This dystopian story has plenty of grit; a society where a significant group is outcast, public 'corrections' aka hangings are routine, with privilege and corruption amongst the 'Naturals' - the ruling class. A bombing at the public execution of an 'Undying' man leads to an awakening of the realities of this brutal society for Sadie, brought up with every advantage. Resistant to the truth; about herself, her family and the society she hadn't before questioned, she is imprisoned along with other outcast children. What she discovers almost breaks her but there is a very small chance for society to change, and you will her to accept her past and grab the opportunity with both hands.

I enjoyed this a lot, but not as much as Soulmates and Other Ways to Die. The Undying Tower was quite different, and while being well constructed and thought out, I found there wasn’t that uniqueness that made Soulmates so good. In many ways this was just another dystopia which could get lost in the genre.

It was interesting to see the main character being someone who comes from such a privileged life. Someone who doesn’t see the injustices for what they are, until she’s facing them herself. I loved the flashbacks to the time before when she’s so blind to see what the undying face.

I liked the little group that formed as well. It’s important to have characters who you support and wholeheartedly care about in a book like this, and I found the characters really loveable right from the start.

All in all, I really enjoyed this but I think it doesn’t stand out in the same way soulmates did.

Sadie is an Undying and when she is sent to the Tower, she discovers the truths.
A fun and engaging YA dystopia with a cool concept, a fresh perspective and a good pacing.
3.5 stars and looking forward to the next instalment. This is rich.

THE UNDYING TOWER is a dystopian novel looking at how fear can be mobilised against minorities to allow atrocities to happen.

Where Melissa Welliver's other books (MY LOVE LIFE AND THE APOCALYPSE and SOULMATES AND OTHER WAYS TO DIE) are romances in a dystopian setting, THE UNDYING TOWER is a return to the "classic" dystopias of the early 2010s. There's a deep injustice at the heart of the book the character is learning about and then fighting against. There isn't a romance in this book at all.

I really liked how different the prison was in this book. They're not being forced to fight to the death or left in terrible conditions. They're treated much better than the Undying outside, even if there is multi-tier system the inmates are sorted into at seeming random that means some get cushier existence than others. It immediately sets up a "what is going on?" feeling as this is a dystopia, so this is happening for a reason.

The reason, when it comes, is as horrible as you'd expect. It shows the hypocrisy in ideologies that turn on minorities, outwardly hating them and turning others against them all while needing them. The Warden's speech about how people hate the Undying because of fear is also a nice encapsulation of the core of these ideologies that breed so much hatred (though the fear here is for a very different reason.)

This is a small thing, but it's been bugging me for about ten hours at this point so I'm mentioning it. The book lists various dangerous jobs (like mining) that the Undying are expected to do and in the list it included Nuclear Power. This is not true; in terms of worker deaths, it's one of the safer forms of power generation. There are so many safety features and failsafes in place, many of which these days rely only on things like gravity to operate. So unless the Avalonia Zone has gone back to the earliest models of power plant despite being in the future, they're not dangerous places to work.

In all, it's a very enjoyable book and I look forward to seeing where the series goes.

We join Sadie as she is witness to (yet another) Correction... a ceremony to dole out punishment to an Undying that has committed a crime. The Undying make up 5% of the population and are singled out due to the fact they don't age. The general population blames such people for the food shortages and other problems so their crimes are severely punished

When all chaos breaks loose at the Correction, Sadie finds herself hauled off to The Tower, a correctional facility for Undying under the age of 18, with a mission to infiltrate the same. But little does Sadie know who she will meet along the way, but she better figure out who she can trust before its too late...

This one definitely gave me Hunger Games / Maze Runner era of dystopian vibes, especially in the way it didn't shy away from the darker and mlre sordid parts of the plot. Really enjoyed this book and can't wait for the rest of the series.

I believe this is a re-release which is out 01 August so not long now! Thank you to NetGalley and UCLan Publishing for the early review copy, all opinions my own

Thank you NetGalley and UCLAN Publishing

I enjoyed The Undying Tower, it was a good dystopian novel. Set in a future where a minority of people do not die yet are treated as the underclass by those in power. Sadie, is arrested after a bomb explosion and is found to be undying. Shocked at this revelation Sadie is sent to the Tower to try and uncover the Alchemist spy. Once there, Sadie uncovers a whole nest of secrets. I was gripped and the ending is a huge twist, I cannot wait for the next in the series

Welcome to The Undying Tower, dysoptian YA fiction at its best and getting a well deserved re-publish under a new publisher that will hopefully put it on the map and allow audiences to finally get the full trilogy.

With echoes of The Hunger Games and Divergent series, we are introduced to the Avalonia Zone, an area made up of multiple territories including what was once Great Britain. It's a society in crisis after the discovery that a small percentage of the population has stopped ageing causing massive overpopulation, and food shortages, ultimately causing the ‘Undying’ to be blamed for the state’s problems, banished to the fringes of society, and punished for every minor infraction. Following an explosion at a Correction (public execution), 16 year old Sadie Abbott has found herself being named a Terrorist and the leader of the explosion plot and has been transported to The Tower, a corrections centre for Undying youth with a mission to route out the rebel leaders. As she digs deeper into life at the centre and comes to know her fellow inmates she soon realises that everything is not as it seems and there is a far darker undercurrent running through the centre's acts and deeds.

What follows is a truly engrossing story of a small band of unlikely allies trying to uncover the secrets of the centre which ultimately go to the heart of Avalonia society and trying to figure out how on earth they can escape with their lives.

Honestly, this book had me in its grip from word one. I love dysoptian, post-apocalyptic fiction and Melissa Welliver delivers us a complete and complex world that unfolds to us as readers gradually throughout the story. The world building is thorough but not laden with bulky exposition. We're given enough throughout the story to build a rich and vivid pictures as the action develops simultaneously. We're also given characters we want to root for and come to care about quite quickly. Sadie, our main character is a initially shown as being a naïve and young teenager who is smart and caring but who can adapt and learn in order to survive and her band of allies in The Tower are also generally well realised and give you enough hooks to care about them (especially Freya).

The story itself is strong - adventurous, bleak, sad, tense and violent. It moves along at a breathless pace and you can't stop reading as you want to see how things shake out and see who survives and who doesn't. There's a little repetition in some scenes but that also works well to reflect the confusion and uncertainty our characters are facing. As the opening book of a trilogy though it's a well balanced story arc that leaves a lot of room for the remaining books to tell the whole story whilst also being pretty satisfying as a book by itself.

I for one can't wait to see how things pan out in Books 2 and 3 and hope to see more of the Undying society to explore further the more profound questions the situation brings about what it is to potentially live forever and also what it is to live in a discriminatory and inequal society where you hold so little power.

Highly recommended for fans of dystopian, science fiction and post apocalyptic fiction.

4.25*

Thank you to NetGalley and UCLan Publishing for a digital review copy of "The Undying Tower" in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.

Sadie lives with her dad in a future version of our world, that has been partly destroyed by war. London is now unsafe and Sadie lives in the Avalonia Zone - the AZ - with her father.

At the start of the story, Sadie is attending a Correction in the VIP area with her dad, her friend Jasper and his family, when there is an explosion. Sadie finds herself being detained in the Undying Tower with a mission but when she starts to meet her fellow inmates, she realises that things might not be as they've always seemed.

I really enjoyed this story. It moved quickly and I liked the way that Sadie's relationships developed. There were a couple of things that will be picked up in editing, I'm sure but otherwise, this was an engaging and exciting story and I am looking forward to the next installment.

3 stars

This was a fun read! The plot was something that I'm used to from reading YA dystopia but I appreciated the familiarity.

I liked how the author structured the book with chapters of alternating timelines, from present day to the past, as it helped me gain a sense of the world and how different Sadie's current experiences were to what she was used to.

I like how the author slowly revealed the world to us, rather than have a lot of exposition in the beginning chapters.

Up there with the best

I would like to thank Melissa Welliver for providing me with a review copy of The Undying Tower. This review is for the edition which will be released on 1 August 2024.

I should have warned the author that post-apocalyptic is my favourite genre and, that as a consequence, I compare any new novel with the best that are out there.

So, here we go.
If you liked Divergent or the Hunger Games ... this is better.
The Undying Tower is deeper, the characters are well-rounded, with strengths and weaknesses which make them relatable.
Contemporary issues are weaved in skilfully, as still around in a future world, and as lingering consequences from the past.
Worldbuilding is rich and full-out, and doesn’t impact on the pace of this novel.

If you are looking for a gripping, forget-all-else-and-tear-through-in-a-day read, this is the book for you (yourself or your teen).

The Undying Tower is the first part of a trilogy; I can’t wait for the sequel to hit the shelves.

I’m so pleased that Melissa Welliver’s The Undying Tower has been taken on by UCLan publishing and that it might mean we’ll now get to read the much anticipated books 2 and 3 in the not too distant future. I first read The Undying Tower back in 2021 so it was great to get back to it.

It’s no secret that I love a good YA novel, and dystopias are my absolute favourite type of YAs. The Undying Tower takes you back to the amazing YA dystopias that came out in the early 2010s. It reminds me in some ways of both the Hunger Games and the Maze Runner series and yet it is totally unique and it’s own story. I loved it, and given it’s only the start of a trilogy, I cannot wait for parts 2 & 3.

The Undying Tower, by Melissa Welliver explores what happens when a small percentage of the population have stopped ageing and asks the question what if living forever was a death sentence?

Set in the Avalonia Zone, a dystopian Britain where London is now a nuclear wasteland, where the population is swelling and the undying a blamed for the state’s problems. Our central character is 16 year old Sadie Abbott. Sadie ends up taking the fall for an attack by the undying rebel group. This lands her in a secretive ‘corrections’ facility where there is far more going on than anyone could have ever imagined. What will Sadie do next when she finds out what’s really going on and who can she trust?

This book is the perfect start to a dystopian trilogy. We’re introduced to an amazing world, brilliant characters and so much intrigue. The ending works brilliantly for this particular story but also sets us up for book 2 and leaves you desperately wanting more.

I really liked Sadie as the MC. She sure goes on a journey through this novel and becomes a much stronger individual because of it. We’re also introduced to Jasper, Sadie’s friend from home and Rivers and Frost, fellow inmates at The Tower. Each of these characters plays an important role in this novel and I can’t wait to see what they do next.

Welliver’s world building is fantastic, you get a great understanding of the Avalonia Zone cleverly built through flash backs throughout the book.

A brilliant book and I can’t wait for the next one. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️