The Line by Teri Hall

Title: The Line
Author: Teri Hall
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
Acquired: Bought
Age Group: Young Adult
Grade: 71% or C-
Buy It: Amazon

An invisible, uncrossable physical barrier encloses the Unified States. The Line is the part of the border that lopped off part of the country, dooming the inhabitants to an unknown fate when the enemy used a banned weapon. It’s said that bizarre creatures and superhumans live on the other side, in Away. Nobody except tough old Ms. Moore would ever live next to the Line.

Nobody but Rachel and her mother, who went to live there after Rachel’s dad died in the last war. It’s a safe, quiet life. Until Rachel finds a mysterious recorded message that can only have come from Away. The voice is asking for help.

Who sent the message? Why is her mother so protective? And to what lengths is Rachel willing to go in order to do what she thinks is right?

My Thoughts::
This was one of those books that I saw all over the place and became very very interested in. But because I rarely have extra money to spend on books, it got pushed to the wayside and lingered a long time in my Amazon wishlist. Eventually though I got Christmas money to spend and used it to buy books, including this one. But since I've wanted it for so long, it was in my wishlist for so long, and it took me so long to read it, I mostly forgot what it was about. This wasn't good.

My mind was all hyped up for this great dystopian book that a lot of people seemed to enjoy, but it kind of fell flat for me. I can usually jump right into books like this and speed through them. They are what I use to pull myself out of a reading slump. But this one was just so dull...almost boring. The world building was great, at least when it was actually mentioned. Thank goodness her mom was so intense with the history lessons, or we wouldn't have learned anything. Nothing really happens until the end of the book. It was pretty short so I thought it would have a faster flow. But mostly it was just a build up for the next book.

Rachel was a fine main character. Nothing she did made me dislike her, but I didn't really like her that much either. She added to the whole "meh" ness of the entire book. I will admit that there were interesting bits here and there where I would get excited, but they were too few and far between. By the time that I was almost finished I didn't want to read the next book. BUT..then there was the ending..And I think the ending intrigued me enough to read what happens next.

Overall I think that The Line had a very interesting world, I just wish that we would have seen a lot more of it. The characters and the plot didn't really do it for me but the ending made it worth it.