Raven’s Animated Review of Sunset Rising! So Cool!

This book. So much happens. Rebellion. Dictatorship. Murder. Betrayal. Love. I couldn’t put it down. It moved so quickly and had great suspense and questions you justhad to have the answers to.

I didn’t like Leisel from the moment we fist met her. She was just too happy and pushy to be the good guy. I didn’t have to read the summary to figure out she was going to be a bad guy. She is a good antagonist, though. She’s manipulative, bitchy, cunning…everything I don’t like about her makes her a great antagonist. I do like that she’s trying to change the rule that only men can be president, but she’s not changing it for the better. She would make no better a president than her father does. If anything, she’d be worse. At least her father doesn’t pretend to be someone’s best friend and then betray them.

I think my favorite thing about Sunny is her desire to never give up and putting the people she loves before everyone else. She agrees to Leisel’s plan to save her best friend. She risks her life just to get home and say a last goodbye. She stands up for her friends and inspires people to fight back against the injustices that have plagued them for nearly 300 years. She’s a great character and someone to look up to.

Jack is your royal pain in the butt good guy. Everyone wants to be with him. Girls swoon at his very presence. He comes from the Dome instead of the Pit and doesn’t understand what goes on down there until he runs there to hide as a fugitive with Sunny. I like Jack once he realizes how bad life in the Pit is more than when he lived in luxury up in the Dome. He understands so much more about the people who actually matter and is more than willing to help them fight. Naturally, he and Sunny fall for each other (I mean, they are married…) and I do prefer him to Sunny’s boyfriend, Reyes. He was a jerk.

The way the book started, with a nuclear holocaust, pulled me in right away. Imagine realizing the world is going to be destroyed by nuclear missiles from each country and the only refuge is a dome outside your village. The people went up to get to safety, and the military opened fire on them, gunning them down as they tried to get help. What a start. The emotion in the prose is amazing. I wish I could find more by this author. Her words are so touching. I cannot wait for the next installment!(less)