Amanda Holohan

Bea lives in a future dystopian Earth ( spelled Erth) that is under seige from an alien race called the Erebii. She and her two sisters ( one older, one younger) are all that is left of a family torn apart by this war. They live in a town enclosed by a high wall & watched over by the Elders from a huge tower. This TellMe tower feeds information and alerts directly into the citizens vision ( like the internet constantly) due to a microchip embedded in their wrist. Women have two choices for a show more future life. They can choose to be a Stork ( and have children) or they can choose to be a warrior soldier who will train to fight against the Erebii outside the wall. Anyone who does not make one of these two choices - i.e.rebels or commits a crime is sent to The Farm where they work very long hours to provide the food for the city's people.
In return for their service to the city, people are tattooed with ink that moves over their body depicting their choice and their mood.
Bea is just about to become a warrior when a flock of crows attack the city. The TellMe feed says that they are Erebii spies. One is shot down and Bea notices that it has a golden eye made with Erebeii technology. Curious, she digs the eye out to look closer at it and before she has time to, is challenged by some army troops. Not wanting to get into trouble, she closes her fist and hides the eye. When the soldiers leave, she opens her hand and the eye is now embedded in her palm and appears to be looking straight at her.
Soon learns the consequences are that when she becomes a warrior, the ink won't bind to her and she may be sent to the Farm, or worse become one of the homeless, insane people who wander the streets with dead ink...the Unwanted.
Great but unusual book with a confusing, slow start but once you get into it, there are lots of twists and turns - who can, you trust and who can't you trust? What is the truth behind the world Bea lives in? show less

Bea has fled the city with her two sisters and other escapees. She meets up with some uninked people who are called the Wildborn. Thoughts of Red and his death and of her friend Gus standing against the Erebei warriors fill her head and the people she has escaped with, blame her for their ink dying once they were outside the city. Bea has also found her mother, so brain damaged fro her time on the Farm that she no longer recognises her own children. Bea then meets Vivienne, or Shift the last show more of the Erebeii Elders who was stationed outside the city when it was destroyed and so has survived. Shift takes the form of a small girl and Bea doesn't know if she can trust her. Is Red dead? And what of Bask, the Erebeii general who wants Bea dead.
Interesting end to the series and although I figured out what was going on about half way through the novel, there was enough to keep me intrigued. Probably a little older than the first one as quite violent science fiction with experimentation, torture and dismemberment. Present the first book to Year 9 and they loved it. show less