Reviews with content warning for Gun violence - Survive the Dome

Mostly focused on how three teenagers respond to police brutality/government surveillance, but I wish there had been some attention to why Governor Ambrose made the choices she did and/or how the political atmosphere evolved to result in the creation of the dome. World building was very light, which is maybe explained by the fact that this isn't a far-flung dystopia. I never really connected with Jamal, Marco, or Cat. Jamal's narration was a bit corny at times, and the ending definitely had me rolling my eyes.

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aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

A generally good read. The characters could use some more fullness but overall they were good characters that advanced the story in an engaging way for me. The things happening in this book (outside of the advanced tech) has happened in real life and the way the treatment of black and brown people by cops and the general attitudes of cops in the book are also just like real life. That's what makes this book so scary to me is that society and cops are already like the book in so many ways but without the tech. And because of that, the tech that is used in the book feels like a very real/attainable thing.
I did enjoy the emphasis of "united we are strong" and that a lot of minorities were briefly included in standing up for black people and in the protests to remind those of us who are non-black minorities that we need to stand with our black counterparts because white privilege and white supremacy is so insidious and hurts everyone.

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1quillb's review

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tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

This book has a really good idea attached to it, but was executed very poorly. The editing needs some work—at one point Marco is referred to as Jamal by the narrator, and there’s a couple strange spellings of words—and the whole idea isn’t very believable. If a giant impenetrable dome surrounded a city and martial law went into affect, things like clubs and hotels wouldn’t still be open. That’s just not realistic. It would be like the Purge, not a regular Tuesday. I appreciate what Jackson was trying to do, it just wasn’t written in a way that made sense.

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