Reviewer: Andrea
I received a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review
The Summary:
During the man-made apocalypse in the 21st century, a group of elites killed off a majority of the population. Only two groups of survivors remained––those selected to reside inside the Los Angeles City Center and the rebels, relegated to live on the Outside.
Centuries later, Ava Rhodes is one of five potential successors competing to become the next Queen of the City Center. A week prior to the final competitions she encounters Joseph, a rebel from the Outside, and discovers her utopian home is actually a prison and breeding facility aimed at designing the perfect human. She escapes with Joseph to the Outside world, sending the City Center’s leader, Chief Morray, into an obsessive pursuit for his property.
Along the journey, Ava falls in love with Joseph and discovers an even darker secret about the fate of her people. She must decide whether to stay with Joseph, or save her people from destruction.
The Review:
Take a splash of Hunger Games and a pinch of Elizabethan England and mix it in a technologically-advanced society, and you’ll have an interesting recipe for a YA/NA dystopian. The societal set up was complex but intriguing. Set three hundred years in the future, this novel shows some very real, very frightening possibilities for America’s future. It truly isn’t difficult it to imagine DNA modifications, mood modifiers pumped into public facilities, and governmental monitoring even in private homes, and let’s face it, most people already believe the powerful elite control everything from elected officials to media streaming. So, at times, I felt a chill at seeing a glimpse of a conceivable 24th century LA. However, it was difficult to get past the similarities between what has quickly become a mainstay in dystopian fiction. The pageantry of the City Center citizens, the outrageous beautification procedures, the populace vote in a competition (though not for life or death), the handlers of the candidates—all of these have that formulaic feel which Katniss fans will see immediately.
I also had some problems with Ava’s character. Sometimes, she seems strong and intelligent, like when she recues Joseph from execution or when she escapes David’s nefarious clutches, but at other times, she’s weak, easily malleable, like whenever James yells at her. She relies on others to take care of her, too, literally slipping in and out of consciousness multiple times in the novel in situations requiring her full attention and mobility. This combat-trained girl, semi-devoid of human emotion can’t seem to stay awake when her life depends on it, and at the moment she builds a fire, caveman style, I began to lose interest.
The novel’s crescendo coup d’état was just too easy and borderline cheesy, explaining everything away in half of a chapter. The end also becomes didactic with a great deal of social commentary at the expense of the plot.
Great beginning but a bit rushed at the end
3 stars
