The world has almost ended. Mankind’s greed, insatiable thirst for dominance and out of control consumerism has all but collapsed society. The world blamed America, America blamed overpopulation.

In this world twins are not allowed to survive. That is until Ava and Mira Goodwin are born. Their father is the head of the Texas Family Planning Division, and after losing his wife in childbirth, he refused to lose one of his daughters, so created a world and a life for them both to share, as one person – Ava Goodwin.

Ava and Mira are now 18 years old and exist in 24-hour shifts: while one is acting out the role of ‘Ava Goodwin’ the other waits in a secret basement within a high-tech house.

However, the ruse is over when a hunch from the spoilt grandson of Governor Roth turns their world upside down. They must leave their father and escape the city that has imprisoned them.

But leaving Dallas is only the beginning, as they enter the arid and hostile lands of uninhabited America. Armed with a map from their father that details locations of ‘safe houses’, the girls start their gruelling journey, to Canada and to freedom.

Along the way they learn of ‘The Common’, an old group of rebels who are ready to rise again. If they get their way, the twins are going to be the new face of the revolution.

The Rule of One, is a fantastic page-turning dystopian novel, the first one in a new series. I thoroughly enjoyed this well-written work of fiction, with vivid imagery, complex familial relationships and exciting prose that grabs you from the first page and doesn’t let go until the climactic end.

Reviewed by Joanna Rogers
Age Guide 12+