Resistance is the long awaited follow-up to The Institute. Oh - hang on, didn't I read The Institute just a few weeks ago?
Luckily for us readers, this second installment was released recently, and the third installment is on its way.
Can I start with a small caveat first?
Having set everything up beautifully in The Institute, I expected Book Two to start with a bang. I have to admit to finding both books a little on the slow side at the start.
But often the best part of your food is in the middle, am I right? And it's not long before Resistance is hitting the heady heights of its predecessor.
I think our MC is much more engaging in this follow-up. She's ballsy without being an overtly annoying kick-ass heroine. If she was...she would be just another Katniss cut-out.
Fortunately, we are saved from any repetitive girl on fire by someone who is not actually on fire, but is at boiling point all the same.
Now part of the 'inside', Allira continues her resistance against the state but with echoes of not really knowing who to trust.
There are some fascinating scenes in the book - Brookfield's interrogation of her was genuinely chilling and it seems that as the book progressed, we were being led up to one big bang, then another, then another.
Resistance is brilliant once it gets going. Perhaps the slowish-start is my view only, and not anyone else's. This is fine, as the storytelling is pure quality and yes..the dialogue is far better too.
There was one real humdinger of a scene in the book, and it happens about two thirds in. It's so good, that even if you predicted it, just watch it unfold and excite you as Allira and everyone around her must deal with its consequences.
Put simply, this is shaping up to be the best dystopian trilogy I have read in a while...since, ooh, I don't know....The Hunger Games.
Praise indeed, but praise deserved.
Now stop what you are doing and get a hold of this series.
