An original take on the cycle of addiction. Interesting and poignant. This is one of those books I would love to see as a movie or mini series. Just a neat world to live in for a while.

This book is an oddity. In the beginning I thought this was going to be about our group of characters from the outside against the political system inside the dome, like every other dystopian. That's not what this book turned out to be.
The shadow addicts seem to play such an important part of this story, I unfortunately didn't find them enough of a threat that they could have been. Bale, the outcast from the dome has a shadow that's able to be stolen. Not once in the book was there a fight over his shadow, a couple times it was mentioned but to have something that's so valuable and easy enough to steal I wished his shadow was taken a little more serious.
I think of this book in parts. The beginning that gives this a dystopian feel , the outside verses the dome, which is what I really enjoy about dystopians. But quickly we realize that's not what the book is really about. There's the middle part which was slow and hard to get through. And the last part once our group is on their adventure and where I feel is the "real" story takes place. And this is definitely where the story gets odd and something out of a horror movie. I kept imagining this part as a side story plot in one of the Fallout games. A city that deals in amputated limbs. I almost would have preferred the book to be about this and could have left the whole first half of the book out. The shadow addicts element really is interesting that should have a separate book. This felt like two different stories smashed together and it's so disappointing because these stories could both have been so much more.
Bale was my favourite character, but only when he talked about comparing what they were doing to inside the dome. His story definitely could have been flushed out more.
Mira was so boring. She has this cool ability to make her shadow disappear, we don't know why, we don't know if anyone else has ever been able to, it just is a thing that makes her special. As a reader, I want to know why. Other than that cool ability, her character is completely pointless, and she's the main character. She never had anything else important to add to the story except for the reason they go on their quest.
Lots of thing about this book disappointed me except for the world. The world in the book deserves another story set in the town, or in the dome, with a better set of characters.

Impossible to describe, much like a dream - a hazy dream where it all makes sense, but also doesn't. It's unique, unlike anything I've ever read. A dark tale of the future with themes of addiction is the best way to put it in simple terms. I can say it is brilliantly written. Be sure to check it out for yourself! It's lyrically violent in the best of ways.

I read this book in two days. It's not the type of book you'll want to put down. I can see this book having the same appeal to the fans of A Girl With All The Gifts, although there are no zombies.

I liked it, but it's not without its faults. It's very much first novel, where the prose feels a bit flat. There's a lot of action, but without much description of the area this all takes place. A desert near an ocean where there are grapefruits growing (on the land, not in the ocean) so perhaps Florida? It's just troublesome to get a grasp of the environment.

Carr also throws A LOT at the reader without giving any specifics. Like, where and what are theses Dome cities? What exactly do the trains do? And how can some people hide their shadows? (Not a spoiler, because they don't address it except in passing.) Why the actions? What does Drummond's purpose actually do to the story?

The book raises more questions than it answers, which can be fine. But here, it makes me wonder what else could have been accomplished if these questions were answered? Or if some of the asides were cut.

But hey, it's a good beach read. With all the sun and shadows and such.