On a planet where violence and vengeance rule, in a galaxy where some are favored by fate, everyone develops a currentgift, a unique power meant to shape the future. While most benefit from their currentgifts, Akos and Cyra do not—their gifts make them vulnerable to others’ control.
GENRE:
Young Adult, Fantasy? Science Fiction?
PAGES:
468 pages
PART OF A SERIES?:
First in the Series
RELEASE DATE:
January 17, 2017
YOU CAN FIND THE BOOK AT:
GOODREADS SUMMARY:
On a planet where violence and vengeance rule, in a galaxy where some are favored by fate, everyone develops a currentgift, a unique power meant to shape the future. While most benefit from their currentgifts, Akos and Cyra do not—their gifts make them vulnerable to others’ control. Can they reclaim their gifts, their fates, and their lives, and reset the balance of power in this world?
Cyra is the sister of the brutal tyrant who rules the Shotet people. Cyra’s currentgift gives her pain and power—something her brother exploits, using her to torture his enemies. But Cyra is much more than just a blade in her brother’s hand: she is resilient, quick on her feet, and smarter than he knows.
Akos is from the peace-loving nation of Thuvhe, and his loyalty to his family is limitless. Though protected by his unusual currentgift, once Akos and his brother are captured by enemy Shotet soldiers, Akos is desperate to get his brother out alive—no matter what the cost. When Akos is thrust into Cyra’s world, the enmity between their countries and families seems insurmountable. They must decide to help each other to survive—or to destroy one another.
MY REVIEW
Okay normally I don’t share negative reviews because…well, there’s a few reasons. I don’t like to hate on books. I’ll share with people individually if I didn’t like a book and why but I hate blasting that kind of thing all over the internet. It just feels wrong. And a lot of that comes from the fact that I’m an author/writer myself and I know that its hard to write a novel and I know that it sucks to hear that what you wrote wasn’t good and I avoid negative reviews like the plague. Its also very opinionated; what one person may love, another may hate. So I just post about books that I love and just keep my opinions to myself about books I didn’t.
This book is neither. I didn’t love it but I didn’t particularly dislike it either. I also didn’t finish it and I was nearly done with it too. I just couldn’t make myself do more than what I had done.
Veronica Roth is a great writer. You can read that on the page without a problem. Its not like I’m reading it and going, my god, this lady can’t write because that’s definitely not true. At all. The writing is good.
It was just…really, really boring. I couldn’t get involved in the story. I had to push myself through each chapter. I didn’t care about the characters and I honestly didn’t really understood what the problem of the story was other than Cyra couldn’t touch anyone without killing them and Akos wanted to get his brother back from Cyra’s tyrannical brother…which are obviously issues but I still could not figure out the big problem. It was all very vague and there was nothing in there that made me go WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.
I ended up reading some reviews on goodreads and other blogs to see if there was something that could propel me to finish the novel. I really did want to finish it. I have a Divergent tattoo so I love Veronica and really wanted to enjoy this novel. Instead I found a lot of negative reviews and while I didn’t agree or disagree with what they said, it didn’t really encourage me to finish the book either.
I didn’t see the racism personally when reading it, nor the trigger subjects like self harm or rape (in that Cyra’s brother rips a memory from her, in a very painful way, with no consent), but I will never say that that wasn’t there because I can’t presume to know how a book makes people feel and I could see their arguments once I read their reviews. I honestly was just bored. I couldn’t get into the story, I couldn’t bring myself to finish and when I reached only 70% over nearly a week of nonstop reading (and the book isn’t THAT long), I knew it was time to give up and move on because it just wasn’t the book for me. I’m not giving up on Veronica because I think she’s too talented to not write something really good again but for now, I’ll step aside from this particular series.
RATING
3 out of 5 Stars
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