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3.45 AVERAGE
3.45 AVERAGE
Only made it about 20 pages, the writing style was not jiving with my brain.
3.5 stars
Honestly, I had a difficult time reading the first 100 pages or so of this book. There was this frenetic energy emitting from Nari, Keagan and Reese's POV narrations that I have come to learn I do not enjoy in my reading. Sometimes it felt like I was reading word for word the characters' inner monologue and it was a bit much.
During this first 100 pages, the heist felt so ridiculous, ill prepared and unrealistic (which... it doesn't have to be seeing as this is a book, but this is also a contemporary book and not spec fic so). I was having so much trouble understanding everyone's (except for Keagan) justification for this heist.
I was planning to dnf at around page 80 because of the pov narration and the ridiculous for the heist if not for Keagan's pov developing into pointing out how wtf Nari's whole plan was.
I am really glad a stuck around because the story went exactly where I was hoping it would go. The elephant in the room (the fucking ridiculousness of the heist) was addressed via a conflict between the 5 friends. This story is really less about the heist that happened and more of the relationships between the 5 main characters and their own individual motivations for agreeing (however enthusiastically or reluctantly) to go along with it.
I honestly was Team Keagan all the way. And I also see a lot of myself in him. His moral compass and how we doesn't really have a grand dream or capability or passion, which I still don't think I have at a grand age of 27. But it's his pov that I feel is really rare among all the heist stories I've read. Who thinks about the morality and legality of a heist in a heist story? But I felt that this pov was really needed to ground the story, especially since this is a contemporary story set in our world. I really enjoyed the conversation that Nari and Keagan had regarding how Keagan's voice being pushed down by Nari's force of a personality.
Nari's overaction at the end, was slightly confusing. In the end what was a difference between 70k versus 250k to a likely multi billion company? Honestly this whole scheme just didn't make a lot of sense to me as an accountant because the finance department in a company is really unlikely to miss one and not the other. And even that they shouldn't even miss it at all. And sometimes that's not how companies work.
Bellamy's mom's reaction to the whole incident was also really surprising, but I felt like the ending was a bit convenient. And even though we know Keagan didn't do it, I really wanted to scream 'I fucking told you so' at the rest of the gang on behalf of Keagan.
Honestly, I had a difficult time reading the first 100 pages or so of this book. There was this frenetic energy emitting from Nari, Keagan and Reese's POV narrations that I have come to learn I do not enjoy in my reading. Sometimes it felt like I was reading word for word the characters' inner monologue and it was a bit much.
During this first 100 pages, the heist felt so ridiculous, ill prepared and unrealistic (which... it doesn't have to be seeing as this is a book, but this is also a contemporary book and not spec fic so). I was having so much trouble understanding everyone's (except for Keagan) justification for this heist.
I was planning to dnf at around page 80 because of the pov narration and the ridiculous for the heist if not for Keagan's pov developing into pointing out how wtf Nari's whole plan was.
I am really glad a stuck around because the story went exactly where I was hoping it would go. The elephant in the room (the fucking ridiculousness of the heist) was addressed via a conflict between the 5 friends. This story is really less about the heist that happened and more of the relationships between the 5 main characters and their own individual motivations for agreeing (however enthusiastically or reluctantly) to go along with it.
I honestly was Team Keagan all the way. And I also see a lot of myself in him. His moral compass and how we doesn't really have a grand dream or capability or passion, which I still don't think I have at a grand age of 27. But it's his pov that I feel is really rare among all the heist stories I've read. Who thinks about the morality and legality of a heist in a heist story? But I felt that this pov was really needed to ground the story, especially since this is a contemporary story set in our world. I really enjoyed the conversation that Nari and Keagan had regarding how Keagan's voice being pushed down by Nari's force of a personality.
Nari's overaction at the end, was slightly confusing. In the end what was a difference between 70k versus 250k to a likely multi billion company? Honestly this whole scheme just didn't make a lot of sense to me as an accountant because the finance department in a company is really unlikely to miss one and not the other. And even that they shouldn't even miss it at all. And sometimes that's not how companies work.
Bellamy's mom's reaction to the whole incident was also really surprising, but I felt like the ending was a bit convenient. And even though we know Keagan didn't do it, I really wanted to scream 'I fucking told you so' at the rest of the gang on behalf of Keagan.
Five teens who share a beautiful friendship pull off a Robin-Hood style digital heist while also dealing with questions of family, friendship and identity, including aro-ace representation, feminism and anti-capitalism? Count me IN. Y'all should read this.
While I had some fundamental issues with this book, I think the YA world in may just love it.
Immoral Code tells the story of five teens, best friends since forever, taking action against injustice. Bellany is brilliant and could go full-ride to MIT... except that her umber rich father still shows up on her FAFSA and she can get an ounce of support. Even though her father abandoned her before she was born. When Bellamy tries to call him, he hangs up on her. So that's it. No MIT.
Except her friend Narioka, hacker extraordinaire, has a different idea. What if they just... stole it? And so starts the heist!
Where heist films like Ocean's Eleven do really well is that all the players are bringing something to the table, and they all have a good reasons for being there. In building a teen-based heist, especially one that requires a road trip and where they're all friends and not professionals, Lillian Clark set herself up with some challenges. First of all, there is a single clear mastermind. With Nari's age, it stands reason that it requires a little suspension of disbelief. Nari, more or less, plans this entire heist by herself. There's an early section where she's connecting with other hackers, but in the meat and potatoes of the story, that doesn't seem to be happening. In fact, a lot of the planning doesn't make it to the page. I really would have liked to see the planning before two days before the heist, but I also feel like Lillian Clark needed to use the time developing the characters and their relationships.
It took me a while to get into the characters. Firstly, this book is told with five first person POVs. I'm not crazy about multiple first person POVs; I feel like it is difficult to differentiate the characters. Even at the end of the novel, I'd occasionally have to flip back to the start of the chapter to remind myself who was speaking. Their individual voices weren't different enough, but fortunately, I got to know each character well enough through someone else's voice. The characters aren't underdeveloped, they're just difficult to connect with. That said, you know, I'm almost thirty... a sixteen year old may find these characters incredibly relatable all the time and I think that's fantastic.
Oh, and honestly? All the asides in parentheses and second-guessing rambling drove me crazy. I understand why it's there, but I don't feel like it added anything.
All this negativity aside, I did end up enjoying Immoral Code. I really thought I would hate it at the beginning. I was getting frustrated with some perceived inconsistencies and the characters themselves. I still don't like the beginning, but this really picks up in the middle and it gets better from there. There's a scene with Reese during the heist that was absolutely fantastic, filled with life and passion. There were also a handful of scenes just before the heist where Keagan questioned the morality of it, and I think that contact was so important. While I wasn't crazy about how things turned out with that, I appreciate that the argument was made. It was so, so necessary.
The ending seemed way too easy for me, but the journey was interesting. I think Immoral Code will appeal to any reader who enjoys YA and heist stories. Don't expect an epic fantasy situation, a la Six of Crows or The Gilded Wolves, but it's a great contemporary companion to the heist subgenre.
Immoral Code tells the story of five teens, best friends since forever, taking action against injustice. Bellany is brilliant and could go full-ride to MIT... except that her umber rich father still shows up on her FAFSA and she can get an ounce of support. Even though her father abandoned her before she was born. When Bellamy tries to call him, he hangs up on her. So that's it. No MIT.
Except her friend Narioka, hacker extraordinaire, has a different idea. What if they just... stole it? And so starts the heist!
Where heist films like Ocean's Eleven do really well is that all the players are bringing something to the table, and they all have a good reasons for being there. In building a teen-based heist, especially one that requires a road trip and where they're all friends and not professionals, Lillian Clark set herself up with some challenges. First of all, there is a single clear mastermind. With Nari's age, it stands reason that it requires a little suspension of disbelief. Nari, more or less, plans this entire heist by herself. There's an early section where she's connecting with other hackers, but in the meat and potatoes of the story, that doesn't seem to be happening. In fact, a lot of the planning doesn't make it to the page. I really would have liked to see the planning before two days before the heist, but I also feel like Lillian Clark needed to use the time developing the characters and their relationships.
It took me a while to get into the characters. Firstly, this book is told with five first person POVs. I'm not crazy about multiple first person POVs; I feel like it is difficult to differentiate the characters. Even at the end of the novel, I'd occasionally have to flip back to the start of the chapter to remind myself who was speaking. Their individual voices weren't different enough, but fortunately, I got to know each character well enough through someone else's voice. The characters aren't underdeveloped, they're just difficult to connect with. That said, you know, I'm almost thirty... a sixteen year old may find these characters incredibly relatable all the time and I think that's fantastic.
Oh, and honestly? All the asides in parentheses and second-guessing rambling drove me crazy. I understand why it's there, but I don't feel like it added anything.
All this negativity aside, I did end up enjoying Immoral Code. I really thought I would hate it at the beginning. I was getting frustrated with some perceived inconsistencies and the characters themselves. I still don't like the beginning, but this really picks up in the middle and it gets better from there. There's a scene with Reese during the heist that was absolutely fantastic, filled with life and passion. There were also a handful of scenes just before the heist where Keagan questioned the morality of it, and I think that contact was so important. While I wasn't crazy about how things turned out with that, I appreciate that the argument was made. It was so, so necessary.
The ending seemed way too easy for me, but the journey was interesting. I think Immoral Code will appeal to any reader who enjoys YA and heist stories. Don't expect an epic fantasy situation, a la Six of Crows or The Gilded Wolves, but it's a great contemporary companion to the heist subgenre.
Actual rating: 4.5 stars
CW: bullying, aphobia.
I received an earc of this book from the publisher in exchange of an honest review
Original review posted on my blog : Word Wonders
Hello, what do you do when you read a book and love the cast of characters so much you want to adopt them and would die for their safety and happiness? Because. That’s me. With this book. Immoral Code has been on my radar for a while because 1/ Contemporary teen heist book (!!!) and 2/ One of the MCs is aroace!!!! So when I got the chance to review it, I jumped on it and started reading right away and it did NOT disappoint.
The writing is just like I absolutely love it to be, it’s fun, engaging, with EXTREMELY distinct narrative voices, every main character got their quirks and peculiarities that made them stand out from the rest, which is a necessity when you have five different point of views that all have equal importance. It’s also smooth in switching between action scene narration style and beautiful prose when it’s exploring feelings and emotions and that’s something I really appreciate in a book. It also genuinely felt like being inside teenagers’ heads with a lot of inner ramblings and thought processes getting sidetracked at times, which I really enjoyed.
The book starts when Bellamy, one of our five main characters gets denied for financial aid to attend MIT because of her super uber wealthy estranged father. Only trouble is, Bellamy is poor and definitely can’t afford MIT without it, and said father is estranged to the point where she’s never seen him, talked to him, and is NOT paying for college. Enter, Narioka (Nari, for short), hacker extraordinaire and Bellamy’s best friend, who proposes they steal the money she’s owed from her father’s company bank accounts. Heist and complications ensue.
The one criticism I have for this book is that I wish there was more of the heist? I didn’t mind that much (I mean…I still rated it 4.5 stars) since I adored the characters, but I just wanted *more* about the heist itself and a more in depth, detailed, view into the logistics of it all. That being said, the heist itself GAVE ME HEART PALPITATIONS!!!! These teenagers are such brave, amazing, smart fools. And my heart is so full of love for them that I could NOT handle them being in a precarious situation like that. Other than that, I wouldn’t really call this book *fast-paced*, it has a good pace, but it’s very much character oriented.
The fact that this book centers a heist in a contemporary setting, committed but people who cannot be farther away from criminals, gave way for a discussion of right, wrong and morality. And through having multiple main characters who are very different individuals we got to see very different takes on the issue as well as those views sometimes clashing and sometimes meeting in the middle for a compromise. From the “WHAT WE’RE DOING IS WRONG, PLAIN WRONG!!!” take to the “Bellamy is owed this!!!!” take, including the “Yes it’s wrong, but wrong thing for the right reasons” take and that was extremely interesting to read.
My favorite thing about the book is the characters, hands down, no questions asked. Immoral Code gets you to care so very deeply and so very fast about each one of them. I found myself rooting for them and wanting to know more about them a couple chapters into the book. And the more I learned, the more I loved them and more I wanted to know about them. And I genuinely cannot pick a favorite, which is something that’s never happened to me, I always have a soft spot for one character in big casts like this, but NOPE, not this time.
First up, we have Nari, Japanese-American hacktivist, coding genius, and style icon. She exudes so much confidence and her presence is just so…loud and eclipsing, it’s not only something we’re told from other characters’ POVs about also something that just translated through the pages from her perspective. She’s a natural leader, loud, sassy and very protective of her friends, especially Bellamy, who’s been her best friend since second grade. So much confidence can also make her arrogant at times which she can bite her fingers over later on.
Next is Keagan, Nari’s boyfriend and your local Soft Boy. He’s sensitive, caring, and the definition of a good person and their moral compass throughout the mission. I sincerely believe that they would have gone much farther in their heist if he wasn’t there to pull back a little every time. He’s also the only one of the group who has no big dreams and no clear idea of what he wants from his life after high school, which he’s quite content with, until…he’s not. He starts feeling insecure, especially with having friends with such big dreams and I loved that there was a discussion around this and it was normalized, because teenagers are under so much pressure to have everything figured out at eighteen when…they’re barely starting out on life. So the fact that this book says “Yes that’s cool and all, but not having a clue what you want is cool too” is a huge win for me.
Then we have Bellamy, physics genius, aspiring astronaut and the heart of the mission. She’s somewhat of a shy girl with a heart of gold, she just doesn’t want to inconvenience anyone so she just sort of just…goes with the flow. I also loved how much of a well of informations she was, she just has fun facts about anything and everything. Next up we have Santiago, Mexican-American swimmer boy whose biggest dream is to make it into the Olympics, a dream that’s met with some push back from his parents who want him to focus on school to secure himself a good stable future, which…diving doesn’t guarantee. He’s funny and kind of the bomb diffuser of the group, whenever there’s some tension, he’s the one doing the most to get it under control.
Last but not least, Reese my aroace queen. She has such a “I don’t give a cent about your opinion” attitude and vibe about her because caring about what people think gives them power over you and she is NOT here for that. Her policy is ignorance and she also does not like to meddle in people’s business, even when said people are her best friends, as long as their business makes them happy, that’s all she cares about, she doesn’t need the details of it all (especially when it comes to romance). She’s so utterly comfortable with who she is. I adored that her aroace-ness was never an issue or source of conflict for her, and I adore the discussion around it.
I loved every single relationship in this. The group friendship was great, no one was ever left out of made to feel like a dead weight (especially with there being two couples-ish + Reese) and the way they cared about each other just felt so… real and genuine, they had all kinds of conversations ranging from silly to deep at 3 in the morning. I also appreciated that there was care put not only into the group friendship but into every individual friendship as well.
And can we talk about the romances? Nari and Keagan’s relationship sturdiness and their complete fate for their love in each other and their future together warmed my heart. Even when they fight and disagree, they never thought things wouldn’t work out and that made me so emotional *cries*. And in contrast, we had Bellamy and Santiago, for whom everything is new after so long being friends, the tentativeness of it all was so soft and the way Santiago talked about her as if she hang the moon was CUTE. I just loved it all. And I liked that the author showed more than one example of what it’s like to be in a relationship in high school.
Immoral Code is so nerdy and science oriented, it made my little nerdy heart happy. And that ending was an EMOTIONAL rollercoaster while still being immensely satisfying. I just *clenches fist* LOVE THIS SO MUCH, and the rep that I got through Reese meant the world to my aromantic heart.
CW: bullying, aphobia.
I received an earc of this book from the publisher in exchange of an honest review
Original review posted on my blog : Word Wonders
Hello, what do you do when you read a book and love the cast of characters so much you want to adopt them and would die for their safety and happiness? Because. That’s me. With this book. Immoral Code has been on my radar for a while because 1/ Contemporary teen heist book (!!!) and 2/ One of the MCs is aroace!!!! So when I got the chance to review it, I jumped on it and started reading right away and it did NOT disappoint.
The writing is just like I absolutely love it to be, it’s fun, engaging, with EXTREMELY distinct narrative voices, every main character got their quirks and peculiarities that made them stand out from the rest, which is a necessity when you have five different point of views that all have equal importance. It’s also smooth in switching between action scene narration style and beautiful prose when it’s exploring feelings and emotions and that’s something I really appreciate in a book. It also genuinely felt like being inside teenagers’ heads with a lot of inner ramblings and thought processes getting sidetracked at times, which I really enjoyed.
The book starts when Bellamy, one of our five main characters gets denied for financial aid to attend MIT because of her super uber wealthy estranged father. Only trouble is, Bellamy is poor and definitely can’t afford MIT without it, and said father is estranged to the point where she’s never seen him, talked to him, and is NOT paying for college. Enter, Narioka (Nari, for short), hacker extraordinaire and Bellamy’s best friend, who proposes they steal the money she’s owed from her father’s company bank accounts. Heist and complications ensue.
The one criticism I have for this book is that I wish there was more of the heist? I didn’t mind that much (I mean…I still rated it 4.5 stars) since I adored the characters, but I just wanted *more* about the heist itself and a more in depth, detailed, view into the logistics of it all. That being said, the heist itself GAVE ME HEART PALPITATIONS!!!! These teenagers are such brave, amazing, smart fools. And my heart is so full of love for them that I could NOT handle them being in a precarious situation like that. Other than that, I wouldn’t really call this book *fast-paced*, it has a good pace, but it’s very much character oriented.
The fact that this book centers a heist in a contemporary setting, committed but people who cannot be farther away from criminals, gave way for a discussion of right, wrong and morality. And through having multiple main characters who are very different individuals we got to see very different takes on the issue as well as those views sometimes clashing and sometimes meeting in the middle for a compromise. From the “WHAT WE’RE DOING IS WRONG, PLAIN WRONG!!!” take to the “Bellamy is owed this!!!!” take, including the “Yes it’s wrong, but wrong thing for the right reasons” take and that was extremely interesting to read.
My favorite thing about the book is the characters, hands down, no questions asked. Immoral Code gets you to care so very deeply and so very fast about each one of them. I found myself rooting for them and wanting to know more about them a couple chapters into the book. And the more I learned, the more I loved them and more I wanted to know about them. And I genuinely cannot pick a favorite, which is something that’s never happened to me, I always have a soft spot for one character in big casts like this, but NOPE, not this time.
First up, we have Nari, Japanese-American hacktivist, coding genius, and style icon. She exudes so much confidence and her presence is just so…loud and eclipsing, it’s not only something we’re told from other characters’ POVs about also something that just translated through the pages from her perspective. She’s a natural leader, loud, sassy and very protective of her friends, especially Bellamy, who’s been her best friend since second grade. So much confidence can also make her arrogant at times which she can bite her fingers over later on.
Next is Keagan, Nari’s boyfriend and your local Soft Boy. He’s sensitive, caring, and the definition of a good person and their moral compass throughout the mission. I sincerely believe that they would have gone much farther in their heist if he wasn’t there to pull back a little every time. He’s also the only one of the group who has no big dreams and no clear idea of what he wants from his life after high school, which he’s quite content with, until…he’s not. He starts feeling insecure, especially with having friends with such big dreams and I loved that there was a discussion around this and it was normalized, because teenagers are under so much pressure to have everything figured out at eighteen when…they’re barely starting out on life. So the fact that this book says “Yes that’s cool and all, but not having a clue what you want is cool too” is a huge win for me.
Then we have Bellamy, physics genius, aspiring astronaut and the heart of the mission. She’s somewhat of a shy girl with a heart of gold, she just doesn’t want to inconvenience anyone so she just sort of just…goes with the flow. I also loved how much of a well of informations she was, she just has fun facts about anything and everything. Next up we have Santiago, Mexican-American swimmer boy whose biggest dream is to make it into the Olympics, a dream that’s met with some push back from his parents who want him to focus on school to secure himself a good stable future, which…diving doesn’t guarantee. He’s funny and kind of the bomb diffuser of the group, whenever there’s some tension, he’s the one doing the most to get it under control.
Last but not least, Reese my aroace queen. She has such a “I don’t give a cent about your opinion” attitude and vibe about her because caring about what people think gives them power over you and she is NOT here for that. Her policy is ignorance and she also does not like to meddle in people’s business, even when said people are her best friends, as long as their business makes them happy, that’s all she cares about, she doesn’t need the details of it all (especially when it comes to romance). She’s so utterly comfortable with who she is. I adored that her aroace-ness was never an issue or source of conflict for her, and I adore the discussion around it.
I loved every single relationship in this. The group friendship was great, no one was ever left out of made to feel like a dead weight (especially with there being two couples-ish + Reese) and the way they cared about each other just felt so… real and genuine, they had all kinds of conversations ranging from silly to deep at 3 in the morning. I also appreciated that there was care put not only into the group friendship but into every individual friendship as well.
And can we talk about the romances? Nari and Keagan’s relationship sturdiness and their complete fate for their love in each other and their future together warmed my heart. Even when they fight and disagree, they never thought things wouldn’t work out and that made me so emotional *cries*. And in contrast, we had Bellamy and Santiago, for whom everything is new after so long being friends, the tentativeness of it all was so soft and the way Santiago talked about her as if she hang the moon was CUTE. I just loved it all. And I liked that the author showed more than one example of what it’s like to be in a relationship in high school.
Immoral Code is so nerdy and science oriented, it made my little nerdy heart happy. And that ending was an EMOTIONAL rollercoaster while still being immensely satisfying. I just *clenches fist* LOVE THIS SO MUCH, and the rep that I got through Reese meant the world to my aromantic heart.
Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced e-copy in exchange for an honest review!
Okay, so this is basically a teen Ocean’s Eleven with a extra helping of moral dilemma...
Pros: the characters’ friendships (and their individual developments) are really great and well built, there’s an actual ace character who is more than 2D (!!!!!!), and it was a really fun ride. There’s also an actual discussion of the moral dilemmas surrounding the situation, which I don’t see as often as I would like in YA lit.
Cons: there’s a lot of suspension of disbelief, which I find particularly hard to do, and the ending was far too neatly packaged. Also I felt the characters could have been fleshed out a little better.
Overall, I enjoyed the read and I’ll be buying it for my library!
Okay, so this is basically a teen Ocean’s Eleven with a extra helping of moral dilemma...
Pros: the characters’ friendships (and their individual developments) are really great and well built, there’s an actual ace character who is more than 2D (!!!!!!), and it was a really fun ride. There’s also an actual discussion of the moral dilemmas surrounding the situation, which I don’t see as often as I would like in YA lit.
Cons: there’s a lot of suspension of disbelief, which I find particularly hard to do, and the ending was far too neatly packaged. Also I felt the characters could have been fleshed out a little better.
Overall, I enjoyed the read and I’ll be buying it for my library!