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MWSA Review
James, a young teenager, finds himself alone in the world during a national insurrection led by home-grown anti-freedom terrorists and their juvenile ignorant recruits. James survives in a bunker built and stocked by his father, a former Marine. During many months of living off rations and hunting, James recalls all the lessons his father taught him. When insurgents come to sack his family home, he defends it and is forced to use his firearms. Eventually, he becomes a leader of a ragtag group of hurt and frightened children who call themselves The Risers. Their goal is to rise up, take back their country, and restore the freedoms they once enjoyed.
During his fight with the terrorists, James learns his sister has survived, as well as his father, who he thought had deserted the family. But Dad had been fighting the internal enemy in secret.
As the story comes to a climax, James defends the shattered school he and the other Risers call home, and together, they set out on a tactical plan to free prisoners (freedom-loving Americans who appreciate American beliefs and values) held in concentration camps by the internal enemy. In the process, he learns much about himself and even more about his father.
Ultimately, it is James who becomes the legend as he refuses to stoop to barbarism. He recognizes the trauma that years of being a warrior have inflicted on his father, and it is his father who recognizes his son’s innate leadership skills. James had been a sheltered child, but he now shelters other children and nurtures his beliefs during a time of crisis. In this timely tale of national turmoil, he evolves from a child caring about waging fake battles with Nerf ball guns to a reluctant defender of freedom using real bullets and armament.
As a cautionary tale that reflects the current state of tyranny at play in the United States, this dystopian novel is not just for teenagers or young adults. Nor is it only for male members of society. Women also play important warrior roles in taking back their country. Anyone who loves our country will appreciate what could happen, if we let it, and author Jacob Paul Patchen pretty much lets us see what that would be like.
Review by Patricia Walkow (June 2021)
Author's Synopsis
“We are all given a space in life to fill, a roaring emptiness in time… and it’s how you choose to fill that void, that will determine the difference in becoming a man or a legend.” That’s what my father said to me a few years ago before he walked out on Mom, Emily, and me. If I would have had any sense back then, I would have asked him exactly what that meant. Instead, I’m out here learning it the hard way – dodging bullets and bombs while America is at war – my friends fighting back with all we have, while trying to keep these orphaned children safe and our dreams alive.
They call us The Risers. Well, okay… so we call ourselves “The Risers.” But either way, we’re out here doing everything we can just to survive and rise up from our nation’s ashes with honor, integrity, and justice. Now, with smoky memories of a lost childhood, and the horrible, lingering, cardboard taste of MRE crackers (still left over from living in Dad’s bomb shelter), my mini army and me march forward, taking back what was once taken for granted.
But to be honest, I’m really just out here winging it. Wish me luck.
ISBN/ASIN: 978-1952816352, B08V8D282P
Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle, ePub/iBook
Review Genre: Children & Young Adult—Young Adult (fiction or non-fiction)
Number of Pages: 158