What if the end of the world was just the beginning?
Alice Davenport awakens from a fever to find her mother gone and the city she lives in ravaged by storms – with few survivors.
When Alice is finally rescued, she is taken to a huge underground bunker owned by the mysterious Paradigm Industries. As the storms worsen, the hatches close.
87 years later, amidst the ruins of London, the survivors of the Storms have reinvented society. The Model maintains a perfect balance – with inhabitants routinely frozen until they are needed by the Industry.
Fifteen-year-old Carter Warren knows his time has come. Awoken from the catacombs as a contender for the role of Controller General, it is his destiny to succeed – where his parents failed.
But Carter soon discovers that the world has changed, in ways that make him begin to question everything that he believes in. As Carter is forced to fight for those he loves and even for his life, it seems that the key to the future lies in the secrets of the past...
Alice Davenport awakens from a fever to find her mother gone and the city she lives in ravaged by storms – with few survivors.
When Alice is finally rescued, she is taken to a huge underground bunker owned by the mysterious Paradigm Industries. As the storms worsen, the hatches close.
87 years later, amidst the ruins of London, the survivors of the Storms have reinvented society. The Model maintains a perfect balance – with inhabitants routinely frozen until they are needed by the Industry.
Fifteen-year-old Carter Warren knows his time has come. Awoken from the catacombs as a contender for the role of Controller General, it is his destiny to succeed – where his parents failed.
But Carter soon discovers that the world has changed, in ways that make him begin to question everything that he believes in. As Carter is forced to fight for those he loves and even for his life, it seems that the key to the future lies in the secrets of the past...
From the very start, Paradigm introduces us to Carter, teenager who is getting down at the Catacombs to be frozen until the Community will need him again. The way it was described was really interesting because right off the bat you're not really sure what's going on and it catches your attention. Next chapter goes to the past, before the Storms started and the world flipped upside down. The Storms are described just like they are called - the Storms where it just started raining/hailing on the city without stopping and eventually flooded everything. Narrator in this case is Alice who stays home when her mother goes out and never returns. I found it interesting that you're not sure what her age is until later on in the book which is impressing because it explains a lot.
So alternating chapters, alternating chapter... Carter is back into the Community and starts to get ready to become the next Controller General who will try to make the Community a better place. This is where we can look closely at how the world works and have a better idea of their life. I like when the authors use this technic because it actually lets the reader figure it out for themselves instead of being told what the world is. Actually gives a chance to look at the world through narrator's eyes.
As it sounds, I did really enjoy the book and the plot itself. The alternating time frames weren't a big deal for me since there are only two different POVs which are easy to follow and remember what's happening. The only issue that I wish would have been explained more is if the Storms would be described better. How they were caused, how do they stopped, what the actual reason behind them? The only thing that I got from the book was that it was people's fault (which might be Global Warming? Damaged Ozone Layer?) and nother scientific behind it. Other than that, it was fast, easy to follow, and gave a different aspect on Dystopia.
