Acquisitions (The Plague Legacy #1), by Christine Haggerty
4 out of 5 (Really Liked It)
In a dystopian world decimated by a bio-engineered plague, military scouts are acquisitioning a new supply of exports—slaves.
With his family dead, sixteen-year-old Cameron Landry is a reluctant survivor, haunted by nightmares and bound by promises. When he and his worst enemy are both selected for shipment to a civilization called Salvation, Cam suddenly has nowhere to run. Devon is a mutant, stronger and faster, and his hatred for Cam grows with each passing day. As Cam makes friends, and finds a surprising ally in Devon’s twin sister, Tara, he learns a secret that could change everything.
But Devon is on the hunt, and Cam is running out of places to hide.
Review:
This was the first book I have had the pleasure to read from a writer I met in the blogging world a few months ago, Christine Haggerty.
Acquisitions is a YA novel that takes place in a post-apocalyptic Earth devastated by a bio-engineered plague. The overall fictional world/human society was full of excitement and intrigue. The relationship between mutant and immune (average human) was made more complex by the addition of the mysterious place called Salvation, the target destination and seemingly only civilized place left on Earth, with its own internal conflicts and background connections to most of the adults leading the main characters on their journey.
A few things I liked a lot about this book were the group of characters and the writing style. Each of the characters had a unique personality that added to the storytelling, even though they were all of similar age and circumstance. In addition, each relationship between any two characters was different and realistic based on their known traits. The author also did well in writing the romantic developments with the main character.
The writing style was informative in describing scenes and landmarks, but also concise. It was clear what the weather conditions were and what the environment was like surrounding the characters at all times, which changed significantly throughout the journey.
Action scenes were well-spaced throughout, and exciting to read through. The described world was a harsh place to live, and there was obvious evidence of that from start to finish. After the ending, it is clear that the next book will begin in the place called Salvation, probably the most intriguing part of the world-building in this book, therefore, while I liked this first novel a lot, I can see the sequel being even better.
Even though this particular genre is not necessarily my go-to choice, I know people who like these types of books a lot, and I will definitely recommend they give Acquisitions a try! An impressive début.
© 2013 FOTS Fantasy
FOTS Fantasy 
So glad to see support for this author!!