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A review by baileynd
Free to Fall by Lauren Miller
3.0
First of all, I'd like to say that the cover and the title don't do this book justice. They make it seem like this is just a romance novel posing as a YA dystopian, and while there is the tiniest bit of truth in that, it still doesn't encapsulate all that this contains.
I was caught off guard by this book right from the start, mainly because I only knew the very general premise of an app that basically dictated people's lives. When I read the first couple of pages, I honestly felt like it was Gilmore Girls in book form. In fact, it would be practically impossible to make me believe that the start of this book was inspired by anything else. A really intelligent teenage girl gets accepted to a highly elite private high school—that's the exact premise of the pilot of Gilmore Girls. This made me both dread and anticipate the book. Anticipate because Gilmore Girls, and dread because it was already showing a lack of originality.
The latter was rectified in a plot that was relatively unpredictable, but the similarities to Gilmore Girls did not by any means end with the beginning. I'm not going to go into much more detail for fear of becoming repetitive, but originality was definitely an issue with this book.
The romance was also a downside to the book as it felt rushed and contrived. Rory had spent maybe an hour or two with North before she began to feel butterflies in her stomach every time she saw him. It just wasn't convincing, and neither was Rory's dismissal of Lux.
She starts off relying on the app for everything, but all of the sudden, a boy says that he thinks it's a bad thing and she completely changes her mind. It just seems unrealistic to me that she would let go so easily. I know that she does struggle with "the Doubt," but I feel as if there should have been a stronger urge for her to hold onto Lux since she had been using it for so long. Perhaps this wouldn't have been as big of an issue had Beck not been in the book. He rejected Lux since he was born, and yet his objection to it has little to no effect on Rory's opinions. It just doesn't make sense.
Now, none of that is to say that I gave it pity stars. This was, in fact, a highly enjoyable book that was rather difficult to put down at times. I have to admit that I didn't see many of the twists coming. The only reason I predicted the big evil plan of Gnosis was because it was similar to that of the villain in the Kingsman movie (again with the lack of originality).
This review is predominantly critically; I am fully aware of that. However, I have to say that it's more because the book as a whole was good, but it wasn't great. It's far easier for me to pick out the flaws than the highlights when there wasn't anything truly extraordinary in it.
I will give credit where credit is due and say that Lauren Miller did a good job in writing an entertaining book. I'm usually not one for stand alones, but I did really like this book. She also did a good job at making a statement about today's society with implications of how the world could develop if we don't learn to put the electronics down from time to time.
Was it my favorite book? No, but I would say that this—despite its imperfections—is definitely worth a read.
I was caught off guard by this book right from the start, mainly because I only knew the very general premise of an app that basically dictated people's lives. When I read the first couple of pages, I honestly felt like it was Gilmore Girls in book form. In fact, it would be practically impossible to make me believe that the start of this book was inspired by anything else. A really intelligent teenage girl gets accepted to a highly elite private high school—that's the exact premise of the pilot of Gilmore Girls. This made me both dread and anticipate the book. Anticipate because Gilmore Girls, and dread because it was already showing a lack of originality.
The latter was rectified in a plot that was relatively unpredictable, but the similarities to Gilmore Girls did not by any means end with the beginning. I'm not going to go into much more detail for fear of becoming repetitive, but originality was definitely an issue with this book.
The romance was also a downside to the book as it felt rushed and contrived. Rory had spent maybe an hour or two with North before she began to feel butterflies in her stomach every time she saw him. It just wasn't convincing, and neither was Rory's dismissal of Lux.
She starts off relying on the app for everything, but all of the sudden, a boy says that he thinks it's a bad thing and she completely changes her mind. It just seems unrealistic to me that she would let go so easily. I know that she does struggle with "the Doubt," but I feel as if there should have been a stronger urge for her to hold onto Lux since she had been using it for so long. Perhaps this wouldn't have been as big of an issue had Beck not been in the book. He rejected Lux since he was born, and yet his objection to it has little to no effect on Rory's opinions. It just doesn't make sense.
Now, none of that is to say that I gave it pity stars. This was, in fact, a highly enjoyable book that was rather difficult to put down at times. I have to admit that I didn't see many of the twists coming. The only reason I predicted the big evil plan of Gnosis was because it was similar to that of the villain in the Kingsman movie (again with the lack of originality).
This review is predominantly critically; I am fully aware of that. However, I have to say that it's more because the book as a whole was good, but it wasn't great. It's far easier for me to pick out the flaws than the highlights when there wasn't anything truly extraordinary in it.
I will give credit where credit is due and say that Lauren Miller did a good job in writing an entertaining book. I'm usually not one for stand alones, but I did really like this book. She also did a good job at making a statement about today's society with implications of how the world could develop if we don't learn to put the electronics down from time to time.
Was it my favorite book? No, but I would say that this—despite its imperfections—is definitely worth a read.