The Roar

Author: Emma Clayton

Publisher: Chicken House

Publication Year: 2008

Most of the readers will be: Middle school and early high school girls and boys.

Reader's Advisory: Readers who are ready for a more advanced book might enjoy reading about Aldous Huxley's view of the future in Brave New World.

Summary:
Mika and Ellie are twins living in the London of the future. The animal plague that took place a generation ago has forced all of humanity to live behind The Wall. Families are crammed into dark, damp flats. Only the rich live in the shining upper layer.
Ellie has been kidnapped. She has been missing for two years and her family has been told that she is dead. But Mika knows she isn't. He has been looking for a way to get to Ellie, and the Youth Development Foundation may have given him the opportunity he needs.
The YDF is making all the children drink Fit Mix so that they'll grow big and strong. They have built arcades with a fun Pod Fighter game. And, they are having a Pod Fighter competition. Although Mika does not trust the Youth Development Foundation, he believes that winning the competition will somehow reunite him with Ellie. The problem is that the prizes are so irresistable, all the children are desperate to win.
He is playing a very dangerous game.

My favorite passage:

Mika took the lead and pushed forward with Audrey holding on to his coat. They hit solid knots in the crowd and had to work their way round them, and by the time they reached the edge of the platform, the overcrowding was so dangerous, Mika had to hang on to Audrey to stop her being pushed on to the track. A Silver Bullet hissed to a halt on the platform like a glass-eyed snake and the crowd surged forward, crushing them against the train. The doors opened and everyone pushed at once. Mika felt someone grab him from behind and yank him back and suddenly his grip on Audrey was gone and he was drowning in a sea of fists and elbows.
The others managed to force their way on to the train.
'Where's Mika?' Audrey shouted, looking back for him. 'Oh no! Look! He can't get on!'
Tom leaned out of the train and grabbed Mika's hand. He was hit hard in the face by someone's bag and the doors were trying to close on his arms. Mika heard a ripping sound as the sleeve on his coat tore, but still Tom didn't let go of his hand and with brute force he dragged Mika on board the train.
'Thanks,' Mika said, so grateful that the word sounded pathetically inadequate. 'That must have hurt.'
'Doesn't matter,' Tom replied. 'You almost got left behind.'
'I wish I'd stayed in bed,' Kobi said, inspecting a new rip in his black coat.
'That was scary,' Audrey said. 'I thought we'd lost you, and they almost pushed me off the platform.'
Mika put his arm behind her to stop a group of boys pushing into her, then he closed his eyes and sighed with relief.
'I hope the competition is easier than getting there,' Tom said, looking worried. 'That was awful.' (pg 156-157)

What I really think:
In my opinion, what makes a great anit-utopian novel is a believable demonstration of how a few people could control everyone else. In 1984, people are controlled by force; in Brave New World, they are controled by over-indulgance. And in The Roar, the masses are controled through the television. The people in charge create a lie and make everyone believe it by putting it on the news. I am satisfied that The Roar passes this test.
Clayton's book is fast paced and difficult to put down. She includes detailed descriptions of each stage of the Pod Fighter competition and leaves you wondering until the very end what the big secret is.