RJ Crayton

Wow. Just wow.

There, that’s my review. Can I leave it at that?

!!!

Well, this was my maiden voyage into the dystopian genre. I really struggled with this book…I struggled to find the opportunity to lock myself away for half a day to read it in one sitting!

As a dystopian first-timer, I really wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was hooked from the first page. The story is set in post-pandemic America, a hundred years in the future, in which the twenty percent of survivors are obliged to donate organs when ordered to do so. Kelsey Reed does not want to donate her kidney: she must flee before she’s under the surgeon’s scalpel, but escape isn’t easy, when first, she has to extricate the tracking chip in her arm. She is helped by a doctor, who treated her mother just before she died and who feels obliged to look after Kelsey, and her boyfriend, Luke. Her escape has to be successful: to fail will result in heinous consequences.

I’ll admit to not being a great fan of present-tense novels, but this was so well written, the characters so well drawn, I barely noticed. It’s packed with tense moments, gripping moments, tender moments. The unexpected jumps out from behind a door, and there you are, unable to turn the pages fast enough.

Brilliant.… (lisätietoja)

]This was a very enjoyable and exciting read, full of twists and turns with a dash or two of betrayal. All of which keeps you wanting to turn each page with more wonderment and energy, this was a quick read for me because of the storyline. The characters are well developed and compliment each other nicely. I am fully inclined to go back and read the first book in the series, just to further the background details on some of the major players.

Suspense is key theme in the book as a whole, so if this is something you are looking for, you will find it in this novel.… (lisätietoja)

2.5 stars

Set in a world devastated by a mortal and contagious virus, "Concealed" follows the story of Elaan and Elijah (daughter and son of a doctor who's looking for a cure) and Josh, son of another doctor.

> The plot
I admit that I'm not an expert regarding dystopian books about viruses, since I've maybe read two or three, but nonetheless I always set some standards despite the genre I'm dealing with.
In this case, the real problem wasn't the fact that the plot lacked a bit of originality (people living underground because of a virus isn't what I would define exactly "original"), but the slow, slow pace. And the lenght isn't one of the longest. So you can easily understand that there are almost no events, also because almost half book is focused on love related dialogues between Elaan, Josh and Elijah.
The worst thing was, in my opinion, the ending. Or rather, its absence. The characters don't reach their goal, there is no plot twist, there's nothing that comes to an end. As I reached the last line I thought "Wait, is there a chapter missing?" because I really couldn't believe in a such an abrupt interruption.

> The characters
Without any doubt Elijah was the most intriguing and mysterious, probably due to his unspoken words and sulky expressions whose reason can't be explained. To be honest I'm not really fond of her sister, maybe because she's always asking for the truth even when she won't accept it, or maybe just because I find her rather plain.
In my opinion the story was a bit too centered on the three main characters. I mean, it's obvious since they're the protagonist, however there were just a couple of side characters, thus it was difficult to imagine the situation.

> The setting
Also because the descriptions weren't really thorough. Considering that thousands of people have died, considering the disease spreading, how can you not describe how the world in the surface appears? I know it's has only been 6/7 months since the first case of infection manifested itself, but I would take for granted that things changed.

> Conclusions
I can't say (and I wouldn't dare anyway) that this book was "horrible". It's just that all these little flaws make it a bit boring and therefore, not remarkable.… (lisätietoja)