A review by sophilozophy
Possession by Elana Johnson

1.0

The world this book is set in is split into two different societies. The Goodgrounds (Goodies) and the Badlands (Baddies). The Goodies are controlled by Thinkers (also called Greenies) through the daily transmissions they listen to and are the people who decide what their jobs will be as well as who they'll be matched with. There is a rule for everything from public displays of affection, even something as innocent as a father holding his daughter's hand, to being an individual and standing out.

Vi gets imprisoned and thrown into a cell with a guy named Jag. One of the reasons she's imprisoned is because she was alone with a boy, so I found it strange that the people who enforce the rules put them in a small cell together. The security was very lax for a prison. I've been to a actually prison, not in prison, just to one (I think my school was trying to scare us into never doing anything to end up there). Every door you walk through is opened with a key and automatically locks before you're able to open the next door, so the way they escape was very unrealistic to me. I knew they would, but not how easy it would be, especially in a futuristic world with so much technology.

There is an instant attraction for Vi to Jag, despite proclaiming her love a couple hours earlier to Zenn, her best friend and match. Her relationship with Jag, which I didn't think was built on anything substantial kept changing. They're in love one minute, can't trust each other the next, can't be without the other, then they don't want anything to do with the other – it was too confusing. There was no real context why Vi stopped listening to her transmission and is now rebelling. I kept thinking, wouldn't the transmission have a message telling the listeners to continuing listening?

No matter how much I wanted to, I just couldn't get into the story and connect with any of the characters. There were too many holes in the plot. I kept flipping back to see if I'd missed something and realizing I didn't – it just wasn't there.

There were repeated statements like, a good person can't be bad and there is no darkness in light, which I just don't agree with. Someone good can do bad things and aren't shadows the darkness that can only exist in light?

I really wanted to love Possession since I adore the cover and had been anticipating it since I first came across it. It ends with a cliffhanger, but since the next book is a companion set in the same world and told by two different narrators, we might be left hanging.