to me, it's just common sense to judge a book based on how well it serves its intended audience. that is a statement made for clarity, not apology. I expect different things from adult novels than i do from YA novels. Maggie has added her own review at the end Lee Kelly’s gripping debut novel is a pulse-pounding journey through a city that’s as strange as it is familiar, where nothing is black-and-white and buried secrets can haunt. When their search for answers erupts into violence, the girls must flee into Manhattan’s depths, where their quest for a better future will force them to confront the island’s dark and shocking past. As disturbing secrets about the island begin to surface, Sky and Phee have no choice but to break the rules to uncover the full truth of their long-shrouded history.

When strangers arrive in the park, carrying a shocking message, Sky and Phee discover there’s more to Manhattan-and their family-than either of them had imagined. But for Sky’s younger sister, Phee, the Central Park POW camp is the only home she’d ever want. For Skyler Miller, Manhattan is a cage that keeps her from the world beyond the city’s borders. It has been nearly two decades since the breakout of the Third World War, and Manhattan is now a prisoner-of-war camp ruled by island native Rolladin, who controls the city’s survivors with an iron fist.

City of Savages by Lee Kelly