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3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
Fun
This is a quick read with a fun and energetic story line. I've seen it adverted all over book face, and happy I caved.
This is a quick read with a fun and energetic story line. I've seen it adverted all over book face, and happy I caved.
Alright
This was an ok story. Daft in places, exciting in a few. Mostly boringly obvious though. Whilst the female lead might be "hard" she's also a bit of an idiot. It didn't make me care abour her in any way. Won't bother with the next one.
This was an ok story. Daft in places, exciting in a few. Mostly boringly obvious though. Whilst the female lead might be "hard" she's also a bit of an idiot. It didn't make me care abour her in any way. Won't bother with the next one.
Real Rating: 3.5 but I felt there was enough good about this book to round up.
I was pretty skeptical going into this book for a number of reasons. There are a lot of bad reviews here on good reads. Dystopian novels tend to be a risk these days. And worst of all, it's an Amazon exclusive novel. From my own experience, the quality of these novels are usually lackluster. Despite this, it's read by a narrator that I actually like so I decided to give it a shot.
It was a lot better than I expected. Was it perfect? Not by any means. Worth a read? I certainly think so.
There were a few things I disliked about the book. I found the pace to be pretty slow to start as she built up her world. After you get through it, however, things do improve. I often felt annoyed by the main character because she was doing stupid and irrational things. You're on a secret assignment! Act like it. I also had trouble picturing a character because of the conflicting description of him and as one of the main characters this was quite annoying.
Something about this novel that was a mix of good and bad was that in ways it was kind of predictable. I saw several of the big twists coming BUT they played out better than I had anticipated. I actually liked what she did with it and how she used these twists to steer the book forward.
There were actually a number of things that I did enjoy about this novel. I really liked the originality of the universe and the plot. These days it can be hard to think up a world that someone hasn't already dabbled around in yet. As stated before, I liked the twists and where the plot came to in the end. I think my favorite thing was that even though this was a dystopian novel, the characters were adults which is something I don't see very often. Usually, it's teens on the cusp of adulthood.
In a few of the reviews, I read that people found this author's writing style to be childish. I don't understand what they're coming from. Aside from the reuse of a few words too frequently I found that the writing style flowed well. I thought it was well written. I liked that it wasn't chalked to the point of unbearability with flowery prose as some authors go for. I wouldn't make any claim that Bella Forrest is the greatest writer of all time but I do think she's talented.
If you're a fan of dystopian settings I think this could be worth the read for you. I'm planning to finish the series, as I've now purchased all of the novels. Hopefully, the following novels enhance the series rather than drag them down. Check out my other reviews if you're curious to see if those too are worth the read.
I was pretty skeptical going into this book for a number of reasons. There are a lot of bad reviews here on good reads. Dystopian novels tend to be a risk these days. And worst of all, it's an Amazon exclusive novel. From my own experience, the quality of these novels are usually lackluster. Despite this, it's read by a narrator that I actually like so I decided to give it a shot.
It was a lot better than I expected. Was it perfect? Not by any means. Worth a read? I certainly think so.
There were a few things I disliked about the book. I found the pace to be pretty slow to start as she built up her world. After you get through it, however, things do improve. I often felt annoyed by the main character because she was doing stupid and irrational things. You're on a secret assignment! Act like it. I also had trouble picturing a character because of the conflicting description of him and as one of the main characters this was quite annoying.
Something about this novel that was a mix of good and bad was that in ways it was kind of predictable. I saw several of the big twists coming BUT they played out better than I had anticipated. I actually liked what she did with it and how she used these twists to steer the book forward.
There were actually a number of things that I did enjoy about this novel. I really liked the originality of the universe and the plot. These days it can be hard to think up a world that someone hasn't already dabbled around in yet. As stated before, I liked the twists and where the plot came to in the end. I think my favorite thing was that even though this was a dystopian novel, the characters were adults which is something I don't see very often. Usually, it's teens on the cusp of adulthood.
In a few of the reviews, I read that people found this author's writing style to be childish. I don't understand what they're coming from. Aside from the reuse of a few words too frequently I found that the writing style flowed well. I thought it was well written. I liked that it wasn't chalked to the point of unbearability with flowery prose as some authors go for. I wouldn't make any claim that Bella Forrest is the greatest writer of all time but I do think she's talented.
If you're a fan of dystopian settings I think this could be worth the read for you. I'm planning to finish the series, as I've now purchased all of the novels. Hopefully, the following novels enhance the series rather than drag them down. Check out my other reviews if you're curious to see if those too are worth the read.
It was ok. I think I just wanted more. It was lacking something. I will read the second book to see if it picks up.
This book started out with so much promise that it makes me sad to write this review and it's part of why I've put it off so incredibly long. The female-male divide of this worlds and how it works was wonderful. The love affair was just annoying. The main character spends a lot of time talking about knowing things she has no possiblity of know. But worst of all?
There's are two points where the author breaks all realism. When the main character has been burned on the inside of arm with a glowing poker and manages to fight a battle even using that arm, without complaint about the pain all the way through, and when a character's hand (or fingers) have been broken but she manages to still fight off an opponent and get a vehicle under control all before remembering her fingers are broken.
Sorry. That's too much breaking the realism box. I won't be continuing this series.
There's are two points where the author breaks all realism. When the main character has been burned on the inside of arm with a glowing poker and manages to fight a battle even using that arm, without complaint about the pain all the way through, and when a character's hand (or fingers) have been broken but she manages to still fight off an opponent and get a vehicle under control all before remembering her fingers are broken.
Sorry. That's too much breaking the realism box. I won't be continuing this series.
3.5/5. While I thought the premise was interesting, I couldn't connect to the characters as much as I wanted to. Some of the writing including the fight scenes and romantic scenes seemed a bit awkward at times. Still, it held my attention enough to want to know how it ended!
Got this from a library Rec list but it was bad. All the characters were flat as cardboard and the plot was almost nonsensical.
The story had potential, but the best word I can use to describe the book is “underdeveloped.” It would take at least twice the amount of writing to adequately develop the story in a believable way, in my opinion.
If someone else wrote a similar plot with more depth, I would read it. Like I said, it really has potential. As The Gender Game stands, though, I won’t be reading any more of the series or this first book again.
If someone else wrote a similar plot with more depth, I would read it. Like I said, it really has potential. As The Gender Game stands, though, I won’t be reading any more of the series or this first book again.
Not the best series, but entertaining with an interesting premise. Character development is weak and when you switch to alternating between two narrators, they often have the same voice despite being very different people in the first book. They start to meld together more and more as the series goes on, and I'd often have to skim backwards to confirm who was speaking.
Overall - an entertaining binge read for those who like dystopian novels, the Hunger Games, and young adult romance without real relationship drama.
Overall - an entertaining binge read for those who like dystopian novels, the Hunger Games, and young adult romance without real relationship drama.