The Rule of One

The Rule of One Series, Book 1

By: Ashley Saunders, Leslie Saunders

Narrated by: Karissa Vacker

In their world, telling the truth has become the most dangerous crime of all.

In the near-future United States, a one-child policy is ruthlessly enforced. Everyone follows the Rule of One. But Ava Goodwin, daughter of the head of the Texas Family Planning Division, has a secret - one her mother died to keep and her father has helped to hide for her entire life.

She has an identical twin sister, Mira.

For eighteen years Ava and Mira have lived as one, trading places day after day, maintaining an interchangeable existence down to the most telling detail. But when their charade is exposed, their worst nightmare begins. Now they must leave behind the father they love and fight for their lives.

Branded as traitors, hunted as fugitives, and pushed to discover just how far they’ll go in order to stay alive, Ava and Mira rush headlong into a terrifying unknown.

©2018 Ashley Saunders and Leslie Saunders (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved

Freedom Must Be Earned

Good pace. Engaging. Interesting characters. A socially relevant and significant theme. Good prose. The plot leans a little too much on technique. But the payoff is a well paced story. The novel is about twins pretending to be one person in a future U.S. where only one child is allowed by law. America is a military state because the people chose safety over freedom.

Powerful

I read the book “1984” as a youth. It seemed far-fetched. It was not. Therefore, this book, which seems far-fetched to me now, makes me worry for our future. This is the first time I’ve ever listened to a audiobook. I believe I got more out of it this way, as the narrator was wonderfully able to switch voices so that I could follow who was speaking when. I look forward to the next book in the series.

If you like YA dystopia

This is pretty standard young adult dystopia. Fans of the gender game and birthmark will enjoy this, but I wouldn’t say that it’s a must read or a masterpiece.

Riveting.

Wow. A portrayal of a futuristic USA where all freedoms have been relinquished under the guise of security, resulting in a fascist, militaristic, corrupt, and propagandising govt. Couldn't put it down. Does have a little bit of language though.

i liked it

Its been a while since I enjoyed a story like this :)
"save the twins" ♡

What happens to the Rule of One, when there are 2?

Ava and Mira are twins, born into a US, well, not really a United States anymore, but they are born in the state of Texas, under the fiery and dogmatic leadership of Governor Roche. In this dystopian future, resources across the planet are now rare due to global warming and over population as well as conflict.
The United States has collapsed in on itself, the coastal cities on both the East and West coasts having fallen victim to rising seas, and some of the other states falling to famine, disease, starvation etc due to the lack of resources after imports/exports dry up, as the US and other Countries stop all trade with each other, including any sort of visitation.
Thus starts ‘The Rule of One’, the main Rule of the remaining citizens, that they are only allowed a single child. Anyone who breaks this child is seen to be breaking the law, with drastic and rather horrendous outcomes for both the Parents and the Child.
Father is Director of the Texas Family Division, meant to regulate families and make sure that they keep to the ‘Rule of One’. However, 18yrs ago, his wife had twins, Ava and Mira, and in this universe, the second child is cast away, taken from the mother and ‘disposed’ of.
Whilst this is a YA novel, it is quite full of some adult themes, and is more aimed at a ‘Hunger Games’ level audience, and in some ways, I kind of felt it had some similarities to that story, a young girl (or two of them), standing up against an unjust regime, and becoming the symbol that people rally behind.
The first part of the story follows Ava and Mira in their lives as a ‘single’ individual, and we see them going about their routine in life, and although it is interesting, it was a little light on some details (whilst the Authors did a rather incredible job of writing the emotional state of the twins, there was a lack of the physical world they lived in, and it would have been fun to explore this a little more – but what little there was sufficed to make the story good enough).
The second part of the story follows the girls as they are forced to go on the run, having inevitably being discovered, and forced to flee to escape the wrath of the Texas Governor and the Texas Guard that enforce his will.
The story is told from the perspective of both the twins, Ava, and Mira, each telling their stories in different chapters. The interesting thing is that the story is written by twins also, and the assumption is that each twin has written one of the twins in the story.
As I said, whilst aspects of the story are light on in the physical sense, they do skip over their surroundings a little, the Character building, and character work is exceptional, and makes this a really outstanding character driven dystopian piece of work.
The development of the characters as they go from being two sides of the same coin, to suddenly being on the run, but also, for the first time in 18yrs, being able to explore their own individuality, is exceptionally well written, and you get the impression that this book could have only been written so well by a set of twins.
Overall, this is a well thought out story, clever in its development and technique, with several well thought out messages for younger women. There is definitely some comparisons to be made in the symbolism to Hunger Games, and there are comparisons that can be made to other YA Dystopian books as well.
This is a fun read, with outstanding characters, so if you like a good character driven story, with lots of action, adventure, and strong female leads, this is definitely for you.
The Narration by Karissa Vacker is excellent, she does a brilliant job with the voices of Ava and Mira, giving each girl a very distinctive voice, and bringing these two young women to life, in this interesting and at times, powerful story of a world in which there can be only one. The Narrator speaks very clearly and concisely, giving the listener a very easy listen as she has a soothing voice. As well as doing an outstanding job with creating both the lead roles, not just at the start, but growing and changing them as the story evolves, Vacker does an excellent job with the other main roles as well, including the male voices of Ava and Mira’s Father, Roche, the Texas Governor, and the Governor’s son.
This was an excellent audiobook, and I have already purchased part 2.

Enjoyable and fun read.

Well written and good character development. Some obvious holes in the development of the world that made it less believable. Looking forward to the book in the series.

Interesting Characters and Plot

A dystopian future with a one child policy. The heroines are twin sisters who have hidden the fact that there are two of them. When their dual existence is discovered they must go on the run. An enjoyable listen.

Inspiring

The story was well written and entertaining! I was captivated by the futuristic setting! Can’t wait to start the next book!

Amazing!

This is an amazing book and I cannot wait for book two! Fabulous writing and spellbinding story!