Amy A. Bartol

I'm not a big fan of YA dystopian novels or stories, so maybe I'm not the best person to be reviewing this. But I did pick this up as my Kindle First novel for July, and it sounded interesting, so I wanted to give it a chance, because it is such a popular genre. Unfortunately, I ended up DNF'ing it at 20%.

I don't like giving bad reviews, as I know how tough it is to write a book and get it out there, but try as I may, I couldn't get into the story, or the characters. I also got confused at about 15%, with all the new characters coming and going and kept having to flip back a few pages to figure out who was who. I was afraid that it would be cliché and just another ripoff of the Hunger Games / Divergent (similar plot, settings, character stereotypes) series, and as I read some of these other reviews, it seems that's the case.

An extra star because the writing is well-done and the beginning was very, very interesting. The worldbuilding was also done well, at least as far as I got. I really wanted to like this one, and I'm afraid I won't be reading the rest of the books in this trilogy.… (lisätietoja)

I'm not a big fan of YA dystopian novels or stories, so maybe I'm not the best person to be reviewing this. But I did pick this up as my Kindle First novel for July, and it sounded interesting, so I wanted to give it a chance, because it is such a popular genre. Unfortunately, I ended up DNF'ing it at 20%.

I don't like giving bad reviews, as I know how tough it is to write a book and get it out there, but try as I may, I couldn't get into the story, or the characters. I also got confused at about 15%, with all the new characters coming and going and kept having to flip back a few pages to figure out who was who. I was afraid that it would be cliché and just another ripoff of the Hunger Games / Divergent (similar plot, settings, character stereotypes) series, and as I read some of these other reviews, it seems that's the case.

An extra star because the writing is well-done and the beginning was very, very interesting. The worldbuilding was also done well, at least as far as I got. I really wanted to like this one, and I'm afraid I won't be reading the rest of the books in this trilogy.… (lisätietoja)

I thought I had found the book I needed, The book that perfectly balanced story with romance and brought just enough of character building and intrigue to capture my attention and keep it. I was sadly wrong. In the beginning Kricket showed how a female protagonist can be strong, smart, yet entirely not perfect. The slow build of Trey and Kricket was amazing taking a backstage to the actually story while not letting you forget about it. The world that Bartol started to build with Ethar was intriguing and new. We got to experience it all with Kricket, but halfway through it took a turn for the worse.
The push and pull of Kricket and Trey took center stage and so did the misogyny. Kricket went from being used a political pawn to suddenly everyone wanting to marry her and have her body. I kinda see what Bartol was trying to do with this, showing that Kricket can overcome it all despite her small woman body. I just got extremely frustrated at everything that would happen. I will read the second story now that it seems like it is taking a different turn, hopefully for the better. For as important and Bartol made Kricket seem the way everyone just seemed she was dismissed at every opportunity.

Also quick question is it bad that I kinda sympathized with Kyon? Yea, I thought so.… (lisätietoja)