Possession (trilogy)

Possession is a young adult dystopian novel trilogy written by Elana Johnson and published by Simon Pulse.^[1][2] The first book in the series, Possession, was published on 7 June 2011, and was followed by Surrender (5 June 2012) and Abandon (4 June 2013). The series follows Vi, a rebellious teen girl who is unwilling to follow the rules set out by the oppressive 'Thinkers' yet unable to leave her prospective mate Zenn behind.^[3] After the release of Possession Johnson issued a 20-page short story entitled Resist, which serves as a prequel to the series.

Synopsis

Possession

Vi is a beautiful and rebellious young teen living in a world where people are separated into "Goodies", people who live in the Goodlands and give up their free will in exchange for safety, and "Baddies", those who are willing to live in pollution and danger but retain control over their will and thoughts. While Vi mostly abides by the rules, she will occasionally break a few of them- especially when she's around her approved mate Zenn. Girls are not allowed to mingle freely with boys, but Vi decides that she will take the opportunity to walk alone with Zenn and possibly even kiss him, as she figures that since he is her future mate that the rules won't matter as much in the long run. This ends up being far from the case and she attracts the attention of the oppressive "Thinkers", who control everything that the Goodies do. They place her in prison, where she meets Jag, an equally rebellious teen boy that Vi finds herself falling for. The two of them manage to break out of the prison with the intention of joining the Baddies' rebellion, but Vi is unwilling to leave Zenn alone with the Thinkers and is willing to fight against them in order to keep him safe.

Surrender

Surrender is told from the viewpoint of the "Baddie" Raine, the daughter of the Director of Freedom. She's roomed with Vi, who has managed to escape the oppressive rule of the Thinkers, in accordance with a request by her father. As Vi was extensively brainwashed, Raine's father cannot trust Vi completely and he wants his daughter to monitor Vi's activity and report everything back to him. He's especially curious about Vi's potential special abilities. However, as Raine watches Vi, she also begins to fall in love with Gunner, who has had a crush on Raine for a long time.

Abandon

In Abandon everything comes to a head: Vi finally makes a choice between Jag and Zenn, which could prove to have far reaching repercussions. At the same time, the group must find a way to defeat the Thinkers once and for all, something that is made more difficult by the fact that the resistance has a traitor in their midst.

Books

1. Possession (2011)^{[4][5][6][7][8][9]}
2. Surrender (2013)^[10][11][12]
3. Abandon (2013)^[13]

Short stories

• Resist (2011, released as 0.5 of the series)

References