A world where everything is controlled by the government. In Misguided Trust by Lauren Wagner that is the world in which Sara lives in a government run town. More specifically, the government controls the water supply as supposedly all water is potentially poisonous and has to be run through a bunch of purification filters before anyone can drink. Sara is growing tired of that control after temporarily living out in the wild and does her best to help the people still living out there. After a neighboring child falls extremely ill she ends up taking him in to help him evade the government trying to put him down. In doing so she makes her already perilous situation worse. At the same time she allows Josh, the older brother of her now dead best friend, to stay with her. The problem there is that Josh is under investigation by the government for potentially being subversive. In the midst of all of this Sara meets a young enforcement officer who seems determined to get to know her and possibly even romance her. Something she rather takes offense to when she also learns that he is investigating Josh even though he is also willing to help her protect the kid.
This book was a slightly odd example of the somewhat stereotypical post-apocalyptic genre. I say that because there are a lot of things that stood out to me as being rather odd. The first one is that the main character has actually lived outside of the government run town and starts out being extremely distrustful of the government and wanting to escape the first chance she gets. Usually, they start out with no knowledge of the outside world and not wanting to take the chance to escape. This creates a bit of an unusual idea that adds some interesting layers to the story. However, I also felt like this was not something that was really developed in how it affected the characters and the story. By implying that there are people who routinely live outside the government towns it should also by implying that the countryside is safe to live in but it also seems to routinely imply that even Sara, who lived outside, is unsure if it is actually safe to do so. I am not sure what to think about this seeming contradiction. There is also very little detail provided about Sara’s background and her time living outside. It obviously discusses the fact that she did so but is rather vague on timelines and specific details at times. I would have preferred to have more information on that. There is also little specific information provided about what led to their post-apocalyptic world and why the water specifically was unsafe to drink. I think there were a few mentions of a possible nuclear war but I, again, would have preferred more information on this, if only to have a better picture of what this world is actually like and how it developed. Related to that, there is very little information provided about the government structure or who is in charge. It refers to Josh’s father being a member of the government, possibly a senator, but outside of that practically nothing. The book sometimes discusses things the government has done, such as the water restrictions and the euthanizing of unhealthy citizens, but again not much beyond that. I feel like this book was good but it could have been more fully fleshed out on a lot of the background information to create a more fully detailed world. Don’t get me wrong, it was a pretty good book but I just really like feeling like everything was well thought out and I didn’t always get that feeling here. I am giving this book 3.5 out of 5 stars.
This is a pretty good post-apocalyptic fantasy novel so I would think it would hold the most appeal to readers who prefer that genre. I am not sure it would hold a lot of appeal for other readers though, even readers who enjoy fantasy as it doesn’t come across as being heavily fantasy. The book is considered a novel for adults but I would think that it would probably be pretty suitable for the young adult and teen age range. The characters are in their twenties but otherwise it feels like a young adult novel. In terms of themes and content it would be fine for readers of that age range. There is only minimal violence and mature content. Overall, a decent book. As always feel free to share your thoughts about it in the comments. This book was acquired with the help of the LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program.