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A review by samantha_89
XVI by Julia Karr
3.0
This was one of this books I heard about before it was published, promptly forgot about then remembered again when I saw it out of the corner of my eye at the book store. XVI is an edgy dystopian novel with a cool title, all things I love. While I wasn't crazy about the book I didn't hate it and I didn't love it either. I still added the next book to my TBR list. Yes, there's a sequel. It's YA, of course there's a sequel.
XVI's dystopian future involves teens (only girls, I believe) getting tattooed at sixteen to show that they are the of the legal age to have sex. This seems to be a world where women have very little say in their sex life or their reproduction, however this wasn't discussed as much as I thought that it could have been. The equality in the world has changed very dramatically and a lot could have been said about it, but Karr never mentioned much of anything. She certainly didn't say why women lost their right to say no. I know that they why isn't always important in a dystopian novel, but Nina has some serious issues with her lack of ability to consent to sex and the why seemed important, at least to me.
XVI also uses a lot of futuristic jargon or slang. I love slang, I really really do, but when using slang in a book about the future you need to be careful of two things. First off, that the slang doesn't have any connotations with today's language and secondly, that the reader understands what the word means. Using the term "tranny" or "trannies" for transportation isn't okay and I'm wondering how an editor let that slide. Using the phrase "Did you kiss a tranny" to ask if someone got hit by a car makes it a lot worse. There were also terms that I didn't always understand or that weren't used consistently. Skivs was used, and it seemed to be a replacement for the word "god" but it also seemed to be a group of people like criminals. "DZ" was used for dead zone (no signal on the cell phones), but had to be explained to some people then not to others. Consistency in the book was lacking, at one point it's mentioned that Nina's birthday was in two weeks... then a month goes by until her birthday. Overall the book had a cheap feel to it because of the poor choice in slang and inconsistencies in the time line.
I also had issues with Nina and her friends. I couldn't understand why they wanted to be her friends when she never treats them very well. From the beginning of the book she starts off very agitated with them, just showing them actually having a good time and actually having Nina want to be around them really would have helped them out.
Despite these things, I still thought about the book after I set it down. The romance of the book wasn't original but it was compelling and effective. Sal sometimes got on my nerves playing the typical YA Lit guy, but the scenes between Sal and Nina still sent tingles to my toes.
Certain passages regarding Nina's concerns about sex, consent and desire were very well written and stood out from the rest of the novel. Nina's thoughts about whether she was ready to have sex are very valid, whether in her dystopian world or in ours. Teens curious about sex or in that limbo of ready and not will certainly find some companionship in Nina's concerns.
Overall, I think the book deserved a better editor. It's edgy and dystopian and could have received a lot more attention than it has received. On the plus side, this means the sequel probably won't come out in hard back first.
XVI's dystopian future involves teens (only girls, I believe) getting tattooed at sixteen to show that they are the of the legal age to have sex. This seems to be a world where women have very little say in their sex life or their reproduction, however this wasn't discussed as much as I thought that it could have been. The equality in the world has changed very dramatically and a lot could have been said about it, but Karr never mentioned much of anything. She certainly didn't say why women lost their right to say no. I know that they why isn't always important in a dystopian novel, but Nina has some serious issues with her lack of ability to consent to sex and the why seemed important, at least to me.
XVI also uses a lot of futuristic jargon or slang. I love slang, I really really do, but when using slang in a book about the future you need to be careful of two things. First off, that the slang doesn't have any connotations with today's language and secondly, that the reader understands what the word means. Using the term "tranny" or "trannies" for transportation isn't okay and I'm wondering how an editor let that slide. Using the phrase "Did you kiss a tranny" to ask if someone got hit by a car makes it a lot worse. There were also terms that I didn't always understand or that weren't used consistently. Skivs was used, and it seemed to be a replacement for the word "god" but it also seemed to be a group of people like criminals. "DZ" was used for dead zone (no signal on the cell phones), but had to be explained to some people then not to others. Consistency in the book was lacking, at one point it's mentioned that Nina's birthday was in two weeks... then a month goes by until her birthday. Overall the book had a cheap feel to it because of the poor choice in slang and inconsistencies in the time line.
I also had issues with Nina and her friends. I couldn't understand why they wanted to be her friends when she never treats them very well. From the beginning of the book she starts off very agitated with them, just showing them actually having a good time and actually having Nina want to be around them really would have helped them out.
Spoiler
Having Nina say one good thing about Sandy and why she hung out with her would have made her death more heart wrenching, instead I didn't care.Despite these things, I still thought about the book after I set it down. The romance of the book wasn't original but it was compelling and effective. Sal sometimes got on my nerves playing the typical YA Lit guy, but the scenes between Sal and Nina still sent tingles to my toes.
Certain passages regarding Nina's concerns about sex, consent and desire were very well written and stood out from the rest of the novel. Nina's thoughts about whether she was ready to have sex are very valid, whether in her dystopian world or in ours. Teens curious about sex or in that limbo of ready and not will certainly find some companionship in Nina's concerns.
Overall, I think the book deserved a better editor. It's edgy and dystopian and could have received a lot more attention than it has received. On the plus side, this means the sequel probably won't come out in hard back first.