Originally published: 9 September 2021 (eBook) ; 7 October 2021 (Paperback)

Author: Melissa Welliver

Published by: Agora Books

Genre: Dystopian YA

Page count: 303

Reading dates: 5-8 September 2021

What if living forever was a death sentence?

Decades after the discovery that a small percentage of the population has stopped ageing, the Avalonia Zone is in crisis. From overpopulation to food shortages, the ‘Undying’ have been blamed for the state’s problems, banished to the fringes of society, and punished for every minor infraction.

When sixteen-year-old Sadie takes the fall for an attack by a rebel group, The Alchemists, she suddenly finds herself wrenched away from her quiet life and from her ailing father.

Armed with little help and even less knowledge, Sadie is thrust into a cold and cryptic ‘correctional facility’ – The Tower. Here she’ll have to rethink everything she’s been told about the Undying population in an attempt to save the life she knows, protect a group of unlikely friends, and give voice to the voiceless in a society on the brink of catastrophic upheaval.

Happy ebook publication day to The Undying Tower. I’m thrilled to be sharing my review today!

The Undying Tower starts with a bang…literally! Sadie, her father and best friend Jasper are attending one of the regular “undying” hangings which take place in the Avalonia Zone. The undying are a group of people who don’t age generally beyond the age of 25 and have accelerated healing powers. They are 2nd class citizens in Avalonia and are regularly hanged for the smallest misdemeanours, due to the overflowing prisons. As the hanging is about to take place there is an explosion. Sadie is found injured in the rubble and is taken into custody. The authorities believe she was responsible for the bomb and is a member of the terrorist organisation, The Alchemists. In return for her freedom, she must agree to be sent to the undying correctional facility, know as The Tower, and try and uncover who the real Alchemists are.

“When they discovered the first human that didn’t age, well, it was both a miracle and a plague. A human that didn’t die naturally? And not just one, but millions, all over the planet?” “It was a total nightmare. In just five years, the population doubled. Doubled. Can you even imagine?”

I do like a dystopian read and this one is perfect for fans of the Divergent series and the Hunger Games. I loved how the book got straight into the action and the set up for this new world was well explained and thought provoking. The Tower is a prison but there is something more going on which is shocking to discover. Sadie is a great heroine and we discover what is going on at the same time as she does. There is one scene that completely knocked me for six and I read the last 100 pages in just a couple of hours, racing to the end because I couldn’t wait to find out what was going to happen. Luckily, this is a trilogy so there is more to come and I can’t wait.

A great YA read, one that is also perfect for not so young readers, I really enjoyed this.

Many thanks to Peyton at Agora Books for sending me a proof copy for the blog tour. You can see what others are saying by checking out these other brilliant bloggers!

About the author:

Melissa Welliver writes speculative fiction about how the End Of The World is never really the end of the world. After studying MA Creative Writing under Jeanette Winterson at the University of Manchester, she went on to complete Curtis Brown Creative’s Writing for Children course. Her work has listed in Bath Novel Award, Mslexia, the Hachette Children’s Novel Award, and the Wells Book for Children Competition. She has been published in two short story collections and is an avid member of the Twitter writing community. Born in Stockport, she now lives in the High Peak with an assortment of doggy friends. The Undying Tower is her first novel.

Twitter – https://twitter.com/Melliver
Website – https://melissawelliver.com/