This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.
Reviewed by Ruffina Oserio for Readers' Favorite
In Harry Allen’s YA novel, Children of the Sun, Ra Eun Seo is a gifted singer in a poor North Korean town who dreams of performing at Pyongyang’s Festival of the Sun. She and her friends, the guilt-ridden Nari and the resourceful Min, stumble upon a banned radio that broadcasts South Korean music. Seo wins a trip to the capital but smuggles the radio with her. This leads to her arrest by the bloodthirsty Colonel Nam. A brutal interrogation forces her to betray her teacher, Madam Lim, and she is condemned to Camp 6, together with her friends, where they must face starvation, ideological torture, including the hanging of their teacher, Mr. Chi, and mining. They receive help from Old Man Park, a neighbor-turned-prisoner, and plan an elaborate escape. What can go wrong in their attempt at freedom?
Children of the Sun is a novel about human grit against the backdrop of a totalitarian system, and it delivers well-sculpted characters and pathos that tug at the reader’s heart. Seo’s voice is a combination of the fragile and the defiant; Nari feels the pain of forced betrayal; Min is the mental engine of the group; and Iseul is feral in innocence, calling the guards “crushers” and engaging in other mischievous acts. The meticulous worldbuilding allows readers to feel the oppressive air at Camp 6, the electrified fence, and the hollow concrete shells. Harry Allen uses premonition to create suspense and tension; you always have a feeling that something bad could happen any moment as the story progresses. Apart from the irresistible first-person narrative voice, the complex characters, and the elegant prose, this book delivers dystopia steeped in detail, where engineered confessions, self-criticism sessions, and personality cult underpin totalitarianism.
