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A review by catmom21
Qualify by Vera Nazarian
3.0
3.5 stars.
First, the writing seems very juvenile. Not that it's written for a younger audience, which it is and I can recognize - the writing just reads like the author wrote this in high school and it hasn't been polished. It annoyed me at first but once I got into the story it was easier to overlook.
This book is similar to the other post-apocalyptic series that have been so popular - Hunger games, Divergent, etc. This one is interesting because it involves space and aliens. Or rather, ancient humans that are now aliens from Atlantis. The bare bones for a great series are there - it's different and interesting and there's potential for great world building with the Atlanteans. Unfortunately the author spends a lot of time in this LONG book focusing on Gwen's teenage feelings. (Also, the word "teen" was very overused. Nobody who is a teen actually calls themselves a teen. But I digress). I though there were elements that should have been explored more in depth - like their culture and tech classes - and other things were a drag - like how much Gwen was SO AMAZED that Logan would even look at her. I get it, it's a young adult book, but at the same time there was a lot of potential that got wasted to focus on that aspect.
Additionally it's got a weird tone. It is about qualifying or dying, and people do actually die. But unlike in the Hunger Games, I just didn't feel the seriousness of their situation. It was a lot of telling rather than showing. Plus, the time spent on love interests made it seem more lighthearted than perhaps was intended.
Overall I got very engrossed in the story (which, honestly, isn't hard for me to do) and I will absolutely read the second one. It's not on my list of greatest-of-all-time series, but it's an interesting world at least, even if the plot has major holes, and I'm looking forward to the next one.
First, the writing seems very juvenile. Not that it's written for a younger audience, which it is and I can recognize - the writing just reads like the author wrote this in high school and it hasn't been polished. It annoyed me at first but once I got into the story it was easier to overlook.
This book is similar to the other post-apocalyptic series that have been so popular - Hunger games, Divergent, etc. This one is interesting because it involves space and aliens. Or rather, ancient humans that are now aliens from Atlantis. The bare bones for a great series are there - it's different and interesting and there's potential for great world building with the Atlanteans. Unfortunately the author spends a lot of time in this LONG book focusing on Gwen's teenage feelings. (Also, the word "teen" was very overused. Nobody who is a teen actually calls themselves a teen. But I digress). I though there were elements that should have been explored more in depth - like their culture and tech classes - and other things were a drag - like how much Gwen was SO AMAZED that Logan would even look at her. I get it, it's a young adult book, but at the same time there was a lot of potential that got wasted to focus on that aspect.
Additionally it's got a weird tone. It is about qualifying or dying, and people do actually die. But unlike in the Hunger Games, I just didn't feel the seriousness of their situation. It was a lot of telling rather than showing. Plus, the time spent on love interests made it seem more lighthearted than perhaps was intended.
Overall I got very engrossed in the story (which, honestly, isn't hard for me to do) and I will absolutely read the second one. It's not on my list of greatest-of-all-time series, but it's an interesting world at least, even if the plot has major holes, and I'm looking forward to the next one.