Book Review: 4.5 Stars
I am an avid reader of young adult and romance fiction, but I have never quite read anything like this novel. This dystopian science fiction is not only a nice fiction itself plot-wise, but it also adds its own twist to the young adult world. This twist being the style in which the novel is written. At times there are words crossed out and words repeated over and over again. One chapter actually starts with a phrase being repeated over and over again until the very end of the first page and while this may seem like something pretty jarring to a reader not used to experimental fiction, the story actually ends up reading quite well. The journal-like quality of the novel lets the reader further into the narrator’s mind and the novel even states in the beginning that as the narrator gets more and more sure of herself her writing starts to even out with less repetition and strikethroughs. The experimentalism of the novel itself kind of reminded me of the modernist movement in fiction, although a lot tamer in many ways. In this way, the reader is allowed to grow with the main protagonist which is something that I found I really appreciated as the book went on.
Back to the plot of the story, I found it to be pretty riveting. While, of course, some tropes proved predictable (can someone say love triangle?), the twists that the novel took in terms of character and power development were pretty unexpected. I think one of my favorite things plot-wise about the book was the focus on the difference between wanting to know someone for who you know they are through observation versus getting to know someone because of who you want them to be. If you are someone who enjoys dystopian novels, experimental writing styles, young adult romances, and crazy and (maybe misunderstood) “villans” I one hundred percent recommend picking up this book!
