day when they will emerge to reclaim the land stolen by a ruthless enemy.
But when Rebekah, the girl of his forbidden desire, discovers a secret their leader has been so desperate to keep, Noah suspects something is wrong. Together, they escape and begin the long climb to the surface. But nothing could prepare them for what awaits outside.
Favorite Lines:
“I had touched the sky. Not the real sky; that, of course, would be soft. The one under my fingertips had felt hard and scratched my skin.”
My Opinion:
I received this book from the author in exchange for my honest review so here it goes…
The Never Dawn is the first book in the trilogy. It follows Noah, a worker in a factory who is about to be 18. He is a part of a team and their job is to manufacture parts to help their community reach their goal of being able to go to the surface. Go to the surface? Yes. They are actually underground hiding from the toxic surface and another community of dwellers who are also trying to reach the surface. It’s a race to see who gets there first because whoever does is going to destroy the others…. or so they are told by Mother. Mother is their leader; she raises them and rules them. The “sky” changes color depending on her mood and she has a group of individuals called the “perfects” to help oversee the rest of the community. Noah starts as a worker happy to help his community in the Ark but as the story progresses, he starts to question everything.
I actually thought this was a really refreshing take on a dystopian society. I spent most of the book interested to see where it was going. Palmer did a good job at introducing stuff in a way that if you had been looking for it since the start you would have noticed it and it would all make sense but because we are seeing these events from Noah’s eyes, we are gradually introduced to everything.
The overall plot and where this is potentially heading is fascinating, I really hope in the later books we get to see what happens and the reason for everything. There were some biblical references throughout the story such as names and phrases from the bible.
I will admit, I was somewhat creeped out by Noah’s interactions with the females in his community. I understand where he is coming from, the men and women don’t really interact socially unless Mother wants them to, but Noah had some weird, obsessive thoughts I was not a fan of. Other than that, there wasn’t anything I didn’t particularly like about this book.
Summary:
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and thought it was refreshing. I am excited to see what happens in the rest of the series and am rooting for Noah!
Likely Story 