The Warning and The Fallout by Kristy Acevedo

A two-book series by Kristy Acevedo was published by Jolly Fish Press in 2016 and 2017.

1.  Consider, 2016
2.  Contribute, 2017

The books were republished in 2023 by Sourcebooks Fire under new titles.

1.  The Warning, 2023
2.  The Fallout, 2023

The books are no longer available under their original titles.  The books must have been revised at least slightly when they were republished.  From The Warning, page 110:

I really hope I don't pass out and some custodian finds me naked on the gross tile floor.  Probably crawling with foot fungus.  E. coli.  COVID.  Ebola.

The term "COVID" originated in early 2020, so it would not have been present in a book published in 2016.  It must have been added to the new version in 2023.

Publisher's summary of The Warning:

The end is coming.  What would you do?  The first in a fast-paced and gripping YA dystopian series for anyone who's ever felt like their life—their world—is on the brink of destruction.

Like most high school seniors, Alexandra Lucas is caught between living in the moment and an unknown future.  Her anxiety disorder doesn't make that any easier.  But she's coping—until her train stops on the way home from a concert with her boyfriend.  At first, she's worried about breaking curfew.  Then terror echoes through their train car.

A mysterious doorway has appeared beside the tracks, and a hologram claiming to be a human from the future shares a sinister warning.  A comet is on a collision course with earth.  All life there will end in six months' time.  To survive, people must step through one of the many portals that have opened around the world.

The holograms claim to offer safety.  But how can anyone be sure?  Stay or go—everyone must make their own choice.  Alex's family, her friends, her boyfriend all have different ideas.  Alex is only sure of one thing: she wants to decide for herself. But every decision comes at a price.

These books fall under both the dystopian fiction and science fiction categories. 

Alex has generalized anxiety disorder and suffers from panic attacks.  Even minor stress causes her to have paranoid thoughts.  Significant stress makes her spiral out of control to where she can end up in the fetal position, shaking uncontrollably.  Some readers might find this aspect of the books to be either disturbing or annoying.  Those who suffer from anxiety will likely be able to relate to it. 

Here is one example from the first book.

Page 74:

You would think that remembering I forgot something would make me feel better, but instead it justifies my anxiety, which starts a loop in my brain thinking that I must be forgetting something else.

What else am I forgetting?  There's something else.  I know there's something.  Something.  Something.  If I forget it, something bad will happen.  Something really bad.  And I won't be able to fix it.

STOP IT.

The loop continues.

I dig through my dirty laundry, then open and close every drawer in my room, searching and double-checking for something to remind me what I could be forgetting.  My body sweats as I spin in circles. 

STOP IT.  Everything's fine.

But what if it's not fine?  What if I left an iron plugged in?  What if I start a fire?  What if I go fishing and then come back and the house is burned down?  What if my parents and Benji are burnt to a crisp and they have to use their dental records to identify the bodies?  What if the police think I did it on purpose?  What if—

I take a pill and wait for it to rescue me.

For me, Alexa's anxiety added to the suspense and even caused me some anxiety.    At one point in the second book, I quickly swiped through over 50 pages to verify what would happen with a certain character.  I just had to know in order to reassure myself.

I also worried that Kristy Acevedo was going to pull a Veronica Roth with her ending.  If you've read the Divergent Trilogy, then you know what I mean.  [Upon rereading this review prior to publication, I realized that I indirectly spoil the ending of the third book in the Divergent Trilogy, so if you care, then skip the rest of this paragraph.]  I will never read the Divergent books again because of how the third book ended.  I decided to have faith that Alex would make it out of the second book alive.  That calmed me down. 

The countdown in each book fuels the reader's anxiety.  Each chapter begins with how many hours remain before humans must make an important decision.  For instance: 

Chapter 7

Day 24: August—3,854 hours to decide

Each time I started a chapter, I took the number of hours and divided it by 24 to see how many days remained before the decision would be final.  For 3,854 hours, 160.6 days were left.

These books have some very unexpected twists.  I truly didn't know what was going to happen.

These are excellent books.  It took me just 4 1/2 days to read both books, and the books are moderate in length.  How fast I read is a good measure of how much I enjoy a book.  These books make for great reading.