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flonadiose's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Although I appreciate a pretty simple story of romance and action, I can tell this book was the author’s debut novel. Many times, the first person pov felt too descriptive to the point where it felt like repetition. The romance between the two main characters happened too fast, leaving no room for them to understand each other. Additionally, the plot was very fast, where at the end, I asked: That’s it? But the story overall kept me entertained, and it made me curious more about the rebellion.
emohan's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
The hype this budget is 100% worth it. My only regret is not reading it sooner. I really enjoyed the storyline as well as the relationship that develops between Day and June. I think Marie Lu does a really great job of developing these characters and creating a storyline that makes sense. This is a really great dystopian novel, and I have not read one like this in a long time. The concept of these characters is very well developed and I can’t wait to learn more about this world. Not to say a death for a death is the best way to resolve a situation, but I think the fact that the author decided to kill June‘s brother and Day’s mother was a proper creative choice. I feel as if a lot of the time with characters like these they end up resenting one another , when the alternative ends up killing someone the other deeply cares about. While Day’s brother, John, did die, it was a sacrifice in Day’s place, and as a result, Day does not think that this is June’s fault. This allows for the relationship between these characters to progress as well as the storyline to progress in an efficient manner. Usually when a storyline like this occurs, the two characters resent each other as a result of the death of those characters. This is a refreshing storyline.
luluandlit's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
baltimorelibrarian's review against another edition
2.0
This was an entertaining book, and I always enjoy the thought exercise that an alternative history book brings. But overall I found the world-building unoriginal. The plot and characters were nothing I haven't read before. Will I read the other books in the series? Probably.
phoebe_the_titan_of_prophecy's review against another edition
4.0
i likes this book a lot better than other ya dystopias. the different colored fonts confused me a bit though.
my only problem is HOW IS A FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLD BOY THE MOST DANGEROUS FUGITIVE?! there has to be some serial killers out there. also, how come day and june just fall i love like that.
all in all my favorite parts were when June was tracking down day and they had not fallen in love yet.
my only problem is HOW IS A FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLD BOY THE MOST DANGEROUS FUGITIVE?! there has to be some serial killers out there. also, how come day and june just fall i love like that.
all in all my favorite parts were when June was tracking down day and they had not fallen in love yet.
smart_girls_love_trashy_books's review against another edition
2.0
-POTENTIAL SPOILERS-
Remember how last year I used to make a reputation for myself as hating on a bunch of really popular releases? And how this year, I'm really skimping on that because for whatever reason, I've been reading a lot of super good books this year?
I am happy to present a negative review of a popular book! It feels so good to be back!
Okay, so there were some good things I liked about this book. I did like the idea of it, and how it was modeled after Les Miserables...even though it borrowed from the plot of Les Mis I hate the most. I liked how the characters were diverse, which was fairly unheard of in YA lit when this book was written.
Now for the negatives. The main reason why I hated this book was because it felt very....lifeless. There was so much potential for description, for emotion, for character development...and there really wasn't. I didn't really connect to the characters, I didn't feel anything for them.
The plotline seemed very 'point-and-click'-ish. The characters needed to say this, they said that. They needed to go somewhere, they went there. It was too fast-paced for me to really get invested in what was going on, hence why I finished it so quickly.
Like when June has to pretend to be a street-child to get closer to Day. One of my most favorite tropes is someone rich disguising themselves as a poor person and being unaccustomed to that life and thus they make a ton of mistakes. It's really funny to me. But here, she doesn't do any of that. She doesn't stick out, yet we're still supposed to believe she's uncomfortable in such a situation.
I also didn't believe her and Day's relationship. They're both smart, quick on their feet, and observant...they were way too similar. Call me cliche, but I like couples who are the total opposite of each other. At least it makes more sense than when they're super similar.
Plus June analyzed every little thing around her. It was a bit....weird. And she hates dresses because of course she does.
The politics nor government were really explained. I know it's just a first book in a trilogy, as well as her debut, but she still could've woven a little something in there. Like it's revealed the government is purposely infecting people with the plague. Well, alright, but why? What do they have to gain from doing it?
The huge plot twist about who killed June's brother I saw coming from a mile away, yet it was supposed to be a huge surprise.
I did like the aesthetic layout of the book though. The part titles, plus all the gold text and inverted letters...I don't know, it just felt very..stylistic and it fit the book. I hope the other two follow this pattern. Plus I was picturing June and Day as being extremely attractive, so there's also that.
Overall....a wonderful concept and good character ideas, but they were never given proper time to flourish, and the result is a dull, lifeless story with generic characters whose only redeeming factors are their diversity.
Remember how last year I used to make a reputation for myself as hating on a bunch of really popular releases? And how this year, I'm really skimping on that because for whatever reason, I've been reading a lot of super good books this year?
I am happy to present a negative review of a popular book! It feels so good to be back!
Okay, so there were some good things I liked about this book. I did like the idea of it, and how it was modeled after Les Miserables...even though it borrowed from the plot of Les Mis I hate the most. I liked how the characters were diverse, which was fairly unheard of in YA lit when this book was written.
Now for the negatives. The main reason why I hated this book was because it felt very....lifeless. There was so much potential for description, for emotion, for character development...and there really wasn't. I didn't really connect to the characters, I didn't feel anything for them.
The plotline seemed very 'point-and-click'-ish. The characters needed to say this, they said that. They needed to go somewhere, they went there. It was too fast-paced for me to really get invested in what was going on, hence why I finished it so quickly.
Like when June has to pretend to be a street-child to get closer to Day. One of my most favorite tropes is someone rich disguising themselves as a poor person and being unaccustomed to that life and thus they make a ton of mistakes. It's really funny to me. But here, she doesn't do any of that. She doesn't stick out, yet we're still supposed to believe she's uncomfortable in such a situation.
I also didn't believe her and Day's relationship. They're both smart, quick on their feet, and observant...they were way too similar. Call me cliche, but I like couples who are the total opposite of each other. At least it makes more sense than when they're super similar.
Plus June analyzed every little thing around her. It was a bit....weird. And she hates dresses because of course she does.
The politics nor government were really explained. I know it's just a first book in a trilogy, as well as her debut, but she still could've woven a little something in there. Like it's revealed the government is purposely infecting people with the plague. Well, alright, but why? What do they have to gain from doing it?
The huge plot twist about who killed June's brother I saw coming from a mile away, yet it was supposed to be a huge surprise.
I did like the aesthetic layout of the book though. The part titles, plus all the gold text and inverted letters...I don't know, it just felt very..stylistic and it fit the book. I hope the other two follow this pattern. Plus I was picturing June and Day as being extremely attractive, so there's also that.
Overall....a wonderful concept and good character ideas, but they were never given proper time to flourish, and the result is a dull, lifeless story with generic characters whose only redeeming factors are their diversity.
penny22222's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
jojowashere's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
It is written like a middle-grade book but with violence and romance. Not very original, every idea you've seen before. It's a typical dystopian romance, which I found very average, but I believe some people could really love it.
birva's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Good plot its what you would imagine as any dystopian - oppressive regime, plague virus infecting the world, division of the classes because of that it was very predictable and weren't really any surprises.
I wish the characters weren't 15 though I don't know they feel too young to me and it just didn't seem very believable Ifeel like 17/18 is a good age for stories like these ones.
I hope that there is some more surprise plot twists coming in the next few books and it doesn'tsimply continue to follow every other novels similar to this one.
I wish the characters weren't 15 though I don't know they feel too young to me and it just didn't seem very believable Ifeel like 17/18 is a good age for stories like these ones.
I hope that there is some more surprise plot twists coming in the next few books and it doesn'tsimply continue to follow every other novels similar to this one.
reader4evr's review against another edition
3.0
WOW, that took me forever to listen too and it is really not that long of a book. It is very fast past and keeps the story line moving.
This is the perfect book for those that have read the Hunger Games series and want something similar. This is probably the closest that I have read that I would recommend.
I liked how the book was set up having the 2 main character which are completely opposite of each other but are alike at the same time. Both were unique and I really liked both of them. With having both a girl and boy main character, I think this book to appeal to a very broad range of teens.
With all of the different interpretations of how the United States is going to be in the "future", I'm kind of scared lol.
The only thing that I didn't like about this book was the ending. I wanted a big shocker and something crazy to happen, more of a cliffhanger I guess.
This is the perfect book for those that have read the Hunger Games series and want something similar. This is probably the closest that I have read that I would recommend.
I liked how the book was set up having the 2 main character which are completely opposite of each other but are alike at the same time. Both were unique and I really liked both of them. With having both a girl and boy main character, I think this book to appeal to a very broad range of teens.
With all of the different interpretations of how the United States is going to be in the "future", I'm kind of scared lol.
The only thing that I didn't like about this book was the ending. I wanted a big shocker and something crazy to happen, more of a cliffhanger I guess.