A review by harleyrae
The Book of Ivy by Amy Engel

3.0

3.5/5 StarsThis book surprised me. I went into thinking that this was just going to be another dystopian. Well I was both wrong and right, while the story seemed and felt like it was something I had already read, the way it was written made it seem almost new and exciting. I found the story to be very predictable, I was correctly able to guess most what was happened, and the overall story was lacking in background information. Nothing was very really told, and the same 5 things kept getting repeated over and over. I would have liked some more background information on the past, Ivy's father, Bishops father, and what exactly the entire feud between them is. If arranged marriages are there only issues then its time they looked some things over. I also wanna know more about life beyond the fence(though book two should help with that), but what makes it for frightening? Also if they don't like the way the society is being run how come we only here of 3 people opposing it? And those 3 people are all related to each other, so why don't we know about more people against how everything is run? You'd think we would hear about groups of people getting together planning on overthrowing the president. I feel like this book had such potential, but was lacking in many aspects that would allow this to be a really good book.
Even with all my issues with the book, I really enjoyed it. It was a super fun and face-paced read. It is one of those stories that pulls you in from page one and never wants to let you go. I liked Bishop as a character, he was a unique character to follow, though I wish we had gotten to learn more about him, I still have no idea what kind of work he does during the day. I liked Ivy, but she wasn't my favorite. She was too influenced by her father and sisters thinking, that she was unable to fulling think for herself.
All in all I enjoyed this book, and I am dying to get my hands on the second one to see what is all going to happen.