Changes

|title=HAV3N

|author=Tom Easton

|borrow=Yes

|isbn=978-1849394185

|pages=400

|publisher=Andersen

|date=August 2012

|website=http://tomeaston.com/wordpress/

|summary=It wasn't quite what I expected, but despite a weak start, ''HAV3N'' grew into a compelling psychological thriller.

}}

Initially, people thought it was just another media scare. Unfortunately, HAV3N is real and it is apocalyptic. Incredibly virulent, it is a strain of bird flu to which no one has any natural immunity. It spreads through global populations with the speed and ferocity of a forest fire, killing its victims within hours of infection, making them literally cough out their lungs. The small village of Great Sheen put up barricades isolating them from the infected, in a desperate bid for survival, but it does little to stop HAV3N. It is only the timely arrival of scientist Michael Pirbright with an experimental vaccine and antivirals that saves the village from eradication. However, when the villagers are finally able to freely venture outside of the village, they discover the horrible truth. Pirbright's discovery of the vaccine was an incalculable stroke of luck, one that hasn't been repeated, and by making the choice to save his family and the village Pirbright was too late to save anyone else. The rest of the population appears to have been entirely eradicated by the disease. They might be the only humans left alive…

Despite its faults, ''HAV3N'' is a compulsive and exciting read that I rather enjoyed.

If you'd like less violence and a lot more romance, within a dystopian setting, you might enjoy [[Matched by Ally Condie]]. Meanwhile, if you want to go the other way and are looking for more violence, action and gore, then [[The Enemy by Charlie Higson]] is the catastrophe novel for you, where a mysterious disease turns adults into shuffling zombies. I would also definitely recommend [[Gone by Michael Grant]], a real dark page-turner with strong characters, plenty of action, and kids with powers living in a town where all adults have disappeared – easily one of the coolest concepts I've ever met!

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