The Undying Tower is a gripping dystopian novel that excites and intrigues. Whilst the YA dystopian genre is heavily saturated, The Undying Tower manages to separate itself from the pack by harkening back to older dystopian fiction, such as George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four.
The world has collapsed and some people, known as Undying or Locusts, now have the ability to live longer and heal quicker. Unbeknownst to even herself, Sadie Abbott is one of those people. Framed for a terrorist plot that she did not commit and struggling to convince authorities of her innocence, she agrees to become a spy for the police force and get information on the terrorist organisation known as the “Alchemists”. While the pacing can be a bit all over the place, this is a solid novel and seems to be a book that could potentially become a cult classic, or even get an adaptation on the silver screen.
Welliver does a great job of keeping the reader on their toes, without making the suspense seem forced or drawn out, which is something that a lot of modern YA books are lacking.
Overall, this is a really good book and has potential to go very far. For fans of George Orwell, James Dashner, or Suzanne Collins, this book is a great way to revisit a genre that feels stale nowadays.
Lyric Moran, 18
The Undying Tower
Melissa Welliver
Uclan Publishing, 2024
Paperback, £8.99
ISBN: 9781915235862
