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nextbestcoast's review against another edition
3.0
It was good. Not great, but good. (I feel like I'm super critical about books lately. Usually I love them all!) I'm looking forward to the next one, and I think it'll be nice to see what happens.
hoping4more's review against another edition
3.0
I'd actually give this 3 1/2 stars if I could. The story was interesting, but I felt it needed some tightening up. I kept waiting for her to explain why girls couldn't have sex before XVI and why it was a government control thing to make them sex-teen. I just couldn't see this big bad government until the last couple of chapters and it was a little too late for me. For most of the book I didn't understand the focus of the resistance. And Sandy was annoying as hell and had no redeeming qualities. This one fell a little flat for me.
farhanac's review against another edition
2.0
This book was suggested to me and took me a while to figure out if it was worth buying. I read the synopsis online on Amazon and whilst it seemed interesting, nothing really grabbed me enough to want to buy it really badly.
I did eventually end up buying it as a side purchase, but as my initial thoughts suggest I didn't fall irrevocably in love. The synopsis pretty much tells you what happens in 70% of the book, which is a shame because I had hoped for a lot more but on the other hand the book is definitely a quick read at 272 pages.
I enjoyed the romance aspect of the novel - first loves are always adorable to read! It was especially interesting since as you can tell from the synopsis; any non-family relationship between a teenage girl and boy is an extremely big deal in the world of XVI; especially for Nina who is completely against turning into a traditional sex-obsessed sixteen year old girl. I also liked the use of "media" and "advertisements" as brain washing instruments used by the Government. It's not something unique since a lot of writer's use the media as a form of control in dystopian fiction, but I felt like it worked really well here.
On the other hand, I felt like there were too many coincidences in the book. The problems in the book all got solved ridiculously easily and because of this the events in the book all happened rapidly. I guess rapid pacing should be seen as a good thing, but it annoyed me because I felt like the author could have spent time on telling us more about the other characters. I was also surprised by the ending - which I hated. Everything happened in a matter of pages and whilst I just found out that XVI will have a sequel called Truth (which will be released January 19th) I'm still not happy. Most of the loose ends were tied in the ending, leaving nothing for your imagination whatsoever. I'm guessing the author will be introducing brand new problems into the sequel but I don't really see the need for it considering the ending.
All in all, I'd recommend the book if you're bored and want to kill a few hours without thinking too much. I'd also suggest buying it from Amazon because in no way would I have been happy to pay full price for it.
I did eventually end up buying it as a side purchase, but as my initial thoughts suggest I didn't fall irrevocably in love. The synopsis pretty much tells you what happens in 70% of the book, which is a shame because I had hoped for a lot more but on the other hand the book is definitely a quick read at 272 pages.
I enjoyed the romance aspect of the novel - first loves are always adorable to read! It was especially interesting since as you can tell from the synopsis; any non-family relationship between a teenage girl and boy is an extremely big deal in the world of XVI; especially for Nina who is completely against turning into a traditional sex-obsessed sixteen year old girl. I also liked the use of "media" and "advertisements" as brain washing instruments used by the Government. It's not something unique since a lot of writer's use the media as a form of control in dystopian fiction, but I felt like it worked really well here.
On the other hand, I felt like there were too many coincidences in the book. The problems in the book all got solved ridiculously easily and because of this the events in the book all happened rapidly. I guess rapid pacing should be seen as a good thing, but it annoyed me because I felt like the author could have spent time on telling us more about the other characters. I was also surprised by the ending - which I hated. Everything happened in a matter of pages and whilst I just found out that XVI will have a sequel called Truth (which will be released January 19th) I'm still not happy. Most of the loose ends were tied in the ending, leaving nothing for your imagination whatsoever. I'm guessing the author will be introducing brand new problems into the sequel but I don't really see the need for it considering the ending.
All in all, I'd recommend the book if you're bored and want to kill a few hours without thinking too much. I'd also suggest buying it from Amazon because in no way would I have been happy to pay full price for it.
paperlove's review
3.0
Die Idee ist gut, die Umsetzung hat aber leider einige Schwächen und Längen. Da ist noch Luft nach oben für Band 2!
randomly_kait's review against another edition
5.0
Shocking is the first word that comes to mind when thinking about this book, it could possibly cause quite the controversy because of the topic that it focuses on. I give this book two thumbs up, It was ultra. :)
peachykeenxyz's review against another edition
1.0
XVI is a novel that blends underdeveloped characters and an poorly explained world with disgustingly overdone cliches. The result ends up looking like something a thirteen year old with an abstinence-only agenda would write for a church competition.
We get it, Ms. Karr, teen sex is horrible and dangerous and will drive corruption into our very society. Having said that, if you're going to write something trying to promote abstinence-only for teens... at least try to write it well. If you look at a page in this book, you'll see the word "sex" everywhere. Repetition can be a great literary device in the right hands. XVI, however, is a fantastic example of how NOT to use it. There are plenty of euphemisms and synonyms for "sex." Please use them.
As another reviewer said, the most "traumatic" experience in the main character's life- a death- leaves readers feeling cold (no pun intended!). The author offers NO explanation for all the made-up words in the story- and referring to cars as 'trannies' is downright pointless. The end result is a fictional world no one cares about because the author simply does not know how to bring it to life enough.
We get it, Ms. Karr, teen sex is horrible and dangerous and will drive corruption into our very society. Having said that, if you're going to write something trying to promote abstinence-only for teens... at least try to write it well. If you look at a page in this book, you'll see the word "sex" everywhere. Repetition can be a great literary device in the right hands. XVI, however, is a fantastic example of how NOT to use it. There are plenty of euphemisms and synonyms for "sex." Please use them.
As another reviewer said, the most "traumatic" experience in the main character's life- a death- leaves readers feeling cold (no pun intended!). The author offers NO explanation for all the made-up words in the story- and referring to cars as 'trannies' is downright pointless. The end result is a fictional world no one cares about because the author simply does not know how to bring it to life enough.
fueledbywords's review against another edition
3.0
I wish I could give this book 3.5 stars because I would. I'm not sure why but I have a secret crush on the dystopian genre and I've been excited to see so many new book come out. I was really interested in this book when I read the summary and it seemed like a great premise but unfortunately that's what it seemed to remain for the vast majority of the book. Don't get me wrong there were some scenes where I didn't want to let life in so I could get to the next chapter...BUT...the other shoe never dropped. I liked the main character Nina and a few of her friends but I kept waiting for the story to get better and it kind of fell flat. I would have been ok with this being a new series because the ending felt very rushed like most parts of the book. I think it was a great idea but it didn't quite make it there for me. I wanted to love it but I came away lukewarm...
foxgallagher's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
zoet's review against another edition
5.0
The ratings for this book, are literally, everywhere, so I'm just going to say- that the premise and concept of this book was enjoyable.
I have no complaints or quarries but I won't overtly praise this novel either--
but just to say.
that you. You should read this book based on whether you, and only you, want to. Not because of some one else's opinions and perspectives.
You may be surprised to have enjoyed this book more than you expected to, like I did, and if you didn't enjoy it- so what? It took you like three days at most to finish (this is not a dense book) and you're able to at least say you read the thing.
I have no complaints or quarries but I won't overtly praise this novel either--
but just to say.
that you. You should read this book based on whether you, and only you, want to. Not because of some one else's opinions and perspectives.
You may be surprised to have enjoyed this book more than you expected to, like I did, and if you didn't enjoy it- so what? It took you like three days at most to finish (this is not a dense book) and you're able to at least say you read the thing.
nina1117's review against another edition
3.0
A somewhat shallow YA dystopian novel. I was hooked by the premise awhile back, but it didn't deliver as much as I would have liked. I felt like she did a good job of showing the dangers of being a "sex-teen" and the ending was pretty sad. But it all felt weak to me. I felt like Karr's dystopia was vague; she tried to build another world but wasn't completely successful. Just creating a giant government machine, and changing a few words doesn't make it a dystopia. Maybe if went in deeper about FeLs and the tiers and how people get into them, it would have made the story stronger. And speaking of word choice, her editor should have nipped using the word "trannies" for transportation in the bud. It was a laughable try at sounding futuristic. Now, I'm guessing she is writing a sequel because though Nina's story is somewhat wrapped up, there is still a lot of things left unfinished, which irked me. Maybe I'm just annoyed because it seems the young adult books I have been reading lately have no real endings, but really I just think it could have been better.