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A review by liralen
XVI by Julia Karr
2.0
I seem to be reading a lot of dystopian teen lit lately. Not really sure why.
This was... disappointing. Aside from the numerous typos (stupid stuff, like spaces before periods and missing or superfluous apostrophes and quotation marks - the proofreader didn't earn his or her wage on this book), it just wasn't all that good.
There's a lot of tension over nothing, frankly. I mean, yes, Nina does have some serious stuff to worry about - her mother, Ed, turning sixteen. But by the time she turns sixteen, she's pretty much stopped worrying about the vulnerability that her tattoo will bring. (Shouldn't she be more worried?) Meanwhile, there's all this worry about the government listening in - but not only is the government completely clueless, the characters have all sorts of tricks to keep the government from finding anything out anyway.
Over and over again, we get "Oh no, Dee's in danger! Oh wait... no she's not," or "Oh no, the book is missing! Oh wait... no it's not", or "Careful! They'll hear us! Oh, never mind, this is a Dead Zone"... and there's a completely illogical "chase" scene that would probably draw all kinds of attention but instead lets the characters evade Ed.
I was going to say "Well, at least this is a standalone book" (I'm getting very tired of YA series that could be wrapped up in one book if the writing was tighter), but wait - there's a sequel expected in 2012. Alas.
This was... disappointing. Aside from the numerous typos (stupid stuff, like spaces before periods and missing or superfluous apostrophes and quotation marks - the proofreader didn't earn his or her wage on this book), it just wasn't all that good.
There's a lot of tension over nothing, frankly. I mean, yes, Nina does have some serious stuff to worry about - her mother, Ed, turning sixteen. But by the time she turns sixteen, she's pretty much stopped worrying about the vulnerability that her tattoo will bring. (Shouldn't she be more worried?) Meanwhile, there's all this worry about the government listening in - but not only is the government completely clueless, the characters have all sorts of tricks to keep the government from finding anything out anyway.
Over and over again, we get "Oh no, Dee's in danger! Oh wait... no she's not," or "Oh no, the book is missing! Oh wait... no it's not", or "Careful! They'll hear us! Oh, never mind, this is a Dead Zone"... and there's a completely illogical "chase" scene that would probably draw all kinds of attention but instead lets the characters evade Ed.
I was going to say "Well, at least this is a standalone book" (I'm getting very tired of YA series that could be wrapped up in one book if the writing was tighter), but wait - there's a sequel expected in 2012. Alas.