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A review by operasara
America Pacifica by Anna North
4.0
America Pacifica by Anna North is a dystopian novel that takes place on a tightly packed small tropical island where Americans have moved to following an ice age which made North America Uninhabitable. The island is controlled by a leader who ensures that the rich (those who made it to the island first) live a nice and comfortable life while the poor squander to stay alive. Darcy has grown up on the island in severe poverty dropping out of school to work at a nursing home to help support herself and her mother. When her mother disappears she drops everything to find her and uncovers more than she expected about the real history of the island and it's founders.
I had mixed feelings about this book, it's being cross marketed to the YA audience so I expected something completely different, once I realized it was an adult book I enjoyed it more. The book is very gritty. Darcy lives in total poverty and is so desperate to find her mother that she is willing to do anything to get information. While the story was entertaining it was not always engrossing and the dystopia and "enemy" were not strong enough for this book to be fantastic. There were plot points and characters that were unnecessary and distracting to the main plot which bogged down the story for me and the lack of a strong and prevalent secondary character kept me detached at times. Darcy went from place to place and met with different people most of which did not ever appear again.
Appropriateness: As I said earlier I was initially under the impression that this was a Young Adult audience because it has been cross promoted to YA bloggers. This is not a young adult book, it is an adult book that has a main character that is a teenager. The main character is a reformed drug addict (who huffed solvent) and speaks longingly about the drugs as an escape. There is quite a bit of sexual content in this book which are "icky" rather than erotic. There are descriptions of sexual organs, masturbation and a graphic description of Darcy having sex with someone for information. There is some violence but not a large amount and there is no romance at all. I would recommend this book to science fiction and dystopia fans 16+ who would not be put off by the sexual content. This book isn't erotica by any sense and would not be harmful for younger readers however the nature of the sexual content is of the type that would make younger readers uncomfortable.
I had mixed feelings about this book, it's being cross marketed to the YA audience so I expected something completely different, once I realized it was an adult book I enjoyed it more. The book is very gritty. Darcy lives in total poverty and is so desperate to find her mother that she is willing to do anything to get information. While the story was entertaining it was not always engrossing and the dystopia and "enemy" were not strong enough for this book to be fantastic. There were plot points and characters that were unnecessary and distracting to the main plot which bogged down the story for me and the lack of a strong and prevalent secondary character kept me detached at times. Darcy went from place to place and met with different people most of which did not ever appear again.
Appropriateness: As I said earlier I was initially under the impression that this was a Young Adult audience because it has been cross promoted to YA bloggers. This is not a young adult book, it is an adult book that has a main character that is a teenager. The main character is a reformed drug addict (who huffed solvent) and speaks longingly about the drugs as an escape. There is quite a bit of sexual content in this book which are "icky" rather than erotic. There are descriptions of sexual organs, masturbation and a graphic description of Darcy having sex with someone for information. There is some violence but not a large amount and there is no romance at all. I would recommend this book to science fiction and dystopia fans 16+ who would not be put off by the sexual content. This book isn't erotica by any sense and would not be harmful for younger readers however the nature of the sexual content is of the type that would make younger readers uncomfortable.