Those Who Rise by J. Dolores Perry (The Revolutionaries; 1)

The Synopsis:

Sixteen-year-old Taylor Jessup knows where her loyalties should lie. She is a Founder, one of the highest-ranking members of her society, and she is engaged to the atheist who will become its Leader. There is no greater honor at BradCom, where families are divided by religious castes and faith-based alliances.
But there is a secret that could tear her world apart: a photograph that points to her parents’ shocking past. Now, Taylor will do anything to find out where she belongs…even if she has to forge a few alliances of her own. With Morgan and Isaiah on her side, she will break all of the rules that have kept them in the dark.
When they uncover the truth about BradCom’s elite, will Taylor settle for a life that was built on lies? Or will she fight for the faith—and the love—that she truly wants?

I received this book from the author via BookSirens for the purpose of this review. All comments and opinions are entirely my own.

Review:

Christians aren’t just hated, they’re killed. Not in masses, that would be too detrimental to the human population; no, they’re singled out, slowly selected by the ones who are too “weak” to follow the rules that ban public display of their faith.

In Those Who Rise, we meet sixteen year old Taylor, who is at the top of the food chain, so to speak. She is a Leader, one of the elite social group that controls their society, and she’s been taught to look down upon, and even pity, the “Fallen” people who believe in God. She’s been lead to believe that their faith is a blinding, mental disorder used to cope with the unjust realities of their post apocalyptic lives. But all of that changes when she meets Isaiah and Morgan, who are both “Fallen”.

This series has so much potential and after reading this book, I’m definitely hooked for the next one! Taylor is a strong girl who accidentally stumbles on one piece of information that sets her entire world into question and her curiosity won’t let it rest until she finds the truth. She handles things with realistic hesitation and I’m also glad that the author gave her a lot of skepticism too and didn’t make her a susceptible character who would easily throw away her entire life’s teachings.

The storyline is very good, though I feel like there were a lot of things that could have been explained better to fully understand how the system worked. For example, I’m still not sure what exactly happened when Taylor explored the basement, and I reread that chapter several times before I shrugged and just decided to go with the fact that it was life changing for her, whatever it was. Something about how their society worked just wasn’t clicking with me, so I do believe the world building could be improved.

There are a few uses of the word “h*ll” in both the spiritual context and used as a curse word, as well as the use of “d*mn”, but no other words are mentioned. There is no sexual content aside from one kiss and there is only mild descriptions of blood and death.

Overall, I am happy to give Those Who Rise 4 out of 5 stars and do look forward to grabbing book two once it’s out!