I rate this YA novel 3.5 out of 5
This is a semi-spoiler review. Nothing hugely
important is given away, but proceed with caution.
I
approached this novel with a sense of intrigue. Like most book lovers, I enjoy
watching (and judging) adaptations of books when they are set to film. However,
I also love watching a film and then pursuing it further to the book it is
based off. To me it is an excellent way to further delve into a world I am
already interested in due to the films presentation. This is how I found myself
in the case of this novel. I had heard much upset from fans of the book when it
came to the movie, so I was not in the least surprised when I found the book to
be vastly different to that of its film counterpart. If this is one of those
books you wish to hurriedly read so you can watch the movie, stop now. Watch
the movie, enjoy it (or not) for what it is and then read the book and enjoy it
(or not) for what it is. They are definitely two different entities. The
stories, though similar, hardly coincide.
This is a book review
however, and so on to the review! I did enjoy this book. It was well written
and very interesting. The story is intriguing and the narrative choice of Ethan
really made a difference in the normal supernatural teen romance adventure
types. The advantage of this, the main character and reader being out of the
loop and questing for information, makes for great reading incentive. However
there were some parts of the story that just didn’t seem fully explained. I
wanted more and even at the end of the book there were important pieces of the
plot that I didn’t understand. These included things such as: why Macon was
what he was and not a Castor like everyone else, why exactly Lena was so
special when she turned sixteen unlike all the other Castor’s, and what the
heck was up with her connection with Ethan in the first place. I understand
that Lena being a Natural made a big difference with the whole claiming herself
part of the plot, but if that was the long and the short of things being so
different I wish that there could have been more questioning about their extreme
measures over her in comparison to say Ridley, who just ran off into the night
and that was the end of that. I know that all these questions and maybe more might
be discussed in future books, therefore I am willing to let them go, for now.
All in all it was a
pretty good book. It wasn’t the most amazing thing I have ever come across, but
it had good plot and great characters. I fully plan to read on through the rest
of the series.
By Alissa Tsaparikos
