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meganmreads 's review for:
Silver Elite
by Dani Francis
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
I can see why people enjoyed this since it was fast paced and easy to binge.
I was enjoying it at first and then I blinked and realized I wasn’t reading an adult dystopian novel at all. When you start to think any thought for a minute, this book is just an empty shell of vibes wearing a dystopian jacket and lacing up its combat boots.
I have to be honest. I truly believe we as readers deserve better.
I am growing increasingly tired of falling for hype and reading mediocre books. This wasn’t a fleshed out story and plot with some spicy romance, it was vibes only masquerading as dystopian elements featuring adults acting like teens with impulsive actions and tons of lust.
Wren was reckless and all over the place. No one would allow her to be involved in any sort of rebel plot OR top secret command if they had any sense. Actually, who would put a random prisoner suspected of harboring a fugitive into a top secret command? If you’re using would-be-prisoner labor for the military, it would be for cannon-fodder types of positions, not ones with intel and clearances, so what the heck was up with that entire plot?
The book was predictable. Every reveal was obvious and I was frustrated waiting for Wren to care about anything other than herself long enough to notice. She was supposed to be smart and charismatic, but she didn’t make sense. And not just like oh she’s human and flawed… Sometimes I had to go back to see if I missed a chapter or zoned out because Wren felt like different people making wild decisions from one chapter to the next. There was a scene about embracing her scars (and also protecting her mark) and then all of a sudden in the next scene, she removed the scars, leaving her mark out in the open, for no reason at all. To prove what? To who? It was weird. And from that point, it was mass chaos because naturally it’s harder to cover a mark that indicates you’re modified. WTF was the point of her making some of her decisions other than to cause chaos???
She was supposed to be an operative for the uprising, but had no idea what her role was and what their plans were, yet seemed to argue that they wouldn’t hurt innocent people… as if she had any idea what their values were.
This book didn’t make any sense, honestly. I felt thrust into Wrens view of the world without any other world building and she quite clearly didn’t listen, pay attention to anything around her, or genuinely care about others. She didn’t seem to think too hard about why things happened or how she may played a role. She didn’t seem to dig deep into the issue when she tried to save Jim, but threw a fit like a child that the uprising wouldn’t save her after she impulsively did her own thing. She literally sent her best friend to a labor camp and only ever reached out when she needed something.
I think the next book will turn our idea of the world “upside down”and make the uprising seem not so great, especially after the scrambled egg brain thing, but it’s not very clever when it’s already clear that we are seeing everything through the wild view of Wren and she’s never trying to figure anything out other than her own desires and impulses.
I’m not trying to judge anyone for reading brain candy or coasting on vibes, but to prop this up as some sort of “finally we have an adult Hunger Games” like it has anything important to say is just frustrating.
I don’t hold it against anyone who enjoyed this book because it was easy to binge and adventurous, but it was not for me at all. I feel crazy lately for not enjoying these authors and books that people are raving about, but I just don’t understand what is happening with books lately.
Vibes and tropes should not be the reason or goal when books are written. Yes, they can be part of how they are marketed and part of why we enjoy them, but we should still be getting good stories and storytelling at the same time. We come for the enemies to lovers and stay for the story that resonates within us, the characters who come alive on the page, and the emotions the story stirs within us. Books like these are just empty vibes and we deserve better from the people writing, publishing, and marketing books.