Wednesday 8 January 2014

Book Review: Pawn by Aimée Carter

I would totally be an VIII.

Are you more than the number on the back of your neck?

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.

 Basically, Kitty agrees to something without knowing what she was getting herself into (not that she had much choice in the matter) and the real plot takes off from there. Kitty gets chosen to be masked because she has the same eye colour as Lila which is apparently rare. The government is corrupt (but what dystopia is not). When you seventeen, you take a ability test and results indicate where you work for the rest of life. Its I to VI, Kitty is gets a III which means she get manual labour and because she has no family she meant to be get sent to different city far away. It very dark world Carter has made. Nothing about Kitty life is fair. She finds herself in a family that just scheming against each other which might involve murder.

Kitty is actually quite smart but she can't read. It never actually stated in the book but she obviously Dyslexic which made me realise that I think this is the first book that I've read that has a dyslexic character as the Protagonist. I know the frustration of failing a test/not doing as well as hoped due my dyslexic nature. Running out of time before you're finished always sucks. Obviously, I could retake the test but also marked down for failing in the first place. I like her, she has spunk. I also likes the fact that Kitty might do something stupid but knows it stupid so you don't to shake her till she get sense. She backed into a lot of corner in this book so some of them can't be helped.

The characters that Kitty comes in contract after becoming Masked are complex bunch. She never really sure if she can trust any of them because their motivation ain't always that straight forward. There are some gems there and of course because this YA so there is three teenage boys involved that I know from the other reviews that they is shipping going on. Though, if you don't like sort thing much (like me) you can ignore it and focus on the plot (which is really good by the way). There is some romance but it not overbearing and actually goes with the plot and its friendship romance so it nice.

There's is one thing I don't get. Why is it a Prime Minister if there no King/Queen? The Harts are basically old fashion Royal family in that the oldest rules the country and has done for the past three generations. They do have a vote but it only ever one name on the ballot. It small thing, just why did American swapped from a president in the first place?

Overall, I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars for stolen oranges. This the first of a series and I'm looking forward to the next one which is meant to be out sometime this year but Pawn just came out so going to be good few months. I think it promising series and I'm very intrigued with what happens down the line. If you like dystopia or people swapping life with each other I recommend this book to you as it good on both fronts.

I got this book off Netgalley for Review. Published by Mira Ink. 

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