The Silenced by: James DeVita

Imagine if the Nazis won the war, then times that by ten.

Merena lives in a world of chaos and fear. Fear of the ZT party and even fear of each other. Life wasn't always this hard, she didn't live in the prison before. But that was then in a time when Merena had hope and her mother. When her mother was convicted, the ZT party took everything from her, her mother, her house and her memories, but as Merena works though her tough life, she starts to remember. She remembers the feet stomping and coming to get her mother, she remembers what life was like outside of the prison she lives in now and she remembers what her mom used to write.
"I had to right to be silent."

Merena is all about rebeling in the small ways that she can, but then she meets Eric a rebelious kid who was just moved into the prison. She starts to feel like she should help him, so she does. She helps him around school in tiny ways and in return he gives her hope. Hope of a different life and a hope to rebel. Together, along with Merenas friend Dex, they create their own little group called the white rose.
"You have no right to be silent."
But with the ZT party hot on their trail, will Merena and her friends continue to stand up for what they believe in or will they give up?

I was impressed by the authors craft and there wasn't a moment when I wasn't engaged. I was surprised that James DeVita was able to portray the charactors as one thing and then the next minute have them be different. I think that dytopian novels are usually predictable but The Silenced was different, I had a hunch of what I thought was going to happen, but I was surprised in a good way of what ended up happening.

I would reccomend this book to middle schoolers who likes reading long books or middle schoolers who enjoy reading dystopian books.