Review of Among The Hidden by Margaret P. Haddix

Format: eBook
Genres: Dystopia
Pages: 160
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Release Date: 12/06/2002
Find The Author: Website 
Abe Books ¦ Book Depository ¦ Goodreads

Luke has never been to school. He's never had a birthday party, or gone to a friend's house for an overnight. In fact, Luke has never had a friend. 

Luke is one of the shadow children, a third child forbidden by the Population Police. He's lived his entire life in hiding, and now, with a new housing development replacing the woods next to his family's farm, he is no longer even allowed to go outside. 

Then, one day Luke sees a girl's face in the window of a house where he knows two other children already live. Finally, he's met a shadow child like himself. Jen is willing to risk everything to come out of the shadows - does Luke dare to become involved in her dangerous plan? Can he afford not to?


A shocking and riveting read, Among The Hidden is a perfect start to the seven book series Shadow Children. This book tells the tale of Luke, a third child in a world that only allows two children per family. Finding the spaces he's allowed to live in are becoming increasingly smaller, he makes a series of decisions that will change his life and the lives of those around him forever. 

I wasn't sure if I would like this book at first, I've never read a Dystopia that's less than 300 pages and this one is less than 200. This worked though, because Luke's world is so small. We spend a lot of the book inside the house and I was cheering Luke on when he showed signs of rebellion.

If I was going to judge this book by it's cover, I would quickly dismiss this as a juvenile read. However, this is easily up there with the big ones - Maze Runner, Hunger Games, Divergent. I especially recommend it for fans of The Maze Runner, who want to see a Dystopia from a guy's perspective. This isn't a cute read - one certain part of this book is brutal.

It's a very short, quick read that packs a lot of history, world building and action within it's pages without info dumps or ever feeling rushed. Its exactly the sort of Dystopia I've been looking for, it doesn't get bogged down by romantic sub-plots and leaves me wanting more at the end without writing in a massive cliffhanger. Highly recommended!

 

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