This was a Goodreads-First Reads-Giveaway for me.

Meritropolis is, hopefully, a short introduction to a longer, more detailed Post-Apocalyptic story. The story centers around Charley, a teenager with an unusually high "score" and Commander Orsen, the person in charge of keeping only 50,000 people within the city walls.

Rather than go into a synopsis, however, this will contain no spoilers, just constructive criticism.

This is definitely a YA novel, though not of the ilk that many YA novelists are currently cranking out. There is blood and gore, but this doesn't seem to change the way anyone feels about themselves or the people around them--nor is that addressed at all within the story. Charley is very naive, but that is certainly understandable considering his background--but he doesn't seem to be able to put two and two together.

These are just a couple of things that suggest the need for more detail regarding what life is like in Meritropolis. People there appear to be doing nothing other than walking around aimlessly, being assaulted by guards if they so much as breathed in the wrong direction. Add in the seemingly random current political rants and you have a book that smacks of unsubtle political leanings.

Not that the book is bad. Far from it! I truly enjoyed the author's writing style--easily read and understood, and vivid enough when doling out the details that it kept my attention. I just needed more! If this is an introduction to a larger body of work, then I view this as a success. However, if further books are written without a little more emotion (other than anger, which I didn't really get a sense of), then I believe this to be mediocre. Regardless, a great read when you need something to take your mind off real life! ( )

Awesome!!! I won this action packed, thrilling, & imaginative title on the Goodreads giveaway and...I had a blast reading it. I am definitely a fan of this author's writing style and will read the second title in this series. ( )

Dystopian worlds are never easy to survive. The most powerful control the lives of everyone. This person decides who will live, who will be sacrificed, who will be allowed to live a life of luxury, and who will be forced into poverty. Good luck to those wanting to start a family. Each world has its own system, its own reasoning. It all makes sense to those who benefit. Those who don’t either stick it out and hope to survive or rebel.

Welcome to the world of the merit system.

This story takes this basic formula and twists it into something more. The “Event” may be in the past, but the weapons created are morphing into more dangerous creatures. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. If you aren’t directly affected it isn’t a concern. There are many dangers the citizens are ignorant of. The Commander keeps it this way for a reason.

Whomever has control reigns supreme – at least in their little world. Who or what decides who has that control? Why, the merit system, of course. The person with the highest score ensures the rules of the system are carried out. Nobody below a score of 50 can “benefit” from the protection of their walled-in society.

I am thoroughly enjoying this story. I have my pom-poms in one hand and a sword in the other. The dam has broken. Secrets are revealed. The masses are furious with the current administration. Rumors are spreading – the Commander is receiving orders from somewhere outside the community. Outside. Where no other humans are supposed to exist.

I can honestly say I am glad I have the next book in the series, Meritorium. I need to know what happens to Charley, Sandy, Chappy, Orson, Grigor… and what’s Abigail planning?? ( )

This book was provided to me for free in exchange for an honest review.

Meritropolis is the last known refuge for the human race. After "The Event" wiped out civilization as we know it, a system was implemented to ensure the smooth running of Metropolis and it's finite resources. Every citizen is assigned a number ranking based on a variety of criteria including beauty, intelligence, physical prowess and athleticism. Those with high scores live a more comfortable life. They live in better housing and enjoy better foods while those with lower scores live on the fringe, barely surviving. If your score drops too low, you are exiled from Meritropolis, banished outside of the walls, left to the mercy of the wild and all the savage hybrid beasts which inhabit the land. Charley is lucky, with the second highest score in Meritropolis he is destined to have a comfortable life, but a lifelong, deep seeded hate for the System boils over and is unleashed when he witnesses a small child be sentenced to banishment. His act of defiance sets off a chain reaction that could mean the destruction of Meritropolis and the eye opening knowledge of life beyond the walls.

Overall this was a pretty solid read. Fans of The Hunger Games and Divergent will enjoy this book which echos some of those same undertones and themes of Powerful elite, corruption, and the rebellion of the people against oppression. The main character, Charley, faces much inner turmoil as he grasps with the morality of his difficult choices. Killing to save innocents, the value of life even if it doesn't have anything to offer you, speaking up in times of moral crisis; these are all themes and ideas that can be applicable across any generation or time period giving the reader pause to consider the implications and consequences. The dystopian world that Ohman creates is unique. The hybrid creatures prowling outside of the wall were quiet imaginative and honestly some of my favorite scenes from the book. As part of a trilogy, this first book really only scratches the surface of understanding this complex world, and my hope is that book two and three delve more into the world outside of Meritropolis as well as more detail about this "Event" which lead to the destruction of the free world. The characters are strong and well written, I am eager to see where Charley goes from here and to learn more about this world that Ohman has so artfully imagined. ( )

I received a free copy of Meritropolis from Goodreads First Reads.

So, Meritropolis is a tale of (what...surprise, surprise, yet another) post-apocalyptic type of dystopia, where misguided human actions have resulted in the creation of animal mutants* generally referred to animal combinations. (But more on this later.) To ensure the survival of Meritropolians, leaders and constituents have actively instituted and/or supported a merit-based system to gauge the worth of each individual, and essentially determine who will live or die. In other words, this "System" helps its leaders assign scores to constituents based on intellect, among other attributes, to aid their decisions regarding who are most valuable and deserve the limited resources Meritropolis has to offer, and who are least valuable and do not. Others, passively support this "System" by failing to act.

Our protagonist is Charley--a 17-year-old, "High Score" with serious anger issues. Though both his parents were "zeroed" (a painfully overused term to basically describe a ritualized form of murder), Charley craves revenge for his brother who shared the same fate. After a rebellious act, the first of his adult life, he is forced to join a small band of other High Scores who are trained to hunt (a duty essential to the city's subsistence) and combat, all the while seeking his best opportunity to exact his revenge.

While I sympathized with Charley, I found him too difficult to like. He was much too self-righteous and egotistical for my taste. At times, I found him annoying and unbelievable--so emotional for someone supposedly so intelligent. (Emotion which swells at some of the most inoppotune moments and obviously clouds his thinking.)

Overall, I would consider Meritropolis an okay read. Contrary to popular opinion, I didn't find the animal combinations very imaginative. In fact, they seemed so (for lack of a better word) ridiculous they had (likely an unintended) comical effect; I couldn't help rolling my eyes when reading about and seeing some of them. (Sorry. Maybe the illustrations hurt these concepts more than they helped them.) But I'm a trekky and a fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender (the television series) and James Cameron's Avatar, so I may be a little hard to please. This was so different...and not in a good way.

Certain areas (I would not say entire chapters altogether) suffered from awkward writing and repetition, which was unfortunate. Also, the plot moved a little too slowly for me; all that curiosity and vengeance-fueled action to primarily end up no better than where he (Charley) started, or maybe worse off. And, yet, there is still hope for more in the sequel which the conclusion alludes to.

*There was even a slight indication that more the animals have been reconfigured by human interference. ( )