Copyboy - Vince Vawter

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"In the sequel to the Newbery Honor-winning novel Paperboy, Victor Vollmer sets off to fulfill a final request of Mr. Spiro, the aging neighbor who became his friend and mentor. Now a few years older and working as a newspaper copyboy, Victor plans to spread Mr. Spiro’s ashes at the mouth of the Mississippi River as the former merchant marine wished. But the journey will not be a simple one. Victor will confront a strange and threatening world, and when his abilities and confidence get put to the test, he’ll lean on a fascinating girl named Philomene for help. Together they’ll venture toward the place where river meets sea, and they’ll race to evade Hurricane Betsy as it bears down."

"Look not so much to the destination, Messenger, but always to the journey." –Constantine Spiro

17-year-old Victor Vollmer is introspective, meticulous, and overflowing with curiosity, and viewing the world through his guileless eyes is a delight. Victor’s friend and confidante, Constantine Spiro, has just died when the book begins, and one of his final acts is to give Victor a quest, sending him to New Orleans to experience the world on his own for the first time. This journey turns out to be exactly what Victor needs, an opportunity to make his own decisions, form new relationships, and discover a confidence in himself that he never realized he had. Vawter's storytelling is lovely, and his characters are well-developed and supremely real. This is the perfect read if you are in the mood for something uplifting and heartwarming without being overly sugary-sweet.

Orleans - Sherri L. Smith

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"After a string of devastating hurricanes and a severe outbreak of Delta Fever, the Gulf Coast has been quarantined. Years later, residents of the Outer States are under the assumption that life in the Delta is all but extinct… but in reality, a new primitive society has been born.

Fen de la Guerre is living with the O-Positive blood tribe in the Delta when they are ambushed. Left with her tribe leader’s newborn, Fen is determined to get the baby to a better life over the wall before her blood becomes tainted. Fen meets Daniel, a scientist from the Outer States who has snuck into the Delta illegally. Brought together by chance, kept together by danger, Fen and Daniel navigate the wasteland of Orleans. In the end, they are each other’s last hope for survival.

Sherri L. Smith delivers an expertly crafted story about a fierce heroine whose powerful voice and firm determination will stay with you long after you’ve turned the last page."

What happens when you replace racial differences with differences in blood? Blood type becomes just another thing that drives people apart. This book is something else. From the first page, it's intense and heart-wrenching. A lot of dystopia is set in places I'm familiar with, but most of the time those places have become unrecognizable. In this case, there was something about the ways Orleans had stayed the same that made the post-fever world feel like it was really happening. Reading descriptions of places like the Superdome especially got me. It made everything seem so chillingly realistic. What's more, in the current political climate, it really hit hard that the tribes were basically waging war with each other because of something as trivial and out of people's control as blood type. I wish that idea felt more farfetched than it does, but it truly drives home that any difference can be used as a wedge to separate people and spur them to hatred.