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freadomlibrary's review against another edition
3.0
Actual rating 3.5 stars
This review was originally posted at https://freadomlibrary.wordpress.com/
Critically
Plot – 4 out of 5 stars
It’s very regular, not too action packed or intense. It revolves around the relationship between the two main characters and their life in an estate. It’s very character driven but still lacks that thing that makes you addicted to a story.
Writing Style – 4 out of 5 stars
It’s very detailed and old fashioned. Very verbose, some paragraphs were a bit too long for my tastes. It was a medium pace and engaging as well as very descriptive. I enjoyed it but I wasn’t crazy over it and it didn’t make the story go faster.
Characters – 3.5 out of 5 stars
I did not like the characters as much as I was hoping to when I started this but considering this is character driven, that’s not good at all. Elliot, our main character and narrator, is smart and determined. She’s responsible and very protective of the people she loves. She’s really selfless and has given up a lot for the good of everyone else but I was still not completely convinced on her personality. I just didn’t connect with her that much. Kai, our male lead, was a bit better but not that much. Here’s really jaded, mysterious and misguided. As the story moves forward he’s curious and apologetic but he just rubbed me the wrong way most of the time. I wanted to connect with them and with their relationship more than I did considering that the whole story revolved around that.
Emotionally
The plot is more contemporary than dystopian. We follow two people who grew up together but come from two different social statuses. They were in love but they seperated and then years later, the man of the equation comes back new and improved and a bunch of angst happens. Tell me that doesn’t sound like a new adult contemporary and I won’t believe you. This was a lot more about the relationship that was than about their surroundings. The whole thing was contemporary with some dystopian decorations like the world building and a very specific plot point which were the only things remotely science fiction. The former was completely confusing (I still don’t really understand what happened in their world) and the latter was over exaggerated and was made into a bigger deal than it really needed to be. I don’t mind that it wasn’t what I expected but give me a warning. The cover made me think that it would be this epic dystopian science fiction love story and it was just a love story, one that I didn’t connect to that well. As for it being a retelling of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, I can’t really tell you if its good or not since I have not read it before.
Elliot was an okay character. She had really strong qualities. She was very determined to help out the people she was in charge of, she put their needs above her own and she was very smart and resourceful with how to do that. She had a lot of integrity but sometimes that would turn into stubbornness that would just not go away and it got incredibly annoying. It got old really fast.
Kai started off being rude, petulant and annoying and then kind of evolved into a mature man. But by that time, I just wanted to finish the story. I feel like I’m painting it off worse than it really was because I did enjoy it. It just wasn’t what I expected it to be.
This review was originally posted at https://freadomlibrary.wordpress.com/
Critically
Plot – 4 out of 5 stars
It’s very regular, not too action packed or intense. It revolves around the relationship between the two main characters and their life in an estate. It’s very character driven but still lacks that thing that makes you addicted to a story.
Writing Style – 4 out of 5 stars
It’s very detailed and old fashioned. Very verbose, some paragraphs were a bit too long for my tastes. It was a medium pace and engaging as well as very descriptive. I enjoyed it but I wasn’t crazy over it and it didn’t make the story go faster.
Characters – 3.5 out of 5 stars
I did not like the characters as much as I was hoping to when I started this but considering this is character driven, that’s not good at all. Elliot, our main character and narrator, is smart and determined. She’s responsible and very protective of the people she loves. She’s really selfless and has given up a lot for the good of everyone else but I was still not completely convinced on her personality. I just didn’t connect with her that much. Kai, our male lead, was a bit better but not that much. Here’s really jaded, mysterious and misguided. As the story moves forward he’s curious and apologetic but he just rubbed me the wrong way most of the time. I wanted to connect with them and with their relationship more than I did considering that the whole story revolved around that.
Emotionally
Spoiler
I was expecting to be more emotionally involved in this book but it didn’t actually worked out that way.The plot is more contemporary than dystopian. We follow two people who grew up together but come from two different social statuses. They were in love but they seperated and then years later, the man of the equation comes back new and improved and a bunch of angst happens. Tell me that doesn’t sound like a new adult contemporary and I won’t believe you. This was a lot more about the relationship that was than about their surroundings. The whole thing was contemporary with some dystopian decorations like the world building and a very specific plot point which were the only things remotely science fiction. The former was completely confusing (I still don’t really understand what happened in their world) and the latter was over exaggerated and was made into a bigger deal than it really needed to be. I don’t mind that it wasn’t what I expected but give me a warning. The cover made me think that it would be this epic dystopian science fiction love story and it was just a love story, one that I didn’t connect to that well. As for it being a retelling of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, I can’t really tell you if its good or not since I have not read it before.
Elliot was an okay character. She had really strong qualities. She was very determined to help out the people she was in charge of, she put their needs above her own and she was very smart and resourceful with how to do that. She had a lot of integrity but sometimes that would turn into stubbornness that would just not go away and it got incredibly annoying. It got old really fast.
Kai started off being rude, petulant and annoying and then kind of evolved into a mature man. But by that time, I just wanted to finish the story. I feel like I’m painting it off worse than it really was because I did enjoy it. It just wasn’t what I expected it to be.
renuked's review against another edition
5.0
I love this book so much. I blew off all of my summer homework and finished it in hours. I'm a terrible person but I couldn't tear myself away from this book. I can't even express how much I loved the characters and well pretty much everything that happened.
mollywetta's review against another edition
4.0
you can also read the full review here: http://wrappedupinbooks.org
To be fair, this book seems to have been written with someone like me as it’s target audience. I didn’t read much young adult literature when I actually was a young adult, but I read all of Jane Austen during high school. Now that I read (and enjoy) YA, my taste tends to favor science fiction and fantasy, so this hit two of my sweet spots as a reader.
I loved it.
Maybe it has something to do with the protagonist’s name: Elliot. She’s named after her grandfather, and it’s deliberately meant to be a boy’s name. My favorite Nancy Drew character was her friend George. I like gender-neutral names, and love gender-defying names.
But no, it isn’t just her name. Elliot is everything Ann is in Persuasion: endearing, dedicated, true. She doesn’t deny her emotions, she just realizes their is more to the world than her own feelings. As the main character, she was certainly the most developed, and I genuinely liked her.
As far as science fiction goes, this is definitely what I’d call “sci-fi lite”. There’s not a lot of development of the “how” of the world—it’s clear that genetic manipulation is what contributed to the demise of a good portion of the population, but there’s no hard science. It’s not the details that the story relies on, however; the idea suffices. The slow way the past is revealed allowed it to serve as a background to the romance.
And the romance is what you read it for. Though the story is set in the future, the old-fashioned ideas of class and courtship play out in excruciatingly delightful way. Will the Elliot and Kai get together, like they most certainly would if it was truly a Jane Austen novel? I was on the edge of my seat waiting to find out.
In young adult literature, the romance is often a tale of boy meets girl. There is instant attraction, then they battle their family/evil overlords/zombies/etc. together, so it was refreshing to read a story that starts years after the protagonists fell in love. Rather than sacrificing the tension, this configuration magnified it exponentially. Though we don’t get so much as a kiss between Malakai and Elliot, the tension and angst surely don’t suffer.
I recommend this book for those who like their YA romance with a side of dystopia and a sprinkling of sci-fi.
To be fair, this book seems to have been written with someone like me as it’s target audience. I didn’t read much young adult literature when I actually was a young adult, but I read all of Jane Austen during high school. Now that I read (and enjoy) YA, my taste tends to favor science fiction and fantasy, so this hit two of my sweet spots as a reader.
I loved it.
Maybe it has something to do with the protagonist’s name: Elliot. She’s named after her grandfather, and it’s deliberately meant to be a boy’s name. My favorite Nancy Drew character was her friend George. I like gender-neutral names, and love gender-defying names.
But no, it isn’t just her name. Elliot is everything Ann is in Persuasion: endearing, dedicated, true. She doesn’t deny her emotions, she just realizes their is more to the world than her own feelings. As the main character, she was certainly the most developed, and I genuinely liked her.
As far as science fiction goes, this is definitely what I’d call “sci-fi lite”. There’s not a lot of development of the “how” of the world—it’s clear that genetic manipulation is what contributed to the demise of a good portion of the population, but there’s no hard science. It’s not the details that the story relies on, however; the idea suffices. The slow way the past is revealed allowed it to serve as a background to the romance.
And the romance is what you read it for. Though the story is set in the future, the old-fashioned ideas of class and courtship play out in excruciatingly delightful way. Will the Elliot and Kai get together, like they most certainly would if it was truly a Jane Austen novel? I was on the edge of my seat waiting to find out.
In young adult literature, the romance is often a tale of boy meets girl. There is instant attraction, then they battle their family/evil overlords/zombies/etc. together, so it was refreshing to read a story that starts years after the protagonists fell in love. Rather than sacrificing the tension, this configuration magnified it exponentially. Though we don’t get so much as a kiss between Malakai and Elliot, the tension and angst surely don’t suffer.
I recommend this book for those who like their YA romance with a side of dystopia and a sprinkling of sci-fi.
aradhnak's review against another edition
5.0
This was one of the best love stories I have read in a while, god, it’s got the magic of These Broken Stars and This Shattered World but also the old-school romance of Pride And Prejudice which makes sense since it’s based on Persuasion and just - guys this is perfection.
storiesandstardust's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
carrymey's review against another edition
4.0
Let's say 3.5. It took me around 150 pages to get into the world building. At first it was hard to read but then I couldn't stop.
I loved all the angst in this. Kai being mean, Elliot suffering, misunderstandings. Exquisite.
The end however felt a bit rushed and I'm sad we didn't get to read the Letter.
I loved all the angst in this. Kai being mean, Elliot suffering, misunderstandings. Exquisite.
The end however felt a bit rushed and I'm sad we didn't get to read the Letter.
nikipez's review against another edition
5.0
Omg I loved this book! It had it's perfect moments tragic one oh! I always knew kai was just being with Olivia to make Eliot jealous I'm 100% happy with the ending
jackiehorne's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 I'm the precise audience for this book: a Jane Austen lover and a dystopian fantasy lover. The two together make for strange bedfellows, but it wasn't this that kept me from loving the book. Rather, the strong potential of the book's concept was rarely matched by excellence in execution. Main characters are rather flat, the love story didn't engage my emotions until about 3/4 of the way in, and the philosophical questions that the post-apocalyptic world raises are never resolved in any meaningful way. Most of all, the narrative spends too much time telling and not enough showing, particularly in regards the relationship between the parted lovers. The ending rings especially false. Disappointing.