 |
When Davy Hamilton's tests come back positive for Homicidal Tendency Syndrome (HTS)-aka the kill gene-she loses everything. Her boyfriend ditches her, her parents are scared of her, and she can forget about her bright future at Juilliard. Davy doesn't feel any different, but genes don't lie. One day she will kill someone.
Only Sean, a fellow HTS carrier, can relate to her new life. Davy wants to trust him; maybe he's not as dangerous as he seems. Or maybe Davy is just as deadly.
The first in a two-book series, Uninvited tackles intriguing questions about free will, identity, and human nature. Steeped in New York Times bestselling author Sophie Jordan's trademark mix of gripping action and breathless romance, this suspenseful tale is perfect for fans of James Patterson, Michelle Hodkin, and Lisa McMann.
|
The plot of the book, at least to the back cover, seemed exciting and build-able. To have a disease that labeled you as a killer is pretty unique as an idea. However the plot had a lot of holes and pointless moments. It was like a puzzle that fit together only because you jammed the pieces together. I simply didn't go together naturally. There were some ideas and characters that were introduced but never concluded and parts I thought could have been expanded but wasn't.
First, remarking on the main character, Davy, she is described as literally perfect until she got HTC (Homicidal Tendency Syndrome). For me, perfect characters bother me. They are so easily destroyed and brought down with one single pull of a brick. In Davy's case, the brick was HTC. Immediately she became this weak blob and the unfortunate thing is, this is simply unavoidable when you have a perfect character that has never met failure. And of course now as she is now diagnosed her love interest enters the picture.
Sean is the picture of the classic bad boy, now-I-must-swoon character. He was a good character but he was just so typical. I felt the book revolved strongly to the cliche of: Good girl meets bad boy, bad boy magically likes the good girl, bad boy isn't that bad and proves to have a heart, yay, life is good, destiny forces them together. Not that it isn't fun to read these type of cheesy romances, I feel these types of books are dangerous at times. Maybe its my inner health class showing but in real life this doesn't usually happen. This book is targeted towards grades 8+ and people 13+ so basically tweens and teens. To form such an idealization of this glorious fictional romance in such a young mind is probably not healthy for these children in the future. Idealizations are never good.
Now for the trials that Davy went through; they felt really forced. The antagonists were all really one dimensioned characters. They were simply mad scientists who decided to gather up all the supposed HTC carriers because they could. It was like reading a pointless, without reason, genocide that didn't really make sense. Of course, classically, all of Davy's old "friends" abandon her as soon as she is diagnosed. Her supposed best friend immediately turns on her and I could easily tell she was out for Davy's man (boyfriend before they broke up). She goes from sweet to a bitch (excuse the language) in a few chapters. Like what? Was perfect Davy just simply innocent enough that she couldn't even recognize her real friends if she even had any? Davy is like a freakn' Disney princess whose happily ever after just died. Everything in this book is set for a certain end and I don't like that. I like plots that are expandable and twist-able for more possibilities and depth.
Davy's brother was also introduced in this book at the beginning and his frequent appearance made me feel he would be substantial to the plot. Nope, that didn't happen. He encourages Davy in a few chapters to fight back the immediately fades into the background when Davy leaves for Mount Haven (basically a HTC carrier concentration camp). I felt his character could have easily been expanded to mean more to the plot. I guess if there is to be a sequel he could grow to become an important character then but as of now he just kind of died in the background.
What also really bothered me was in the first part when Davy was sent to a different school due to her HTC. This whole section could have been completely cut out and it wouldn't have effected the plot at all. It was all really pointless. All it served as was a grieving period for Davy to play sad princess and for introduction of pointless characters that were never mentioned again after this section. Why was Sean's adoptive brother even introduced? All he did was say Hi to Davy and eat cereal. And all those students too at Davy's new high school? If you aren't going place all of them in Mount Haven (the concentration camp) why bother even introducing them. Don't waste your words Sophia, you could have built something much greater with words you didn't waste.
In conclusion, the book was simply okay. It'll do for a simple mindless read that you would breeze through. If you read this book carefully it will bother you and torment you mentally with its foibles. One part I really did like about the book was the little random excerpts of news and etc. that kind of showed what was going on in the rest of the world. However, those didn't really serve a purpose either. I know everything that I felt was flawed could be all nicely knotted in a sequel but with the first book in its current state I don't feel very motivated to go search for one if it came out. If it just happened to be in front of me in a library, I'd grab it. Other then that, I'd just let it fade from my mind into oblivion.
The publication of this book is due to be the January 28, 2014 though on the back of my ARC it says March. Hmmm.... confusion. If you really need a mindless read and you find this right in front of you, go ahead and read it. It's plot is pretty unique but if you wan't a really good story, this book simply won't make the cut.
Last note: To be honest, I think we all have a little bit of HTC in us. Its just our limits that let us break are set differently.
Sean is the picture of the classic bad boy, now-I-must-swoon character. He was a good character but he was just so typical. I felt the book revolved strongly to the cliche of: Good girl meets bad boy, bad boy magically likes the good girl, bad boy isn't that bad and proves to have a heart, yay, life is good, destiny forces them together. Not that it isn't fun to read these type of cheesy romances, I feel these types of books are dangerous at times. Maybe its my inner health class showing but in real life this doesn't usually happen. This book is targeted towards grades 8+ and people 13+ so basically tweens and teens. To form such an idealization of this glorious fictional romance in such a young mind is probably not healthy for these children in the future. Idealizations are never good.
Now for the trials that Davy went through; they felt really forced. The antagonists were all really one dimensioned characters. They were simply mad scientists who decided to gather up all the supposed HTC carriers because they could. It was like reading a pointless, without reason, genocide that didn't really make sense. Of course, classically, all of Davy's old "friends" abandon her as soon as she is diagnosed. Her supposed best friend immediately turns on her and I could easily tell she was out for Davy's man (boyfriend before they broke up). She goes from sweet to a bitch (excuse the language) in a few chapters. Like what? Was perfect Davy just simply innocent enough that she couldn't even recognize her real friends if she even had any? Davy is like a freakn' Disney princess whose happily ever after just died. Everything in this book is set for a certain end and I don't like that. I like plots that are expandable and twist-able for more possibilities and depth.
Davy's brother was also introduced in this book at the beginning and his frequent appearance made me feel he would be substantial to the plot. Nope, that didn't happen. He encourages Davy in a few chapters to fight back the immediately fades into the background when Davy leaves for Mount Haven (basically a HTC carrier concentration camp). I felt his character could have easily been expanded to mean more to the plot. I guess if there is to be a sequel he could grow to become an important character then but as of now he just kind of died in the background.
What also really bothered me was in the first part when Davy was sent to a different school due to her HTC. This whole section could have been completely cut out and it wouldn't have effected the plot at all. It was all really pointless. All it served as was a grieving period for Davy to play sad princess and for introduction of pointless characters that were never mentioned again after this section. Why was Sean's adoptive brother even introduced? All he did was say Hi to Davy and eat cereal. And all those students too at Davy's new high school? If you aren't going place all of them in Mount Haven (the concentration camp) why bother even introducing them. Don't waste your words Sophia, you could have built something much greater with words you didn't waste.
In conclusion, the book was simply okay. It'll do for a simple mindless read that you would breeze through. If you read this book carefully it will bother you and torment you mentally with its foibles. One part I really did like about the book was the little random excerpts of news and etc. that kind of showed what was going on in the rest of the world. However, those didn't really serve a purpose either. I know everything that I felt was flawed could be all nicely knotted in a sequel but with the first book in its current state I don't feel very motivated to go search for one if it came out. If it just happened to be in front of me in a library, I'd grab it. Other then that, I'd just let it fade from my mind into oblivion.
The publication of this book is due to be the January 28, 2014 though on the back of my ARC it says March. Hmmm.... confusion. If you really need a mindless read and you find this right in front of you, go ahead and read it. It's plot is pretty unique but if you wan't a really good story, this book simply won't make the cut.
Last note: To be honest, I think we all have a little bit of HTC in us. Its just our limits that let us break are set differently.
No comments:
Post a Comment