Title: Renegade (The Elysium Chronicles #1)
Author: J.A. Souders
Release Date: November 13rd 2012
Publisher: Tor Teen
Genre: Young Adult, Sci-Fi, Utopian
Pages: 364
Type: ARC paperback
Source: For review and blog tour
Rating: 2 out of 5 Goddesses
Since the age of three, sixteen-year-old Evelyn Winters has been trained to be Daughter of the People in the underwater utopia known as Elysium. Selected from hundreds of children for her ideal genes, all her life she’s thought that everything was perfect; her world. Her people. The Law.
But when Gavin Hunter, a Surface Dweller, accidentally stumbles into their secluded little world, she’s forced to come to a startling realization: everything she knows is a lie.
Her memories have been altered.
Her mind and body aren’t under her own control.
And the person she knows as Mother is a monster.
Together with Gavin she plans her escape, only to learn that her own mind is a ticking time bomb... and Mother has one last secret that will destroy them all.
This book had SO much potential. Grrrr. You know that feeling when you're preparing to enjoy a book so much and then you read it and hated it? Yep. That's exactly how I'm feeling right now. So many people enjoyed this that I'm just so pissed that I didn't.
At the start, I LOVED it. The repetition of the days was really effective and I thought that was smart. But then Evelyn's naiveness and stupidity kinda got to me. And don't even talk to me about Mother. She reminded me of Ursula, the octupus sea witch thingy from The Little Mermaid. And then the plot just kinda turned into like all of the other dystopians/utopians out more. Yawn.
The romance just didn't really make sense to me. I'M A SUCKER FOR ROMANCE BUT. This love story just didn't really captivate me. I personally thought it moved too fast, and unrealistic. First they're like 'enemies' and didn't want to trust each other, the next they're plotting stuff together. Like, what the hell. This aspect was one of the main reasons why I couldn't continue this book any longer.
After 200 pages, I just had to put this down. I was freaking bored out of my mind. Like, seriously. I actually watched football on tv instead of reading this. That's how serious it it, guys. I then skipped to the end and decided to see if it was any better. Nah. It wasn't.
I'm so gutted about this. Between that gorgeous cover, that unique summary and the hype around this, I was hoping for more.
I actually like the sound of Mother-as-Ursula, because I love the Little Mermaid :p I'm sorry to hear that this book didn't work out for you. It's always a shame when you have high expectations, but the book doesn't deliver. The naiveness from Evelyn can be an annoying point for me, but I'm still excited to try it out. Thanks for your honest review.
ReplyDeleteFootball? FOOTBALL?! Okay, that must've been really bad...
ReplyDeleteOh no... I had such great hopes for this book...
ReplyDelete