The Roar (novel)

Did You Know?

• The Roar was nominated for the Carnegie Medal 2009.
• It won the Yorkshire Coast Book Award.
• It was selected for the USBBY 2010 Outstanding International Books Honor List and the 2010 Texas Lone Star Reading List.

Plot

When the animal plague first struck, humanity united to construct a massive concrete barrier, fifty feet tall and thirty feet thick, that sealed off every animal from the human domain. Along the top of this wall runs an electrified fence, and every ninety yards stands an invincible Genghis Borg armed with laser weapons. For over three decades, the survivors have lived within this enclosure. Because space is scarce, the government enacted a law prohibiting childbirth. The entire surviving population has gathered in the Northern Hemisphere. Most people believe that beyond the wall, the land is coated in a yellow poisonous dust, a remnant of the plague that wiped out all living things. Ellie, accompanied by her monkey Puck, travels through the deep skies of the Atlantic Ocean in a Pod Fighter, hoping to reach the Northern Colony and make peace with her parents. Mal Gorman, however, wants to experiment on Ellie due to her unique superhuman ability. His pursuers chase her through the golden turrets of the wealthy district and eventually into the shadows where the poor reside. She is shot down and crashes into a river. In the end, she cannot reconcile with her parents. In the Shadow district city, Ellie’s brother Mika refuses to accept that she is dead, convinced she still lives, even though both parents believe she perished. Using his memories of Ellie, he uncovers that the government has been keeping her alive in secret.