Gabrielle is a climate-change activist who shoots to fame when she becomes the first teenager to display a supernatural ability to grow plants from her skin. Hester is the millionaire daughter of an oil tycoon and the face of the family business. Theo comes from a long line of fishermen, but his parents are struggling to make ends meet.
On the face of it, the three have very little in common. Yet when Hester and Theo join Gabrielle and legions of other teenagers around the world in developing the strange new “Greenfingers” power, it becomes clear that to use their ability for good, they’ll need to learn to work together. But in a time of widespread corruption and greed, there are plenty of profit-hungry organizations who want to use the Greenfingers for their own ends. And not everyone would like to see the Earth saved…
Green Rising was one of my most anticipated releases of 2021 for a number of reasons. Lauren James is easily one of my favourite authors and I would buy whatever she wrote. Also, the concept of this book caught my attention immediately as it could what happens to our world if action is not taken. Finally, I know I am in for a thrilling ride when reading a book by Lauren James and I was excited to go on the journey!
The action starts right away and has you intrigued by what might happen throughout the book. Green Rising is not short on action and I loved it. I knew this would be the sort of book that I could not put down and thought about non-stop, even when I was not reading it. I read it in a matter of hours and thoroughly enjoyed the journey it took me on.
I loved the characters in this book, especially our main protagonists, Theo and Hester. They come from very different worlds and challenge one another to think differently. I loved their slow burn enemies-to-lovers storyline, it brought a huge smile to my face. Theo was wonderful! He challenges Hester on all her thoughts, reflects on his own thoughts and pushes himself to do what is best. Hester has an excellent character growth throughout the book. We get to see her think and change her mind about what she thought was real, what she believed in and a whole lot more. I loved them both. The other characters in this book are excellent too. Gabrielle is especially excellent and Edgar makes an excellent villain to both the characters and the world.
One of the things I love about Lauren James’ writing is her ability to weave snippets of social media, tv shows, websites and more into her stories. We see her use this in Green Rising and it adds so much to the story in such an interesting way. Also, if you have read previous books by Lauren James you will be able to spot a number of easter eggs from characters we know very well. I loved these little easter eggs and they always put a smile on my face.
The Greenfingers power was incredible and so well thought out. I loved the mystery that was behind how it came to be and how every character could do something different with their own Greenfingers power. You can tell that Lauren James conducted a lot of research for this book in order to make it feel incredibly authentic.
I do wish that our world could be fixed with the use of Greenfingers. This book has definitely got me thinking about a lot of things that I can do in order to help climate change and make a difference to the world. I’m sure it will do the same to others as well.
Overall, Green Rising by Lauren James is an astonishing YA climate thriller that I would highly recommend to everyone. It takes you on a thrilling, thought-provoking and powerful journey that I will not forget anytime soon. Give Green Rising a read!
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