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A review by hannahsophialin
The Body Electric by Beth Revis
3.0
It's not my first time reading Beth Revis' works, even though I've technically abandoned her other series subconsciously after I started blogging. I had other books to read, and obviously my "ratings" before blogging were screwed since every – almost (of course there were books that I hated) – book was "fantastic." Across the Universe was a great futuristic read and had a fantastic idea, so when I signed up for The Body Electric's blog tour to review, I knew full well that Revis wouldn't likely let me down with a sucky idea that would utterly disappoint me in the long run.
Revis certainly didn't let me down with the idea behind her latest book – The Body Electric is set in the Mediterranean country of Malta in the far future, where nanobots and cyborgs, reveries and dreamscapes are the norm. Ella Shepherd, the daughter of two well-known scientists in this futuristic world booming with technology and science, finds out that not only can she enter into another person's mind while in a reverie, but she soon finds out that she's missing pieces of her past.
The Body Electric starts out the book with a nightmare of Ella's in the first chapter, and then we are introduced to the world, its history, and some of Ella's family history as well, though all three are brief and the complete details are filled in throughout the book.
It's very clear and interesting for a good part of the book – it's not until about 60% that I feel as though my attention is being strayed. I'm interested in reading the most recent books I got from the library (Gamer Girl by Mari Mancusi and Pawn by Aimee Carter at the time). I'm interested in other books that were on my winter break reading pile. Merely speaking, I was not interested in The Body Electric anymore, and I was on the hunt for reasons aplenty on why I would DNF this book (typically I'm on the hunt for those reasons since page 1, but it's bad when that's all I'm looking for. Basically, the book's doomed).
Luckily I didn't have many at the time time. As the book continued on and my thoughts were beginning to wander elsewhere... but let's face it: at this point, my attention hasn't strayed far yet because most of my attention is still toward The Body Electric – because I'm a weird person who can literally zone partially out of American History class and still ace the final.
Oh, and I came all the way past 50% – I would feel a little guilty making it all this way and then throwing it off to the side when the book managed to hold my attention for that long. If I want to DNF a book, it's done quite early – definitely before 50% (No, I don't feel guilty). But back to how the book continued.
The bees – no matter how symbolic they were – were beginning to become annoying. And as the book marched on to the end as Ella and Jack try to escape the malicious clutches of the government, the bees' (almost) constant appearance made the book confusing. And I mean very confusing. The reveries began to become confusing, as Ella tried to separate fact from fiction. Revis may have done it on purpose so us readers could get a very realistic feel of how very confused Ella is by this point of the book, but I hate it when I'm confused, even though everything makes sense by the time Ella makes sense of everything. As I mentioned just moments ago, done on purpose for a realistic feel.
But I'm still a little confused at the ending (it's quite weird, and I'm sure it makes sense, but I'm not going to bother turning it around in my head), despite Revis' extraordinary idea behind The Body Electric.
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Review copy provided by the publisher for the blog tour
Original Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Review originally posted at Bookwyrming Thoughts
Revis certainly didn't let me down with the idea behind her latest book – The Body Electric is set in the Mediterranean country of Malta in the far future, where nanobots and cyborgs, reveries and dreamscapes are the norm. Ella Shepherd, the daughter of two well-known scientists in this futuristic world booming with technology and science, finds out that not only can she enter into another person's mind while in a reverie, but she soon finds out that she's missing pieces of her past.
The Body Electric starts out the book with a nightmare of Ella's in the first chapter, and then we are introduced to the world, its history, and some of Ella's family history as well, though all three are brief and the complete details are filled in throughout the book.
It's very clear and interesting for a good part of the book – it's not until about 60% that I feel as though my attention is being strayed. I'm interested in reading the most recent books I got from the library (Gamer Girl by Mari Mancusi and Pawn by Aimee Carter at the time). I'm interested in other books that were on my winter break reading pile. Merely speaking, I was not interested in The Body Electric anymore, and I was on the hunt for reasons aplenty on why I would DNF this book (typically I'm on the hunt for those reasons since page 1, but it's bad when that's all I'm looking for. Basically, the book's doomed).
Luckily I didn't have many at the time time. As the book continued on and my thoughts were beginning to wander elsewhere... but let's face it: at this point, my attention hasn't strayed far yet because most of my attention is still toward The Body Electric – because I'm a weird person who can literally zone partially out of American History class and still ace the final.
Oh, and I came all the way past 50% – I would feel a little guilty making it all this way and then throwing it off to the side when the book managed to hold my attention for that long. If I want to DNF a book, it's done quite early – definitely before 50% (No, I don't feel guilty). But back to how the book continued.
The bees – no matter how symbolic they were – were beginning to become annoying. And as the book marched on to the end as Ella and Jack try to escape the malicious clutches of the government, the bees' (almost) constant appearance made the book confusing. And I mean very confusing. The reveries began to become confusing, as Ella tried to separate fact from fiction. Revis may have done it on purpose so us readers could get a very realistic feel of how very confused Ella is by this point of the book, but I hate it when I'm confused, even though everything makes sense by the time Ella makes sense of everything. As I mentioned just moments ago, done on purpose for a realistic feel.
But I'm still a little confused at the ending (it's quite weird, and I'm sure it makes sense, but I'm not going to bother turning it around in my head), despite Revis' extraordinary idea behind The Body Electric.
------------------
Review copy provided by the publisher for the blog tour
Original Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Review originally posted at Bookwyrming Thoughts