Seventeen-year-old Circe is fine with watching the world burn as long as it's from afar. When her twin is taken by beings known as the Others, she is willing to do anything to rescue him. Including enlisting the help of an injured, though handsome, cyborg and facing off against the charismatic leader of a less than benevolent human Resistance.
However, she isn't prepared for the new reality after coming out of isolation. The Earth she once knew is decimated by an unknown virus, former humans are made into vicious cyborgs, and the brother she is desperate to get to might be better off as he is. With shocking discoveries along the way, Circe is forced to lead a life she's never imagined and abide by this New World's rules: love only when convenient and play pretend every hour of the day.
So I read this book a couple of weeks ago and then the release date got pushed back. Since I wasn't sure what I was going to say about this book I didn't write the review until now and honestly I still haven't quite figured it out. I've been doubting between rounding up to three stars or rounding down to two. In the end I choose two and here is why.
The plot definitely had potential. An apocalyptic world where drone-aliens have taken over, Circe's brother gets taken and she's on a mission to safe him with the help of a half-cyborg. The hook was there, though it never managed to rail me in. I think my biggest issue was the main character. Circe in the beginning seems to rely on her brother for survival, still as soon as he's gone she turns into a bad-ass. While she cares about her brother a lot, it's all she really seems to care about.
There is this coldness over her which she uses to keep people at a distance, but unfortunately it also kept me from connecting with her. I did care if her brother would survive his imprisonment and about the half-cyborg. Still the emotional parts were kept very superficial. There is even a bit of a love triangle going on, nothing too heavy, but I couldn't really care about it because I didn't know enough about the guys and to me it seemed Circe didn't care about either of them. So while this created some drama, I didn't understand it.
Also the way the plot developed was very confusing. A lot of things stay a mystery or aren't explained very well and left me unsatisfied and well confusing. I'm afraid I just couldn't get into the story, didn't really care about the characters and how the story would end. The writing on its own was good, though that was about it for me.
The Author
She's traveled the world and had her best Pad Thai in Amsterdam. She has been writing since her teens and is too ashamed to look at those works today. An indecisive student since finishing high school, she's gone through Mathematics, Radiology and Music before deciding on Teaching. Her first YA novel, Dehumanize Us, is a post-apocalyptic adventure with a hint of romance, aliens and a lot of insanity.
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