'Orangeboy' by Patrice Lawrence

*This review will contain spoilers!*

'I laughed. "How many brain surgeons do you know from Hackney?"

She poked my back. "There may be some. Or you could be the first. You could really do that, Marlon." 

'Man, I couldn't stop looking at her. When I closed my eyes, I still saw her. Her hair was thick and blonde, and a curl looped over her ear to her shoulder. She wore black mascara and green eyeliner and her lips looked skin and sticky. 

Sonya Wilson was right there next to me and it made my brain buzz.'

Being on his first date with the most popular girl in school wasn't the only thing making Marlon Isaac Asimov Sunday's brain buzz - the quarter of an ecstasy tablet she'd given him was having an effect, too.

When Sonya, the gorgeous new girl, asks Marlon on a date, he can't believe his luck. After all of the trouble with his brother Andre, Marlon's been keeping his head down and focusing on his studies: he's not one of the tough kids leading the school. But it's paid off, and now he has a girl like Sonya on his arm.

They visit the local funfair, where Sonya offers him the ecstasy. He knows all of the cool kids would accept her offer, so he agrees - she's taking a quarter too, so it's not like he's doing it by himself - and they go on a couple of rides. Marlon spots some kids hassling Sonya, but when he asks her about it she dismisses him and pulls him towards the ghost train. 

Sonya doesn't make it to the other side of the ride. When they get to the other side, Marlon notices that she's not breathing: she died during their journey. 

Marlon finds it hard to cope with her death. Minutes earlier he'd been imagining their future together

'If we have kids together, what will their hair look like?

Kids? I haven't even kissed her yet.' 

and now Sonya is dead and Marlon's getting quizzed by the police, because she asked him to look after her stash of ecstasy pills for her before they boarded the train. 

The police aren't surprised to see another Sunday boy in their station. Andre - more commonly known as Booka - was heavily involved in the local gang scene until a car accident which left him brain damaged and his best friend dead. Marlon protests his innocence, but the police were certain he was guilty the second they discovered he was Andre's brother.

Marlon's mother is distraught. She doesn't want to be going through this with another son, so as soon as they get home she tells him to keep his act straight and to pretend he never met Sonya. He's haunted by her - the swish of her hair, her scent, the mustard-coated hotdog that was her last meal - and he can't believe she might have died because of the ecstasy: that he could have died, too, if he'd been unlucky.

Marlon feels as though his guilt will evaporate if he meets Sonya's grandmother, her primary carer. That way he can apologise for his involvement and try to explain the situation, so they won't think he was only with her to force her to take drugs.

Sonya's grandmother already knew about Sonya's involvement in drugs, so she isn't surprised by what Marlon tells her. She gives him Sonya's Blackberry - a different phone than the one Marlon knew she had - and by doing so sends his life spiraling out of control as he gets thrown in the deep end. 

Marlon's right in the middle of a war Andre started, and he's going to have to finish it for him.

I found this book quite slow, and it became a chore to get through. It's such a shame, because I was excited about this debut long before it hit the shelves... I didn't read it at the best time and that's my fault, not Patrice's! 

That being said, I'm glad working class YA is becoming more prominent, especially as it's not being used as 'poverty porn'. Marlon's mum works in a library and has a well-off boyfriend, they have a lovely house: Andre's involvement in the gangs didn't happen because of desperation. It was a lifestyle choice. 

After reading 'Liccle Bit' by Alex Wheatle a couple of weeks ago, I said I loved the way that he compared the relationship between gang members and family members, and how the two are so closely linked. Patrice Lawrence also plays with this idea: D-Ice, who targets Marlon, is the brother of Tayz, the man who ran Andre off the road. D-Ice feels a misguided loyalty to his brother and resolves to tear Marlon's family apart - it's a harrowing look at the way grief affects your sense, and how revenge is never the answer. 

I particularly appreciated the inclusion of Andre's brain injury, which is extremely effective. We're told he used to be top dog, the man everyone bowed down to, the kind who had a gun just in case. But because he wasn't wearing a seatbelt when he crashed, he now struggles with his memory and has episodes of uncontrollable rage, which is why he's confined to a care home. To see the contrast between who we're told he was and how he is now is heartbreaking, and hammers home the importance of road safety - it's not done in a preachy way, but it's not often that authors draw your attention to the character buckling their seatbelt, and it's a small but effective way of reminding readers to do the same. 

However, I struggled with 'Orangeboy' because it felt unfinished. The ending was extremely rushed, and because the pacing throughout the first three quarters was so slow the sudden increase in speed gave me whiplash and had me rereading the page after every other paragraph. Some things remained unexplored and unexplained, which was frustrating: this would have been a far more effective standalone if everything had been wrapped up towards the conclusion, but I still have a lot of questions that haven't been answered. 

Overall, this is an effective and interesting debut, but based off of the rave reviews I've seen I was expecting a little bit more. 

It's probably my fault that I didn't like this book as much as I was expecting to. I tried to speed read it in time for the #SundayYA book club chat last month (because I'd been slacking off even though I knew I had to read it) and that made me begrudging towards it. 

Here's a lesson, kids: don't force yourself to read something you don't want to. 

I really like Patrice's voice and the fact that she had no qualms about focusing on a very harrowing topic. I definitely like this more for reading it quite close to Alex Wheatle's Crongton series: despite the fact that series has a far more humorous tone, the unwilling involvement in gang war is a compelling narrative. 

I'm looking forward to reading more from Patrice in the future (and hopefully giving this one a reread when I'm in a better place!). 

BLOG TOUR: 'True North' (True Born Trilogy #2) by L.E. Sterling - SPOILER FREE REVIEW

I really enjoyed 'True Born' and have been dying to get my hands on the sequel, so I was over the moon when I was invited to participate in the 'True North' blog tour (after taking part in the cover reveal too - so much excitement!). I need to say a huge thank you to Entangled Teen and YA Reads Blog Tours for allowing me to be a part of both of these wonderful opportunities.

Abandoned by her family in Plague-ridden Dominion City, eighteen-year-old Lucy Fox has no choice but to rely upon the kindness of the True Borns, a renegade group of genetically enhanced humans, to save her twin sister, Margot. But Nolan Storm, their mysterious leader, has his own agenda. When Storm backtracks on his promise to rescue Margot, Lucy takes her fate into her own hands and sets off for Russia with her True Born bodyguard and maybe-something-more, the lethal yet beautiful Jared Price. In Russie, there's been whispered rumors of Plague Cure.

While Lucy fights her magnetic attraction to Jared, anxious that his loyalty to Storm will hurt her chances of finding her sister, they quickly discover that not all is as it appears... and discovering the secrets contained in the Fox sisters' blood before they wind up dead is just the beginning.

As they say in Dominion, sometimes it's not you... it's your DNA.  

I'm not going to spoil any of the events of 'True North', but if you haven't read 'True Born' you need to look away now!

'Sometimes flesh and bone are as inexplicable as magic.'

At the end of 'True Born', Margot and Lucy Fox were separated. Margot was taken to Russia by their parents, and Lucy was left in Dominion with the True Borns.
When 'True North' starts, Lucy is desperate to be reunited with her sister. She's been helping Nolan Storm, the leader of the True Borns and her stand-in guardian, for the last four months, gathering intel using the charismatic skills she honed as the daughter of one of the most important men in the Upper Circle. Nolan promised her that he'd help her find her sister, but Dominion is on the brink of a civil war so he won't be leaving any time soon.
Lucy takes matters into her own hands. She asks one of the members of a kid gang for help, but when things turn south she's saved by the mysterious Alistair. He agrees to help her find Margot and gets them passage on a cruise liner heading to Europe. Lucy thinks she sneaks away from the True Borns undetected, but within a day of the ship setting sail she realises Jared - her personal bodyguard turned sort of boyfriend - worked out where she was going and is also on board the ship.
As Lucy sails across the ocean, she meets a member of the Gilt: the exclusive group who are even higher than the Upper Circle. It's not until he starts talking about a potential miracle cure rumoured to be found in Russia that Lucy begins to wonder if she's found a map straight to her sister...

'True North' is far slower than 'True Born', so it took me quite a while to read it. Whereas I flew through the first book, I found myself feeling disinclined towards picking this one up, which is a shame: it's very well written and I still love the world L.E. Sterling has crafted, but I was forcing myself through it and I think that's why I didn't like it as much.
I was planning on rereading the first book before I jumped into this one, but I didn't have time. Despite the fact that L.E. Sterling does a great job recapping the events of book one, I still found it hard to get my head back into the world of Dominion, and I struggled to reconnect with the characters who I had previously loved.
That being said, this installment is definitely worth a read. It moves the plot forward exponentially, revealing the answers to questions that I'd had since the first page of 'True Born', but it makes you ask even more - it's impossible to read this book and not want to finish the series.
However, it suffers from middle book slump. Despite the fact that there were a few reveals throughout, it's seems more focused on setting up what I'm sure is going to be an explosive finale. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the third book in the trilogy will pick up the pace and bring back the excitement that thrummed through me with every page of the series opener.
When the third book is released I'm definitely going to reread the two previous novels: this series is perfect for binge-reading. Only four months pass between 'True Born' and 'True North', so it's a very short time between installments! Despite the fact that I could hardly remember what had happened, it didn't feel like long since I'd last walked the Plague-ridden streets of Dominion with Lucy and Jared.
Oh, and talking of Lucy and Jared, if you're a fan of a passionate, tension-filled kissing scene, you're going to love this.

I'm still excited for the third book in the True Born Trilogy. This installment didn't excite me as much as the first novel but I still enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to seeing how everything gets resolved. I have so many unanswered questions still floating through my head!

About the author:

I was a voracious devotee of sci-fi and fantasy novels all through my
childhood, so I suppose it doesn't come as much of a shock that I've
returned to the genre with a vengeance.

For a while I turned my back on the genre in favour of 'high-brow' literary texts. Ironically, it was my doctoral degree that saw me circling back. There's something about the way postmodern literature plays with the arcane that had me utterly fascinated, and it wasn't long until I fell headlong back into my old ways and haven't looked back since.

My first novel, which isn't in the Urban Fantasy or Fantasy genres, isn't high literature, mind you, even if it tangles with some serious statements about politics and the way our western world runs. My editor described it as something between Charles Dickens and 'The Catcher in the Rye'. Serious Fun, in other words.

My second novel, 'Pluto's Gate', is where I've come home to myself: it's a contemporary retelling of the Demeter-Persephone-Pluto story from Greek mythology. Folded into the mix is a Shaman-in-training, a magical book, Underworld Gods, a world covered in ice, a three-headed dog, and one lousy ex-boyfriend. 

But I'll tell you this much: I believe in the power of words and stories to
transform our inner worlds. Whether the characters be vampires or
vagabonds, a good narrative sucker punches so-called reality anyhow. 

You can find L.E. Sterling on her website, Goodreads and Twitter. 

If you've already read 'True Born' and can't wait to get your hands on 'True North', sample the first six chapters or purchase a copy here . If you haven't read 'True Born' yet, what are you waiting for?

GUEST POST: Kelley York and Rowan Altwood (+ review of 'Other Breakable Things')

Welcome to my post on the 'Other Breakable Things' blog tour! I'm stoked to welcome Kelley and Rowan to the blog today, and need to say a huge thank you to both Entangled Teen and Chapter by Chapter Blog Tours for allowing me to be involved.
Before you hear from the writing duo, I've written my review to get you even more excited to read this novel...

According to Japanese legend, folding a thousand paper cranes will grant you healing.

Evelyn Abel will fold two thousand if it will bring Luc back to her. 

Luc Argent has always been intimately acquainted with death. After a car crash got him a second chance at life - via someone else's transplanted heart - he tried to embrace it. He truly did. But he always knew death could be right around the corner again. 

And now it is. 

Sick of hospitals and tired of transplants, Luc is ready to let his failing heart give out, ready to give up. A road trip to Oregon - where death with dignity is legal - is his answer. But along for the ride is his best friend, Evelyn. 

And she's not giving up so easily. 

A thousand miles, a handful of roadside attractions, and one life-altering kiss later, Evelyn's fallen, and Luc's heart is full. But is it enough to save him? Evelyn's betting her heart, her life, that it can be.

Right down to the thousandth paper crane. 

'The rain is coming down in sheets. It has reduced visibility by 50 percent, but damn if it doesn't make for great mood lighting for two people driving down the freeway near midnight with only the glow of the dashboard for company.' 

An appropriately romantic opener, the prologue jumps us to the end of Luc and Evelyn's road trip. Things don't stay this rosy for long, putting you on the edge of your seat throughout the entire novel as you wait to reach this point.

Three years ago, Evelyn Abel had to move to Arizona with her mom and her new boyfriend, Robert. Her mom's relationships normally lasted a couple of months, so three years was a personal best for her, but now they've split up and they're moving back in with Evelyn's grandmother.
Evelyn is nervous to be back. The first thing she does is drive to the home of her childhood best friend - and almost sweetheart - Luc Argent, leaving an origami paper crane on his doorstep. Luc's been unresponsive to her emails, so she's putting the ball in his court: if he wants to see her, he knows where she is.
Luc sees the crane, and can't stop himself for rushing straight to Evelyn's grandmother's house. He's been trying to keep her at arm's length because the week after she left town he had a heart transplant, and the replacement is beginning to fail him. He doesn't want to go through another transplant so he knows he's going to die, and he didn't want to hurt Evelyn by getting close to her but he can't resist the chance to reconnect.
Tensions are high between the pair, because they're both keeping secrets. Evelyn knows Luc's hiding something, and he's not willing to confide in her because he doesn't want to see the pity in her eyes. Evelyn is the only person who treats him like he's not fragile, and it's one of the many things he loves about her.
But when Evelyn's mom and Robert reconcile, Evelyn shares her pain with Luc: Robert was acting inappropriately towards her, and while he didn't physically touch her she's never going to feel comfortable living with him again. She can't tell her mom

"She doesn't need me to be happy. She needs a relationship. When she isn't in love, she's miserable all the time. That's how it's always been. And that's okay, I've come to terms with the fact that I'm second place in her life, but I guess I couldn't stand the possibility of hearing her say that she didn't believe me because Robert was more important to her." 

but she can't go back to Arizona, and she can't think of a way to get out of it.
Luc can. He's been researching the Death With Dignity act, which is legal in Oregon. He'd been planning to travel up there and not return, and while taking Evelyn with him fills him with guilt he has to protect her, and it's the only way he knows how.
Luc's in no rush to meet the end of his life, so he's picked a bunch of tourist locations on the way for them to explore. But as the two of them get closer and the miles stretch behind them, Evelyn uncovers the truth: about Luc's original operation, the rejection, and his interest in euthanasia. Will she support him, or will Evelyn be unable to let the love of her life go?

Luc and Evelyn put the slow in slow burn romance. I'm not a fan of relationships in novels that move this slowly, but I know that aspect will appeal to a lot of people! The 'life-altering kiss' doesn't happen until halfway through the book, and I could feel myself getting bored: there's no point in having a will they won't they relationship if the outcome blatantly spoilered in the synopsis.
As soon as their relationship starts, it gets serious very quickly. Luc proposes to Evelyn and they get married, giving him the peace of mind that she'll be cared for after he dies because she'll get his insurance money.
Evelyn can't bring herself to do anything sexual because it makes her think of Robert, but the second they're married all of her misgivings go out the door. Just because you're married, it doesn't mean you have to have sex. Yes, the tradition calls for you to lose your virginity on your wedding night, but it's not a rule that's set in stone! It would have been better if they'd had a conversation before Luc suggested showering together - just because he assumed it was going to happen, doesn't mean it actually had to!
While I didn't adore the relationship, I really enjoyed the rest of 'Other Breakable Things' (even though it tore my heart out at times). The tourist attractions were brought to life and made me feel as though I'd experienced them myself - particularly the Winchester Mystery House, a place I've always wanted to visit! All of the stops on the trip filled me with an uncontrollable sense of wanderlust, and I don't think it's going to go away any time soon.
The family relationships were also brilliantly explored. The contrast between Luc's smothering parents and Evelyn's self-absorbed mother, the way that their actions caused their children to behave... It's been a long time since I've seen intricate family situations handled delicately and honestly, I just wish we'd been able to see more of the parents before they embarked on their road trip!
The best thing about 'Other Breakable Things' was the way Kelley and Rowan handled illness, which is painfully realistic. They definitely don't make it romantic, showing the harrowing effects that imminent death has on your body. They also show the stress and strain that the relationship experiences without making it over-dramatic. There's no blaming each other or lashing out without reason; all of their arguments and disagreements are because they want the best for each other but they just don't know how to go about it.
You'll have to read for yourself to discover whether Luc decides to go through with his decision to die with dignity, but reading this will make you appreciate your life and your health much more than you already do. I want to make the most of the time I have. I want to see the world and do crazy things (but maybe not as crazy as sleeping in an abandoned army barracks!).

I didn't love the love, but this book has given me a newfound appreciation for life. Make sure you keep the tissues close at hand, because it is a tear-jerker; even the happy bits had me bawling my eyes out!

Because the road trip that Grace and Gabe take is such an integral part of the book, I asked Kelley and Rowan if they could tell me what their ideal road trip would look like: where they'd want to go, and what music they'd want to listen to on the way...

Kelley: I've never gotten to travel much, unfortunately, so there are thousands of places I want to visit. Among my top three, however, are Japan (especially during the winter! The snow there looks so beautiful), Ireland, and the Pacific coast. For someone who grew up in California, there's so much of it I haven't seen. I'm hoping within the next few years, Rowan and I can take a nice, long road trip and hit up places like Disneyland, Monterey, San Jose (Winchester Mystery House, like in the book!), Mare Island, Point Reyes National Seashore (one of our favorite places), Muir Woods, all the way up into Oregon and Washington.

Anytime Rowan and I go on a trip, we have to compromise on music, usually trading off. I prefer a lot of instrumental stuff, like Thomas Bergersun and E.S. Posthumus. Though during our anniversary trip to Point Reyes back in November, I think we listened to a lot of Coldplay and that made me happy. 

Rowan: Haunted road trip! I love abandoned places especially if they're said to be haunted. If I could do a cross-country vacation where we visited places like Waverly Hills and other hospitals, graveyards, and asylums, I'd be happy. For music, I'd load up my iPod with dramatic 70's rock.

Author info:

Kelley York and Rowan Altwood are a wife and wife writing team living in central California with their daughter and way too many cats. Kelley is the author of 'Hushed', 'Made of Stars' and 'Modern Monsters', and 'Other Breakable Things' is Rowan's debut. 

Once again, I'd like to thank Kelley and Rowan for visiting my blog. It's been a pleasure to have them, and I really enjoyed 'Other Breakable Things' (even though it did bring a tear to my eye!).

If you're interested in reading some of the other posts from this blog tour, view the full schedule and visit some of the other hosts. If you'd like to read 'Other Breakable Things', you can purchase a copy here.

'Good Me, Bad Me' by Ali Land

*This review will contain spoilers!*

'I never get why people aren't better at hiding how they feel, although it's fair to say I've had more practice than most.' 

'Have you ever dreamt of a place far, far away? I have.' 

There's a reason Annie has been dreaming of escape: her mother is a serial killer who's killed nine children in the last ten years, and Annie has been living with her the entire time.

When Annie's mother chooses her ninth victim, she picks a little boy called Daniel from the women's refuge where she works as a nurse. Annie knows Daniel - he was her friend - and he's the straw that breaks the camel's back. She goes to the police and turns her mother in, ending a decade of terror and abuse.
Annie is given a new name for protection: she becomes Milly. But a change of name doesn't change who she is inside, or the monster who made her...
Milly's foster parents, Mike and Saskia Newmont, are welcoming, but their daughter Phoebe can't wait for her to leave. She bullies Milly horrifically, putting postcards with her mobile number in sordid locations near their home, calling her dog-face at every possible opportunity, and even circulating naked pictures of her around their year group in school. But Milly faced much worse living with her mother, so she doesn't say a word. She's stronger than that. She can look after herself.
Psychologically, though, Milly is suffering. She can't sleep, she constantly hears her mother's voice in her head, and the fact that she's refusing to take her medication doesn't help anything.
As the court case gets closer, Milly finds herself reliving tough memories almost daily. Mike is a psychologist, and he thinks he'll be able to help her access the deepest parts of her brain: if she can remember all of the events that she's repressed, they could be used as evidence in court. But Milly feels uncomfortable. She doesn't want to open up, and she definitely doesn't want to be forced to remember.
Is she afraid to trust anybody, or is she purposefully hiding something?

This was a very interesting exploration of the nature vs. nurture debate, but I couldn't get on board with Ali Land's writing style.
Rather than using short sentences effectively, she often. Fragments them. In a way. That doesn't make. Sense. It's frustrating, because I thought the story was fascinating - not many writers choose to focus on female psychopaths or sexual abusers, and I'd never read anything that explored the relationship between mother and daughter in a scenario like this - but the writing was not for me.
Similarly, the dialogue constantly switched between reported and direct speech, and this threw me. The first section of the book only uses reported speech - an unusual choice, but one that I could get on board with - then all of a sudden BAM! there are speech marks and everything's confusing once again.
It feels as though Ali wanted to explore a lot of different writing techniques, but it might have been better if she'd done that throughout her releases, rather than cramming them all into her first novel.
I can appreciate why people are calling this the debut of the year, because it is harrowing and gripping and hard to put down, but the brilliance of the plot is let down by the mediocrity of the writing.
The two big twists were overly foreshadowed, so I wasn't surprised by either of them. I still found the story very absorbing, though: it was a bit like a train wreck, in that I knew what I was going to see but I couldn't look away. Milly's desperation turns her into a killer

'I'm coming to terms with the things I've done. I did them to be good, I promise, even though they were bad.' 

and opens up a great chance to discuss the difference between good and bad. If you do the wrong things for the right reasons, can you be forgiven? and vice versa: Milly's mother says that she abuses the children to show them love, so shouldn't she be pitied for her mental state rather than vilified for the way her emotions expressed themselves? This would be the perfect choice for a book club, because there's so many debatable aspects when writing about such a controversial topic.
There were a few inclusions that didn't seem necessary, though. Milly's friendship with Morgan and Saskia's affair with her yoga teacher both just seemed like they were included to fill out the story: neither of them furthered the plot, so I couldn't see any relevance in them.

This was a solid first effort, but I wasn't blown away. If you're looking for a quick psychological read that will really make you think, you'll love this one.

SERIES REVIEW: The Blackcoat Rebellion by Aimée Carter

*This review will contain spoilers!*

I was going to write three individual reviews for each book in this series because I liked them so much, but because I read them back to back in less than a week I thought it would make far more sense to write one big post.
I don't know how I hadn't heard of The Blackcoat Rebellion trilogy before, but when I spotted it in the library I was instantly intrigued. The covers, the premise, everything appealed to me. I hadn't read and enjoyed a dystopian series in so long, so I hoped this trilogy would revive my love for the genre.

If you think you'll enjoy reading the Blackcoat Rebellion trilogy, please consider purchasing them using my Amazon Affiliate links! If you buy 'Pawn', 'Captive' or 'Queen', I'll receive a little bit of income. 

'Pawn' - 4 stars

'Risking my life to steal an orange was a stupid thing to do, but today of all days, I didn't care about the consequences. If I were lucky, the Shields would throw me to the ground and put a bullet in my brain. 

Dead at seventeen. It would be a relief.' 

We join Kitty Doe on her seventeenth birthday. She's just taken the most important test of her life, and she's not happy with her result.
Kitty is a III. The average rank is a IV, and she feels cheated and disillusioned. She can't read and wrongly assumed that she'd get extra time to compensate, but because she didn't she couldn't finish a third of the paper. She's been relegated to the rank of III for the rest of her life.
Being a III means you're lesser. Not as low as a II or a I, but you're destined to work hard and die young. You're not even permitted to buy an orange from the market: those are only available to people of rank IV or above.

'I'd seen the posters and heard the speeches. Everyone had. We all had our rightful place in society, and it was up to us to decide what that was. Study hard, earn good grades, learn everything we could, and prove we were special. And when we turned seventeen and took the test, we would be rewarded with a good job, a nice place to live, and the satisfaction that we contributed to our society - everything we would ever need to lead a meaningful life.' 

Kitty's boyfriend Benjy is bound to get a VI, because he's the smartest kid from their group home. Because they were both Extras (second children removed from low-ranking parents who're only allowed the privilege of having one child) they've grown up together and they assumed they'd spend the rest of their lives together, but Kitty's III makes that difficult. She's assigned a job in a sewer in Denver, so far across America that it would make it impossible for her to ever see Benjy again.
He can't bear to be parted from her, but she doesn't want him to sacrifice his chance. Instead she takes a leap of faith and contacts their old friend Tabs, who's now working outside of the law as an escort. It's Kitty's only chance to stay near the boy she loves.
On your first night on the job, you're auctioned to the highest bidder so that they can have their fun with you while you're still a virgin. Kitty is disgusted by the idea but she has no other options.
Or, at least, she doesn't. Not until she's purchased by Prime Minister Daxton Hart.
Daxton pays 30,000 gold for Kitty, but instead of taking her virginity he offers her the chance to become a VII. The only people who get such a prestigious rank are born into it, so Kitty accepts: she knows there must be a catch, but it's worth the risk. Daxton leads her out of the building, bundles her into his car and drugs her - yep, that's the catch!
When she comes around she's not herself anymore. He's had her surgically-altered - Masked - to replace his niece Lila, as Kitty shares her distinctive eye colour. Lila was vocal in her disregard for the ranking system and the Hart family leadership, so he's had his own niece killed to silence the voice of the rebellion. He's tasking Kitty with repenting and undoing all the discontent Lila spread with her rousing speeches.
Kitty's thrown into life as Lila, living in the luxurious Somerset mansion with the rest of the Harts. The family are all involved, and her mother Celia and grandmother Augusta (the one who's actually in charge of the country, pulling the strings behind the scenes) work with Daxton to train her to pass as Lila without question.
Things get awkward when she meets her fiancé, Knox, who she's expected to marry within a couple of months... She knows that won't go down well with Benjy, who doesn't even know about the surprising turn her life has taken.
But Lila wasn't the only member of the Hart family discontent with the way the country was being run. Celia and Knox are both involved with the terrorist movement the Blackcoats, and they're desperate to take out Daxton by getting Kitty to continue Lila's good work.
Kitty has to decide: does she want to risk being hunted by running back to her old life with Benjy, or will she help the American citizens break free from their bonds?

Aimée Carter doesn't sugarcoat anything, and I had chills when I read the first page. Kitty feels as though she has nothing to live for after being ranked a III, making her the perfect figurehead for a revolution. She's self-sacrificing, always doing things for other people, though that can express itself as selfishness when she directly disobeys the wishes of her loved ones and puts herself in danger.
Kitty's a very well-rounded character. She's reckless, which makes for tense reading: it was touch and go whether she'd survive a couple of the situations she found herself in! But her adventurous side isn't the only part of her that makes her character so intriguing. Kitty is unable to read, despite many lessons from Benjy over the years, and this makes her doubt herself more than anything else: she wonders whether she might actually deserve her III, for not being able to do something so simple.
I thought Benjy and Kitty's relationship was lovely because they're together before the book begins. It's always nice to join an established couple, and I enjoyed the fact that they reminisced on things they'd gotten up to before the book began: a simple but effective back story that adds depth to their emotions and makes their coupling believable. There's potential for a love triangle between Kitty, Benjy and Knox, but despite the fact that it seems like a obvious choice for the plot there's too much life-threatening political drama for it to be explored.
The books is a springboard for discussion about good and bad, and how it's not always black and white. We automatically think of terrorists as bad people in our mind, because they do so many horrific things. The Blackcoats set off bombs and convince Kitty to attempt to assassinate the Prime Minister, but because they're fighting for the greater good you support them and want them to succeed. Meanwhile, Daxton takes Kitty on a trip to Elsewhere, where he shows off by hunting terrified people who the ranking system have deemed as worthless to society. It's very controversial, particularly with the political landscape looking the way it does at the moment: this trilogy is utterly relevant, and I definitely feel as though I've read it at the right time.
However, the plots gets a bit convoluted. The ranking system is easy to get to grips with, but the political side of things tied my brain in knots. Daxton is the Prime Minister, but Augusta is in control. Celia is Daxton's sister, but is also the leader of the Blackcoats. Kitty discovers that Daxton isn't Daxton: a Masked man is masquerading as him, just like she is pretending to be Lila.
Then there's Lila, who isn't dead after all...
Celia kidnaps Greyson, Daxton's son. To get Greyson back, the Harts make a public appeal which features both Kitty and Lila. The general public don't know Lila is supposedly dead, so can't understand why she would suddenly need to make an appearance with her body double, and I was completely lost. It's the only reason it didn't get 5 stars, because it was very close - particularly when Kitty killed Augusta, showing a marked character development from the girl who couldn't kill Daxton when she tried earlier in the novel.

'Captive' - 3 stars

"There's no such thing as a bloodless revolution."

'Somewhere nearby, Benjy was waiting for me.'

'Captive' starts three months after 'Pawn' begins, so not much has changed since the end of book one.

Kitty is determined to discover the identity of the man behind the Daxton mask. She breaks into his office and finds a file filled with information and a photograph from before he was Masked, but because she can't read it she has no choice but to take it with her. She squirrels it away somewhere no one else will be able to find it, making herself indispensable, but Daxton discovers that the file is missing. He storms her room, gets Knox to shoot Benjy, and ships her off to Elsewhere.
Kitty is distraught. Knox revealed that he was betraying the Blackcoats, and she has no way of warning them about the traitor in their midst.
But it's not all doom and gloom. The hunting ground isn't all there is to Elsewhere. It's a society in itself: prisoners live in different sections, working and experiencing a semblance of freedom (unless they're chosen by the visiting politicians to be used in their hunt, or they break the rules). If they break the rules? They're put in a cage with another prisoner, and they fight to the death.
Kitty sees more people get brutally murdered in her first day in Elsewhere than she ever has before. It shakes her: even though she looks like Lila Hart, she's not untouchable in this environment.
Elsewhere is ruled by the Mercer family. Kitty recognises Jonathan Mercer, because he was in the photograph with the Masked Daxton, who she realises must be Victor, Jonathan's dead brother. Hannah, Jonathan's wife, is also a formidable opponent: she used to be a prisoner, but managed to claw her way up to a leadership position after having an affair with Daxton himself.
The Mercers invite Kitty to stay with them in their mansion, an offer she accepts when Knox arrives as their guest. If she can get close enough to him, she can take her revenge for Benjy. She doesn't care if it's the last thing she does.
But the Battle of Elsewhere is brewing, and Kitty needs to decide whether to focus on her own problems or secure a better future for the United States.

I found this installment mind-numbingly predictable.
Of course Knox isn't a traitor! Of course Benjy isn't dead! Of course Daxton and Hannah are Kitty's parents!
Yawn.
As soon as the guard in 'Pawn' commented on the fact that Kitty had the same distinctive eyes as Lila, I knew she had to be biologically related to the Hart family, so I'd been waiting for this reveal since the beginning.
Aimée still writes it as though each of the twists should be a surprise, but there's no way anyone didn't see them coming. I've never read anything more obvious.
It definitely reduced my enjoyment of the book. Whereas the first book gloated a gripping plot and brilliantly crafted characters, this felt like a lazy fallback on the least interesting tropes of the dystopian genre: the death fake out, the "I'm a traitor, lol jk", the parentage reveal... All of them made me groan.
That being said, I thought it was interesting to see the revolution in a different setting. The prisoners of Elsewhere are disillusioned with society, so it's a lot easier to convince them that the Hart family and the ranking system need to be dealt with. I appreciated the brutality, because when you're placed in a 'kill or be killed' situation you will do everything possible to save your own life: I was genuinely shocked at a couple of points, which doesn't often happen in YA, but none of it felt gratuitous. All of the deaths were necessary, because they inspired Kitty in a way that living Lila's charmed life couldn't.
In this installment Benjy and Kitty take the next step in their relationship. I was grateful that it didn't happen in book one, because it often feels as though YA authors are encouraging teenagers to make that move as quickly as possible, but the timing was dreadful! Bombs are going off around them, war is raging and Kitty doesn't even know if her birth mother is alive, but they think it's the perfect time to sleep together. Cringe!
I did like the way Aimée portrayed their first time, though:

'I wish I could say that night was perfect - that it was straight out of one of the romances Benjy had read to me, full of fireworks and grace and everything a first time should be.

But it was awkward. And we fumbled. And neither of us knew quite what we were doing. And afterward, once it was over and we lay tangled together underneath the sheets, we both watched each other as if we couldn't quite believe what we'd just done.' 

It's very realistic, and definitely doesn't set Hollywood standards!
I felt a lot more conflicted about the trilogy after reading this installment. It was still a very quick read - I finished it in two sittings and I could hardly tear my eyes away for a moment - but because it felt hackneyed I wasn't as impressed as I was by 'Pawn'. It closed with another tense cliffhanger, making it impossible to resist reading 'Queen' straight away, but I felt apprehensive.

'Queen' - 5 stars

"The brightest and most privileged in the country aren't interested in equality."

'I gazed out across the gathering crowd, my heart in my throat. The citizens of Elsewhere shifted restlessly, their red and orange jumpsuits bringing color to an otherwise gray winter landscape, and I could feel them growing impatient. 

They weren't the only ones.' 

Two weeks have passed since the end of 'Captive'. We rejoin Kitty, Benjy, Knox and the Blackcoats in Elsewhere, fighting to get support from the general public by revealing the truth about Daxton's identity.

After Kitty outs Victor to the world, he denies all of her claims. The Blackcoats know that they need proof to get the public on their side, so Kitty and Knox return to Somerset to recover the file on Victor Mercer that she hid at the beginning of 'Captive'.
But Kitty gets captured, and Knox has no choice but to leave her behind and get the information released to the public.
Kitty is reunited with Lila and Greyson, who are both being held hostage by Victor. Lila's been forced to speak for him on multiple occasions, because if she doesn't say what he wants he's going to kill Greyson. Kitty doesn't want either of them to die, so she agrees to appear on camera repealing the accusations she made on one condition: if she does it, Greyson and Lila get to leave. Greyson and Lila counter her, saying Victor should allow her to leave as a show of good faith, and he agrees - he'll accept one of their offers once Kitty's made her speech, but they'll have to wait and see which one he'll take.
As soon as Kitty's finished speaking, Victor tells her she can go. But Lila is desperate for freedom, and Kitty's well-trained in pretending to be her: Lila begs her to allow her to leave in her place.

"I don't want to be me anymore. You can be me - you're good at being me. But I'm done. I don't care about the risk involved. I don't care about where I end up. I just want to be gone, Kitty. I want to be free. And if that means dying in the middle of nowhere, then fine. I'd rather die out there tomorrow than die in here a hundred years from now."

Kitty begrudgingly agrees, and her and Greyson watch Lila get on a helicopter and leave... Only for it to be shot out of the air moments later. Lila is dead, and Kitty is forced to act for her life: if she can't convince Victor that she is the real Lila, he'll have no qualms about taking her out.
Victor continues to psychologically manipulate them. They must watch as he murders members of the Ministers of the Union, taking them out one by one until they agree to sign over full control. He then orders an airstrike on Elsewhere, and Kitty and Greyson have to watch as bombs are dropped: they had no time to warn everyone, which means all of the Blackcoats - all of their friends - have just been decimated in seconds.
Victor has no one to answer to. He holds all of the power, and there's no one that can stop him.
There's only one way to solve the problem: Victor must be killed. Kitty tries to shoot him, but he survives, and teaches her not to try that again by inviting her to his personal torture room where he's flayed the man who was previously his closest adviser.
With the Blackcoats and Lila dead, Celia still on the run and Greyson and Kitty trapped with a madman, it looks like time is running out for the United States.

I couldn't find anything wrong with this installment. I don't know if that's just because I was so excited to finish the series and see how everything ended up, but I couldn't put the book down! It's such a brilliant ending: there were a couple of main character deaths that almost had me in tears, torture and tense scenes that had my heart racing, and the defeat of the dastardly (fake) Daxton - hurrah! 

I know protagonists don't often die, but I was genuinely scared for Kitty's life. There isn't much overt violence against her (at least, not until the end of the novel), but Victor's psychological abuse is very hard-hitting, and left me shaken. I'm never going to get the image of the torture room out of my mind; I knew he was a terrible person, but I didn't think anyone would go quite that far. Aimée Carter is a sick genius for being able to create a villain that disturbed.

All of the characters make huge progress throughout the series, and when you look back to who they are at the start of 'Pawn', they're completely different at the end of 'Queen'. Benjy and Kitty decide to call time on their relationship but remain best friends, because they know that the events they've been through have changed them too much. There's a whiff of a love triangle, but because Kitty's already distanced herself from Benjy, her feelings towards Knox are both unsurprising and reasonable: no one can argue that the relationship is very authentic. 

This is a strong trilogy. 

The plot is tight, and each installment moves the characters to a different setting and keeps it fresh and exciting. There's no way that this could have been cut down to a duology, because though there are slight bits of waffling at times (particularly at the start of each sequel, which gives an in-depth recap of the events of the previous book) the majority of the events are necessary and add something to the story.

The conclusion is satisfying: I haven't been this happy with a the way a series ended in a very long time! I loved the fact that it's left open for Aimée to return to the characters in the future if she wishes: we get to see Daxton's comeuppance, but we don't get to see how they implement the change in the government, how Greyson copes as Prime Minister or whether things work out between Knox and Lila, and I'd be interested in reading more from all of them! 

I'm just surprised this isn't more popular. It's much better than some of the dystopian novels I've read in the past: the family dynamic, the realistic relationship, the scarily possible future... This could easily have been adapted into a successful film, and I'm sad that it flew under the radar in favour for less developed and interesting releases. 

I haven't read any of Aimée Carter's writing before, but after enjoying this so much I'm definitely going to change that. The way she crafted this trilogy blew my mind: I just hope her Goddess Test novels are as good! 

Overall, this series gets 4 stars from me.