Krista Reviews: Shannon Stoker's - "The Registery"

The Registry saved the country from collapse. But stability has come at a price. In this patriotic new America, girls are raised to be brides, sold at auction to the highest bidder. Boys are raised to be soldiers, trained by the state to fight to their death.

Nearly eighteen, beautiful Mia Morrissey excitedly awaits the beginning of her auction year. But a warning from her married older sister raises dangerous thoughts. Now, instead of going up on the block, Mia is going to escape to Mexico—and the promise of freedom.

All Mia wants is to control her own destiny—a brave and daring choice that will transform her into an enemy of the state, pursued by powerful government agents, ruthless bounty hunters, and a cunning man determined to own her . . . a man who will stop at nothing to get her back.

Paperback, 336 pages  Published June 11th 2013 by William Morrow Paperbacks (first published May 28th 2013)

On Mia’s wedding day, her sister makes a sudden appearance back home, begging her family to help protect her from her husband. She says that the training Mia is going through now is all a lie. Mia’s parents continue to tell her that being married is the best thing for young women and her sister is overreacting. But later, Mia is notified that her sister has died. She panics and decides to run.

Mia and her best friend Whitney disguise themselves as boys and steal the car, only to run into a local boy who is heading the same way. They decide to travel together. With his help they are able to travel a fair distance. However, the man who has been optioned to marry Mia decides to go through with the arraignment despite her absence and he begins to pursue her in her travels. The trip soon becomes very deadly and a bounty is issued for anybody that brings her home.

The car doesn’t get them very far, and they end up hitch-hiking to Mexico. For a girl who is running from all she has learned about men, and a forced marriage, Mia doesn’t keep them out of her mind. The people she turns to for help become romantic interests as well.

Whitney who changes her mind and decides she wants to go home, is the smartest of the group. Women are not encouraged to go to school and Mia has little education that goes beyond housekeeping. But Whitney has been raised otherwise and soaks up knowledge like a sponge. We learn most about the world and how it became this way through Whitney’s stories, as well as through some of the strangers they meet in their travels. With our main character a naive, fearful and uneducated girl, Whitney is the shining light that helps the world-building and plot, pushing the narrative to being more than just a survival story.