I loved ‘Happy Deathday’. It had a great idea with an excellent set of characters that had only just realized what being a teenager is like- to some extent. ‘Resurrection’, its sequel brings back the same characters with the same dual-narrative back in the same place for an explosive conclusion to this series. And for me, I’d say it’s better than the original.
In the first book, the two protagonists, Jonathan and Sarah, have spent their lives underground in a breeding colony where mankind has survived after a gamma ray explosion kills the earth’s ozone layer. As it turns out, the program denies everyone to experience puberty by telling them to take their Supplement, when Jonathan doesn’t take his, he starts to change and so does Sarah. Now, in the sequel, Sarah believes Jonathan is dead and Jonathan must find a way to get back inside the colony, rescue Sarah and the rest of the colonists and to stop the series’ antagonist, Zack from dominating the colony.
‘Resurrection’ picks up right where the first book left off and in hindsight I probably should have finished ‘Resurrection’ directly after ‘Happy Deathday’. That however didn’t spoil my enjoyment. Anyway, this leads on to one of my favourite things about the series: it gets to the point. Far too many books out there boast a killer plot in the blurb and then take an age to get going and by then you may have thrown the book out of the window, slammed your cup down and cursed the author to pieces. Well, I would have. Both books get down to business instantly, there’s no waiting around for the ‘big bang’ if you like or the plot twist. Straight away we’re in the story.
‘Happy Deathday’, for all of its world-building and the questions it asks readers, it was a love story, a love triangle even. ‘Resurrection’ is a thriller and both books sound different and yet they sound the same. You might think that’s a bad thing but, it isn’t. When you read ‘Resurrection’ you can tell that Sue Yockney wrote it, the use of language and the little ticks that find their way into her writing both colonize in the books. There’s a great sense of threat in ‘Resurrection’ and its constant from beginning to end. However, one of ‘Happy Deathday’s biggest strengths was reading about Jonathan and Sarah’s change as they forget about their Supplements and began to experience puberty. None of that is in ‘Resurrection’ but then again, that avenue had already been explored before and we know that they’ve gone through these changes but then again, there is one major change that’s mentioned but I can’t explain what that is. That would be a spoiler.
Like I said about ‘Happy Deathday’, the only criticism I have is that I wish the characters get angrier. More so in ‘Resurrection’ since Jonathan and Sarah are on a high priority mission and anything can go wrong in an instant and when things do go south, the characters don’t let themselves go. Maybe it’s to do with the target audience but I reckon it’s because swear words wouldn’t have found their way underground in a place that demands a clean living and flawless architecture. Why would the colonists have the need to swear? They have a perfect life, right? It absolutely makes sense but it’s probably just me. I like swears, not too many but enough to get the tone right. Still, that’s a small niggle.
Overall, ‘Resurrection’ was a great read. I preferred it over ‘Happy Deathday’. Mind you, readers of romance (which I am not) may well prefer the first book. ‘Resurrection’ started the story off with a bang and ended not with a whimper but with another bang. When it ended I thought ‘Oh, another sequel?’ but so far as I know there isn’t a third part. And I like that, the ending leaves it for the reader’s imagination to explore what kind of life the characters will live off the page. The ‘Happy Deathday’ series is something new, something worth reading and something I would definitely call ‘indie’. If you like your dystopias, no scratch that. If you like your books, pick these up.
Nick Barton is a YA writer on a quest to finish every book on his never-ending list of books to read. When he’s not playing Skyrim, he’s either writing new stories or editing a YA novel in the hopes to have it published sometime in 2014. He blogs and posts book reviews on nickbartonauthor.co.uk
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