The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

The Forest of Hands and Teeth (2009) (Gollancz)
Carrie Ryan
Grade: C
Genre: young adult / dystopian
Source: own
Forest of Hands and Teeth: (1) The Forest of Hands and Teeth

General RBC 2015: A book on your TBR list 

When Mary’s mother becomes infected and chooses a life with the Unconsecrated, Mary has lost everything. Her father is also one of the Unconsecrated in the Forest of Hands and Teeth, her brother Jed is married and has his own family to look after, besides not being able to forgive Mary for letting their mother become infected, and no one has spoken for Mary in the village’s yearly cycle of marriage ceremonies. Mary is taken in by the Sisterhood, whose direction and guidance is unparalleled in their village. But when Mary sees and hears things she shouldn’t she begins to question the hold that he Sisterhood have on the village and the strength of the beliefs she’s followed all her life. When their fences are breached and the Unconsecrated flood their safe haven, Mary takes a leap of faith in entering the forbidden Forest of Hands and Teeth, in search of a better, safer world away from the only lifestyle she has ever known.

The Jewel by Amy Ewing

The Jewel (2014) (Walker Books)
Amy Ewing
Grade: A
Genre: young adult / dystopian
Source: own

Young adult RBC 2014: A book with music 

Tomorrow, Violet Lasting will be gone forever. While living in Southgate holding facility for the last four years, Violet had her every whim catered for: the best clothes, food, the chance to learn and excel at the cello – everything but freedom. Born into the Marsh, the lowest ranking and poorest of the five circles (The Jewel, Bank, Farm, Smoke and Marsh), she’s one of many other Marsh girls born with a genetic make-up that makes them perfect surrogates for bearing the children of The Jewel’s Royalty, who are themselves incapable of bearing anything but defective offspring. Taken away from her family at puberty, Violet has seen nothing but Southgate’s walls for years. Today is her final chance to say goodbye to her family forever. Tomorrow, she becomes Lot 197, destined to be sold to the highest bidder at the annual Auction and a life in The Jewel, surrogate mother to another woman’s child.

The Elite by Kiera Cass

The Elite (2013) (HarperCollins Children's Books)
Kiera Cass
Grade: B-
Genre: YA dystopian
Source: NetGalley / own
The Selection: (1) The Selection, (2) The Elite 

In a future where WWIV rocked the world and the new country of Illéa lives under a brutal and unfair caste system, life is changing rapidly for 17-year-old America Singer. She was one of thirty-five girls picked for The Selection, an outdated process that was originally aimed at bringing the country together and garnering public support for the monarchy. Thirty-five girls have been whittled down to six, and America, a Five and the lowest caste left in the competition, has got all to play for …

Icons by Margaret Stohl

Icons (2013)
Margaret Stohl
Grade: B+
Genre: YA / dystopian
Source: NetGalley
Icons: (1) Icons

Nothing was the same after The Day. The Day when the Lords came, causing 13 Icons to fall from the sky, generating a powerful electromagnetic field that halted all electrical activity within a certain radius. The Day when 13 of the world's biggest cities became silent, dependent only upon the electricity generated by the Icons that the Lords permitted them to use. The Day that 1 billion lives came to an end.

Doloria Maria de la Cruz is an Icon Child, marked out as different by the tiny grey dot on her wrist, just “one small circle the color of the sea in the rain … [her] destiny.” Her parents and brothers died on The Day when she was just a baby, and she and her best friend Ro have been brought up together by Padre in the Grasslands, areas outside the cities, untouched by the power of the Icons and the control of the Lords and the Embassies. On the day of her seventeenth birthday, everything changes.

Crossed by Ally Condie

Crossed (2011)
Ally Condie
Grade: B-
Genre: dystopian YA

Source: library
Matched: (1) Matched, (2) Crossed

When Society decides what you eat, what work you do and who you have children with, not everyone is going to blindingly obey. The vast majority have been indoctrinated to believe that this is the only path to follow, but underneath the surface, if you know where to look, dissenters exist aplenty. Society has its ways of controlling those who are more vocal in their dissent; those like Cassia are more aware of what will happen to them if they lash out and instead keep one ear open for any news to do with the Pilot who it is said will lead The Rising.

The Selection by Kiera Cass

The Selection (2012)

Kiera Cass

Grade: A-

Genre: YA dystopian

Source: NetGalley

The Selection: (1) The Selection, (2) The Elite

The Selection is a life-changing experience for all thirty-fives girls who are chosen, even if they don't win. It's the traditional means of finding a wife for the Crown Prince of Illéa whereby one girl is chosen from every province to live the high life of the royalty in the palace. As the prince spends more time with the girls, he’ll eliminate them until he’s left with one girl who will become his wife. A reality television Princess-finding process, as it were, since the people of Illéa tune in weekly during the Capital Report to watch the progress of the Selected and are just as enthusiastic - if not more so - about who will become Queen than the prince is. The Selection is open to all girls between the ages of sixteen and twenty, whatever their caste. An eligible girl would be crazy not to enter; America Singer is by this definition, crazy.