This is how the world could end up within a near future if we don't do something about our way of life - and it's a chilling image. Alaska is now called Askala, and instead of snow and cold it's more like a gigantic greenhouse, where everything grows so rapidly that there's almost no nutrition in the food. The ocean has risen and become acidic and toxic, killing almost every living thing in it.

We follow four teenagers in this dystopian world: Callix, Magnus, Amity and Mercy. The first two are brothers, where Callix has already passed the Proving and become Bound. Now it's Magnus's turn. Amity went through the Proving at the same time as Callix and they've been friends since they were small children. As Bound you have the responsability to save the people and the Earth. You're also expected to produce children in order to increase the population. Almost everyone expect Callix and Amity to pair up, including Callix, but Magnus also has his eyes set on Amity. Mercy is the girl nobody notice, but she sees everything.

I received an ARC from the authors and I'm giving my honest review. At the end of the book you can download bonus chapters and see where the characters are a year later (I did that, of course). The world building reminds me of the Divergent series, but since this is a rather short prequel to After the Thaw series I feel I've seen to little of Askala yet to make an accurent assessment. If you enjoy dystopian YA this is probably a sure thing!