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***EDIT: This was not in my original review, and while I did say it on my blog, twitter and several other bookish communities, I think it ought to go here as well: Lauren DeStefano is actually a very talented writer. She has the enviable ability to create beautiful sentences, and to turn those beautiful sentences into evocative and atmospheric paragraphs, even pages. Simply put: she has a way with words. I look forward to the day she writes something else, NOT related to this book, very much. I am anxious to see what she has to offer when her talent isn't being marred by a really, really bad story. END OF EDIT*** Sex 3/5: It was never graphic, but there was a lot of semi-discreet discussions about different positions making it more likely to conceive a baby, and mention of brothels. It's all matter-of-fact and not sexy at all, but since the main character was kidnapped to be a baby-maker, sex is a pretty omnipresent topic. Violence 3/5: A few anecdotes mention violence in passing: a car bomb, a girl waiting to stab her husband, nuclear warfare. The whole tone of the book is pretty bleak and gruesome, and the "virus" that magically attacks everybody on their birthday causes them to cough up blood and die quickly. Language 0/5: Nothing. Substance Abuses 2/5: Everybody drinks, there's no legal drinking age because everybody is a "child." The sixteen year old protagonist (who never has a birthday in a year?) gets falling down drunk at least twice. Her twenty year old husband (again, no birthday?) does the same.

2023-08-04 02:49