The Roar by Emma Clayton
My Summer Reading Assignment
Character Analysis
The main character, Mika, is definitely a strong-willed person, as well as very determined. Throughout the book he goes through a lot of physical pain, in addition to emotional pain, but he will let absolutely nothing stand in the way of him finding his twin, Ellie, and bringing her home safely.
Setting
The novel takes place in the future where everyone lives behind a huge concrete wall to protect them from plagued animals after the animal plague occurs. Mika and his family live in the shadows, a poor region in the floodwaters of London.
Summary
After the animal plague occurs, everyone is forced to live behind a large concrete wall to protect themselves from the animals. Thirty years later two children (( twins )), Mika and Ellie, are born. Later on Ellie is kidnapped and taken away from their home. As the book continues, a competition is announced for children ages 11-12. Mika, feeling that the competition could be the only way to find his missing sister, who is supposedly "dead", teams up with a girl named Audrey. They advance in the games and soon become finalists. Mika realizes finding Ellie wouldn't be as easy as he thought, but he will stop at nothing to see her again.
Plot
Ellie, the main character's twin sister, is captured by Mal Gorman, a man who works in the government, and his men. After a year of her absence, her parents, as well as everyone else who had known her, came to the assumption she was dead. Mika (( the main character )), didn't believe she was dead, he knew his sister was alive. When the government begins a new program called "Fit For Life" and have people at the school hand out "Fit Mix", a packet the children would mix with water, Mika refuses to drink it, claiming they're trying to poison him. The principal makes him stay at home for a week, making him sort beads and such, not allowing him to leave his apartment. While he's away he receives a dvd, telling him all about a new arcade game called Pod Fighter. Helen, his elderly friend, tells him to play, saying it might be his chance to find his "dead" twin. He takes this advice and soon becomes very skilled at the game. Later on, a competition for the game is announced and he teams up with one of his friends, Audrey. They excel in the games and soon become finalists. Mika begins to feel that something bad is going to happen, but pushes his thoughts to the side, still only focused on finding Ellie. The finalists all win a home in the Golden Turrets, the area in which the rich people live, and our allowed a day at home with their families. However, once Mika arrives, thousands of people come out from the Shadows, to the Golden Turrets, damaging or killing everything in sight, beyond angry at the government for treating them so poorly while the rich got to experience many luxuries they could only dream of, leaving them in the floodwater to die of sickness or hunger. In order to escape the thousands of people coming to attack them, Mika and Audrey steal an actual Pod Fighter. When Mal Gorman finds out he sends a multitude of his men after them. Not knowing where he could hide, he flies them over the wall, where they discover something the government had been hiding from them for years; there was no plague. Mika later finds out from Mal Gorman that the richest people (( and most powerful people )) needed people to stop ruining elements in nature and their only solution was to move them all behind the wall, excluding those who were rich enough and important enough to stay outside the wall. Earlier that week he had made a promise to Mal Gorman, saying that he would come back to see him as long as Ellie could come home with him when he left. After their "talk" about what had really happened, Mika and Ellie were allowed to return home and were finally able to be together once again.
Author
The author, Emma Clayton, uses many techniques to hook the reader. Between her descriptive use of language and exciting content, it's hard to put the book down.