Daily Blog #371: Book Review of Uprising Days of Want Book Four, by T.L. Payne

Greetings and Salutations, Blog Readers!

Fresh off the realization that the Days of Want series is a Young Adult series, we are onto the next book in the reviewing process. Today, we are reviewing the fourth book in the Days of Want series, Uprising.

This book was definitely one of the ones I liked less than the rest, but, it was still a crucial book in the series, and was still a major part of the series.

I just HATED seeing our characters have to step up and solve problems the government directly created all while screwing themselves over.

But, true to the series, the events in the book do directly impact the rest of the series.

In this book, the pressure is on! The government pulled out from the prison that is housing about 600 dangerous convicts- Not talking small petty crimes, we are talking about rapists and murderers.

This is annoying for a few reasons, and maybe this will be a sensationalist opinion, but here it is:

The government has a plan for these kinds of criminals in the event of total collapse, and the government, now hijacked by a power hungry general, fails this plan. The plan means taking the criminals who can be used into the military and executing the rest. The plan may not be the best in terms of being kind to humans, but many could argue that’s how it goes, and it’s better to give them a swift death then locking them up in the prison as resources dwindle and the prison becomes increasingly more dangerous for those inside.

That said, the government up and bounces, leaving some FEMA resources that are dwindling, and entrusting the security of these hundreds of dangerous criminals to our characters, who have done their best to round up as many people as they can to help them with the security efforts.

On top of this pressure keg of trouble, there are more small-town politics causing issues, some are continuations from the past few books, others are newer troubles brought on by the prison and typical power grabs. 

And so, the drama continues. I don’t want to spoil the events in the book, but I will say our characters go through the troubles, and, in the process, end up using their OWN resources to keep the prisoners in line, not just ammo, but moonshine, medicine, water and food, all to keep the prison situation from boiling over.

But, despite these frustrations, (SPOILER) the problem the group has been dealing with, a lack of people, is sort of solved, when characters from a few books back, including Emma, come back! This does solve some of the problem, but some of these characters, (not Emma) end up dead when the prison issue comes to a head. The group also brings with them more knowledge of the problems they face with the government and the military, and more infections from the camps Emma’s group was forced into.

Which, as the series goes, sets up the action for the next book- Which is one of the things I love so much about this series- the books all lead into the next round of problems. All in all, the author does a great job setting up the issues that will come later, and that alone is worth a read, more so if you are a writer yourself trying to bring your story to life.

Please give it a read and let me know if you like it!

Thanks for reading,

Abbi