Epitaph Road by David Patneaude

Published: 2011

Publisher: Egmont USA

Pages: 272

Copy Provided by: Library

Summary: Goodreads



Summary:
2097 is a transformed world. Thirty years earlier, a mysterious plague wiped out 97 percent of the male population, devastating every world system from governments to sports teams, and causing both universal and unimaginable grief. In the face of such massive despair, women were forced to take over control of the planet—and in doing so they eliminated all of Earth's most pressing issues. Poverty, crime, warfare, hunger . . . all gone.


But there's a price to pay for this new "utopia," which fourteen-year-old Kellen is all too familiar with. Every day, he deals with life as part of a tiny minority that is purposefully kept subservient and small in numbers. His career choices and relationship options are severely limited and controlled. He also lives under the threat of scattered recurrences of the plague, which seem to pop up wherever small pockets of men begin to regroup and grow in numbers.


And then one day, his mother's boss, an iconic political figure, shows up at his home. Kellen overhears something he shouldn't—another outbreak seems to be headed for Afterlight, the rural community where his father and a small group of men live separately from the female-dominated society. Along with a few other suspicious events, like the mysterious disappearances of Kellen's progressive teacher and his Aunt Paige, Kellen is starting to wonder whether the plague recurrences are even accidental. No matter what the truth is, Kellen cares only about one thing—he has to save his father.

Review:

Oh my goodness!  97% of the male population gone?  Sounds like a uptopia to me!  Just kidding!  So I was all gung ho about starting this title but then I found it really fizzled for me.  I could not get into the storyline.  Have you ever had a situation where you find something you enjoy (ahem...chocolate) and you overendulge to the point where it is not as enjoyable anymore.  Then you find you just need a bit of a break? 

I think that's where I'm at with Dystopian fiction.  I was really interested in reading this title for a few reasons.  First it was a male author writing and the plotline was different from others I had heard about.  Epitaph Road, I'm sorry, I'm just not that into you.  At under 300 pages though, it is a quicker read so why not give it a try.  I think I'm going to take that vacation from Dystopia fiction for now....

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