Review: Pure by Julianna Baggott

Title: Pure (Pure #1)
Author: Julianna Baggott
Publication: February 8th 2012 by Grand Central Publishing
Genre: YA Dystopian
Source: Owned

We know you are here, our brothers and sisters . . . 
Pressia barely remembers the Detonations or much about life during the Before. In her sleeping cabinet behind the rubble of an old barbershop where she lives with her grandfather, she thinks about what is lost-how the world went from amusement parks, movie theaters, birthday parties, fathers and mothers . . . to ash and dust, scars, permanent burns, and fused, damaged bodies. And now, at an age when everyone is required to turn themselves over to the militia to either be trained as a soldier or, if they are too damaged and weak, to be used as live targets, Pressia can no longer pretend to be small. Pressia is on the run.

Burn a Pure and Breathe the Ash . . . 
There are those who escaped the apocalypse unmarked. Pures. They are tucked safely inside the Dome that protects their healthy, superior bodies. Yet Partridge, whose father is one of the most influential men in the Dome, feels isolated and lonely. Different. He thinks about loss-maybe just because his family is broken; his father is emotionally distant; his brother killed himself; and his mother never made it inside their shelter. Or maybe it's his claustrophobia: his feeling that this Dome has become a swaddling of intensely rigid order. So when a slipped phrase suggests his mother might still be alive, Partridge risks his life to leave the Dome to find her. 

When Pressia meets Partridge, their worlds shatter all over again.

-- My Rating --

5/5 Oscars: Loved it

-- My Thoughts --

     This is one of the most well-known books in the dystopian genre, as a whole. It is a national bestseller, if I am not wrong and I have been hearing constantly about it for two years. I just never had the time to read, or when i had the time, another book had the priority. Right now, I wish I had read it sooner.
     Pressia Belze is a Wretch. She lives in the land outside the Dome with her grandfather. She doesn't remember much of her childhood, but she knows the big explosion left her with a doll-head instead of a hand and her mother dead. Partridge is a Pure. He lives inside the Dome and there's physically nothing wrong with him and he's supposed to take his father's place in the future. But Partridge knows the secrets inside the Dome are sinister and that he has to venture outside to find out the truth, once and for all.
     World-building is one of the strongest suits of this book. Julianna Baggott has a vivid imagination that she perfectly phrases into words. She has created a truly new world within her head and on paper, a world that you cannot escape from. Her imagery is so vivid that you feel like you are there, with the characters, at all times.
     This plot was just epic. I don't really know how the author came up with the idea of Wretches and Pures, but it was amazing! All these little details that added up, and the huge explosion that ended the world as we knew it. All the characters with their impurities. A doll-head as a fist? A fan stuck in the throat for breathing? Birds fixed to the back of a guy? Words burned into a person's face? This plot was full of these deliciously creepy moments that I adored.
     I cannot begin to describe how the characters are. I fell in love with all, every single one of them. We have different chapters from different POVs. There's Pressia, our main character, which I truly absolutely LOVED. This girl is so tough, so real, it was beautiful to watch her grow through the course of this book. Then there's Partridge, our sweet innocent boy who gets thrown into a cruel world, he was annoying sometimes, but I still loved him, his loyalty. Bradwell and Lyda take appearances too. But my most favorite character is definitely El Capitan. He acts like he is much older than he actually is, and he acts cruel. but he has a heart of gold and I fell in love with everything he said, every single word.
     The romance is not the center on the stage in this book, but it does make an appearance. There's Partridge and Lyda and they make a cute couple, but you don't see much of them in this book. Then, there's Pressia and Bradwell, they have a lot of difficulties and nothing major has happened yet. And I am waiting for El Capitan to fall in love, too. With whom, I do not yet know.
    If you haven't already started this series, what the hell are you waiting for? This is one of the greatest masterpieces in YA literature, and the whole dystopian genre. I know that everyone will love it, you just have to.