Arclight by Josin L. McQuein

by:  Josin L. McQuein
published by:  Greenwillow Books
publish date:  April 23, 2013

The Arclight is the last defense. The Fade can’t get in. Outside the Arclight’s border of high-powered beams is the Dark. And between the Light and the Dark is the Grey, a narrow, barren no-man’s-land. That’s where the rescue team finds Marina, a lone teenage girl with no memory of the horrors she faced or the family she lost. Marina is the only person who has ever survived an encounter with the Fade. She’s the first hope humanity has had in generations, but she could also be the catalyst for their final destruction. Because the Fade will stop at nothing to get her back. Marina knows it. 

So once again I am reading a YA dystopian and it's got some of the typical characteristics of the genre.  Female protagonist about 16, kinda bumbling around clueless about what's going on, but she's about to get a serious education.  The whole world is destroyed except for the little bit of land that they live in and the big baddies are closing in and they have to do everything in their power to protect themselves from everything out there.  But things are never what they seem...correct?

Arclight was a little different.  The Fades were actually pretty interesting.  The idea behind them was pretty cool.  Merina, ended up being a bit different than I expected.  Throughout most of the book she has amnesia and doesn't remember most of her life except for the previous couple of months when she arrived at the Arclight.  When her memories come back, her life prior to the Arclight was not what I was expecting.  

Overall, Josin McQuein's entry into the YA dystopian genre was a little more entertaining than most.  I would recommend it if you're a fan of that type of book.  However, I would have liked to have seen this story wrapped up in one book instead of the series it's going to be.