Genre:
YA/Dystopian
Description:
Hush
is the continuation of the serial which began with Lush.
In this installment Bluebell has a kind of coming out as the “Lush
Ambassador.” She then does a tour of each of the four regions of
Concord, the fictional dystopian world where the story takes place.
As Bluebell visits each Concord region she learns more about the
world she’s living in as well as more about things she’s not
meant to find out, including her past.
Author:
A former
high school math teacher, S.L. Baum now works as a substitute
elementary school teacher, chauffeur for her kids, and novelist. She
lives with her family in the Southwestern United States. Her The
Immortal Ones series has four
books, thus far. Her book Lush
began a dystopian serial for young adults with Hush
as the continuation.
Appraisal:
In my
review of Lush,
the first installment in this dystopian serial, I discussed how its
world was unlike a typical dystopia. The primary difference is that
the standard of living is high, lacking the squalor and poverty of a
normal dystopia. But like most dystopias, life is far from ideal. In
Concord, life appears good, with a healthcare system that provides a
long, good life. However, with the government also making many life
decisions for the people, maybe it isn’t so good after all.
As the
story continues we, through Bluebell, begin to see the chinks in the
armor. Maybe some of the positives about Concord are only illusion.
As more information comes out about Bluebell’s mother, Bluebell is
given clues to some of Concord’s faults. When I finished Lush,
I was interested in seeing where this serial was headed, both because
I found the world interesting and wanted to see what happened to the
characters. But I didn’t feel fully invested. This installment
changed that.
FYI:
Hush
is book 2 in the A Lush
novel series.
Added
for Reprise Review: Hush
was a nominee in the Young Adult category for B&P 2014 Readers'
Choice Awards. Original review ran November 14, 2013
Format/Typo
Issues:
Review is
based on a beta copy which means I’m unable to grade the final
product in this area.
Reviewed
by: BigAl
Approximate
word count: 45-50,000 words
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