The Registry by Shannon Stoker
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Source: Edelweiss
ISBN: 9780062271730
Release Date: June 11, 2012
Pages: 297
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The Registry saved the country from collapse. But stability has come at a price. In this patriotic new America, girls are raised to be brides, sold at auction to the highest bidder. Boys are raised to be soldiers, trained by the state to fight to their death.
Nearly eighteen, beautiful Mia Morrissey excitedly awaits the beginning of her auction year. But a warning from her married older sister raises dangerous thoughts. Now, instead of going up on the block, Mia is going to escape to Mexico—and the promise of freedom.
All Mia wants is to control her own destiny—a brave and daring choice that will transform her into an enemy of the state, pursued by powerful government agents, ruthless bounty hunters, and a cunning man determined to own her . . . a man who will stop at nothing to get her back.
I love dystopian science fiction, I don't care how many holes there are plot wise, I will still most likely enjoy the book. Usually, I find with "breeder" type dystopian there is a lot of holes or they just aren't eloquently executed. Sometimes authors just don't take the time to tell us how society got to that place. How does one get from freedom and equality to women have no rights and are literally property?
I must say Shannon Stoker does try to answer this, but in a society with huge amounts of propaganda and society being brainwashed you will never find out the truth. Our main character Mia ponders this question throughout the book and she gets varied answers from the people she meets along her travels.
The Registry is what I wanted Wither to be. It somehow sucked me into the world where girls must enlist in The Registry. It is their duty to serve their future husbands every wish and command. They are photographed and auctioned off as cattle. The highest bidder wins and her family profits. The Registry paints a world where women have no rights and are deemed worthless. Their sole purpose is to be the perfect wife and have children. If a wife is beaten by her husband or has a son instead of a daughter, she is considered a bad investments. Men can kill their wives without any consequences. Her family will believe that she died accidentally and that she must have done something wrong.
The greatest accomplishment a female can achieve is becoming a wife. Through marriage she will serve her country and ensure her own happiness.
I liked how each chapter had an excerpt from The Registry Guide for Girls or The Boy's Guide To Service.
The three main characters, Mia, Andrew, and Grant were great. Mia was naive about the world, and I didn't think I would like her when I started the book. She knew she wanted to run after seeing her sister run away from her husband, but didn't know how. She somehow convinces her best friend Whitney, who seemed smart and rational, to run with her. Mia changed so much throughout the book. She grew and matured.
Whitney annoyed me the most. Even though her father encouraged her to learn and be her best, she turned out to be sheltered and judgmental. She was whiny throughout most of the book and I just wanted her to go off on her own.
Andrew I pretty much loved from the start. He had his own struggle as he truly believed it was his duty to serve his time and only then would he be worthy of a wife (picked out from The Registry, of course). Grant was an admirable adversary. He was smart, resourceful, and cruel. He enjoyed the chase. He didn't want to find his wife too quickly. He wanted to search and play cat and mouse, then catch Mia and torture her.
One thing that did annoy me was when Mia was around any boys she became this giggly annoying girl who could only see how good looking they were. I didn't really like the love triangle that was thrown in near the last bit of the book. It seemed a bit forced.
I am looking forward to the next book in this series as I still have a lot of questions about it, which hopefully can be answered in the next book.
