Waiting on Wednesday 11: The Forsaken by Lisa M. Stasse

From Goodreads:

As an obedient orphan of the U.N.A. (the super-country that was once Mexico, the U.S., and Canada), Alenna learned at an early age to blend in and be quiet—having your parents taken by the police will do that to a girl. But Alenna can’t help but stand out when she fails a test that all sixteen-year-olds have to take: The test says she has a high capacity for brutal violence, and so she is sent to The Wheel, an island where all would-be criminals end up.
The life expectancy of prisoners on The Wheel is just two years, but with dirty, violent, and chaotic conditions, the time seems a lot longer as Alenna is forced to deal with civil wars for land ownership and machines that snatch kids out of their makeshift homes. Desperate, she and the other prisoners concoct a potentially fatal plan to flee the island. Survival may seem impossible, but Alenna is determined to achieve it anyway.

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: July 10th, 2012
Amazon, Goodreads, Author's Twitter

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I really can't have enough dystopian novels in my life. I've toyed around with the idea of combining Mexico, the U.S. and Canada for one of my own stories in the past, but it never came to light so I'm glad that someone else did it! The island prison idea sounds interesting too.

I love survival stories, and I'm glad that this book doesn't have an apparent love interest yet. I'm pretty sure if most people were stuck on a prison island with a life expectancy of two years they'd be more interested in escaping than hooking up, too.

And that cover? It's gorgeous! It's what caught my eye in the first place. I'm certainly excited!

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Waiting on Wednesday is hosted over at Breaking the Spine.