Age Group: Young Adult
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: Publisher through NetGalley
Overall: 5 Monkeys
Interest: Dystopia
Categories: Dystopia, Series, Rebellions
Books in the Series: Captive (The Blackcoat Rebellion, #2) (Comes out this year)
Read on December 2013
Summary:
YOU CAN BE A VII. IF YOU GIVE UP EVERYTHING.For Kitty Doe, it seems like an easy choice. She can either spend her life as a III in misery, looked down upon by the higher ranks and forced to leave the people she loves, or she can become a VII and join the most powerful family in the country.If she says yes, Kitty will be Masked—surgically transformed into Lila Hart, the Prime Minister's niece, who died under mysterious circumstances. As a member of the Hart family, she will be famous. She will be adored. And for the first time, she will matter.There's only one catch. She must also stop the rebellion that Lila secretly fostered, the same one that got her killed …and one Kitty believes in. Faced with threats, conspiracies and a life that's not her own, she must decide which path to choose—and learn how to become more than a pawn in a twisted game she's only beginning to understand.
My Opinion:
This has to be the most original dystopia published this year.
To have someone Masked (her body fully transfigured to look like someone else) so she'd take the place of the country's sweetheart and bring down a rebellion from the inside? Genius. I don't think I've come across this idea in the YA genre.
Like many main characters in dystopias right now (just read Legend by Marie Lu, and the same happens there), Kitty comes from the poorest class. When she faces the choice to go up in life, meaning a radical change that's never happened but one that'll keep her in the city with the boy she loves, it's a no brainer.
There's a catch and she knows it, but there's little she can do when she's being dragged off to who knows where. This is one of the aspects I loved about PAWN, the villain really knows his stuff! Even before I met him, I already hated him.
I also loved Benjy, Kitty's boyfriend. I almost never come across a book where the MC already has a love interest, and one she actually loves and wants to keep. Benjy's the sweetest boyfriend and just what Kitty needs. But then, along comes Knox. Mysterious boy I loved -loved- reading about!
And Elsewhere! The place where they send you off to when you fail your exam or are too old to be able to contribute to society. WHAT A REVEAL! Man, it was extraordinary! Let me tell you, you'll think Elsewhere is one thing, but bam! Aimée will shock you once more.
As the book progresses, Kitty will have to be very careful (she is, after all, the exact lookalike of the most known face in the country), she'll have to rely on the most unexpected characters to stay alive, all while playing a power game that could cost not only her life, but the life of those she's come to trust.
Aimée, those last chapters were simply amazing and I cannot wait for CAPTIVE!
