There’s a definite trend in YA of post apoc tales that fall in various spots on the SF spectrum. Arclight is another of those, hitting all the recognizable bells and whistles along the way.
Main character Marina is the sole survivor of the Dark, a nefarious disease? Condition? Affliction? That has taken over most of the world as we know it. Found in the Grey, the lifeless borderlands between the Dark and Arclight she was dragged back to civilization. Civilization in this case is a series of underground tunnels protected by walls of never ending light, run with a near-military precision by people with a whole lot of secrets. A handful of the people think she’s some sort of hero, the last hope, and immune to whatever disease mutated normal people into the monstrous Fade. The rest think she is a monster, already infected or somehow calling the Fade to attack them.
Marina goes back and forth on whether she wants to know the truth. She does, but it’s overwhelming. It’s too hard. (And pretty easy for readers to guess where she really comes from.) Sometimes she’s a sympathetic heroine to be cheered on in her quest. Sometimes you want to reach into the book and slap some whine out of her.
The writing itself is strong and emotional, but spins its own wheels in the mud, getting nowhere. It’s not at all a bad read, it’s just very recognizable, a cross between Ann Aguirre’s Enclave trilogy and any number of closed-colony SF books out there (ie Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder).
The biggest disconnect for me was the characters’ complete lack of interest in exploring the disaster that created the world, which I found really interesting. Not a waste of time, but I’d wait for the paperback.