Book: 48 States

By: Evette Davis

Published: June 7, 2022

Publisher: Flesh & Bone

Pages: 242

Genre: Dystopian

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About 48 States

48 States follows a multitude of characters in the USA in a new dystopian world. This all happened after terrorists attacked and killed a lot of people. So, when a new president is in office they move a lot of people out of two states and close it off to everyone else. The president is only trying to do her best but what exactly does she do once a trusted co-worker turns against her?

What I thought about 48 States

So, I don’t know how I feel about 48 States. Dystopian novels are some of my favorite reads as long as they are done right. 48 States has a pretty cool concept of the United States after a pretty bad terrorist attack. The characters are very well done too. For the most part, they stand off the page and seem pretty realistic. My issue is that this book is heavily character-focused and, to me, doesn’t have much of a plot.

What I liked

I do like that the story is pretty fast-paced and most of the characters are really well done. River and Finn kind of stand off the pages even though it seems like they fall in love pretty fast. But overall the characteristics are really well done.

On top of that, there are parts of the story that are able to really keep your interest. And I really do love the concept of the story.

What I didn’t like

There’s really no background to how the world got to where it is in the book. I get that it was because of an attack, but we’ve had attacks before and we have never had something like this happen. I feel like the story really lacks any explanations or I really just didn’t catch on to it. On top of that, I do feel like we were just thrown in with the territories and not told as to why the two states were just thrown aside.

Like why? Why would two states be discarded because of an attack? How did they decide on these two states anyways?

Looking at the reviews I’m starting to question if maybe I just missed the whole explanation. I actually took my time with this story just so I know I didn’t miss anything but I don’t recall an actual logical explanation when it comes to the territories being formed. If it was for recourses or weapons then why exactly do the people need to leave their homes? There is a multitude of ways to do things like this without making people leave their homes.

A part of me doesn’t really understand Red’s reasoning for turning completely nuts. Why exactly does he want more territories? I get he wants control but it just doesn’t make any sense to me. It’s books like these that make me realize that books really need to be all about the details.

For me, 48 States is a two-star read because of the lack of detail. Even though it has a cool concept I do think there could be some improvement with the background.

If you are wanting to read more dystopian novels you can find that in my best dystopian novels list.