Reviews

Yours for the Taking by Gabrielle Korn

bookph1le's review

3.0

3.5 stars

There are a lot of good ideas in this book, and it does an excellent job of dissecting white feminism, as well as the idea that any form of governance that prioritizes the rights and needs of a specific group is bound to be a failure for anyone who isn't part of that group.

However, I did think this had some rough edges, and I wasn't a big fan of the ending. Some specifics about why I didn't like the ending behind the tag.

Spoiler

To sum it up, I felt the tone of the ending did not match the tone of the rest of the book. It's not that I wanted the ending to be dour and terrible, but everything was resolved so neatly and the whole thing between Orchid and Ava felt like it was coming from an epic romance novel rather than this novel. Plus, it seemed to weird to me that July and the others from the space shuttle end up in an Inside, yet July's story was resolved in a way that seemed...okay? Didn't the book spend a good amount of time talking about how horrific the other Insides were, and how they were big, lawless, rape factories? Maybe this was what Jacqueline told Olympia just to make her Inside seem better, but if that's the case, it really wasn't clear to me. And lastly, maybe I'm good at holding grudges or something, but it seemed to me that a lot of characters were quickly forgiven for things they maybe shouldn't have been forgiven for. I'm thinking specifically of the way Ava forgives Olympia and the way July forgives Jacqueline.

ains_reads's review

adventurous challenging emotional informative inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

maya_jamaleddine's review

adventurous reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

An easy read, a very interesting topic, and likable, flawed characters. I wish the author went more in-depth with some of the subjects - some portions felt pretty surface level

llybrown's review

dark hopeful tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

clovr's review

2.5

every star is for the butches

dominiq_ec's review

adventurous challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I love the critique of a female dystopia, written by a woman, where the takeaway is that any future can be a dystopia as long as the structures that we perceive to be problematic aren't entirely understood. Wow, what an amazing read. 

bugle's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.5

As a leftist nonbinary trans person, I was intrigued by the premise of this book but absolutely hated the execution. So many of the author’s decisions about the plot and behavior of the characters didn’t fit with how the world and people work today and simply weren’t supported by enough context for them to make sense in the story setting. The first third read like a horror novel, and I spent the last third just wanting it to be over already after realizing what the author’s angle was. I wish this had been written by someone else.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Child death, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Drug abuse, and Ableism

rachiedelia's review

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I devoured this book and enjoyed Korn’s writing style. It is a fresh take on the dystopian sci-fi genre that has gotten pretty popular. Only complaints are the dialogue was sometimes clunky and it felt like some ideas were over-explained rather than letting the reader come to their own conclusions. 

ohclaire's review

3.25

Compulsively readable but I often could not tell what was satire or not! The girlypop tone seemed at odds with the villainy disguised by a girlypop tone.

jackolanterns_in_august's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25