Review: Worth a read
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 02 12, 2014
3.5 STARS500 years after the nuclear war which has mutated most of life, Candice Pruett is entering the Network’s Games to battle to the death for her shot at winning a rare and coveted male to bring home as her mate. The Network has no idea why or exactly how dangerous of a person she is to them.In the opening pages, this book’s tone and style read like a textbook, though far more interesting. A much-needed history lesson and introduction into this world, this required reading gave a good knowledge base to launch the story.Right from the start as I wondered about Rage Walkers disease, I knew this was a different kind of dystopia. Rage-Walkers disease sounds like a zombie-vampire hybrid without the usual carnal thirst for human flesh, but the need to kill conventionally is present nonetheless. Rage Walkers have a disease and can burn out. Yet, they have claws and vampire-like red eyes at times.The entire idea of this disease is intriguing but the description seemed lacking. The book talks about “Changelings” and Candice talks about her burning and changing, others who are immune to the change. I kept wondering how human she appears at times. Is it just her eyes that change? Or is there more?  Only sex or murder can quench the never-ending fire raging inside. Only sex? Really? That seemed funny somehow.After the first few pages read like required reading, then the story launched with a cold beginning. Candice is portrayed as a killer compounding the unfeeling apathy any reader feels when diving into a story. Only through her story does the frost melt and her character comes through. Looking back, this was an amazing tone to pull off.When it became physical, I wondered if this book would take an erotic twist. There is dry humping, mutual masturbation and a sex scene. However the pacing was similar to contemporary romance novels which include a sex scene. Since sex is the a solution to ease the burn of the Rate Walkers disease, there is more talk about desire than any action. Often it was over before I realized what was happening.At times, I was confused. I found myself reading and re-reading scenes to figure out what was happening. Part of it was the switching points of view. This seems to be a happy trend among authors. Here, the switch happens multiple times in a single chapter. Once it was for a paragraph. I wondered what the purpose of that one paragraph was. I can appreciate the artistic reasons behind doing this, but as a reader it’s disturbing to the flow, jerking out of one person’s head and shoved into another. I bet this whole book could be rewritten in third person and be much, much better.Another reason I was confused was the lack of he-said-she-said qualifiers. As mundane as they are, they serve a purpose. It became so choppy that at some point I decided to keep plugging along and forget the dialogue. That’s a problem. Character and relationships are shown through dialogue. Combine this with switching points of view, I cannot say this was an easy read.I can say this dystopian novel was worth it though. So much so that I can say that it was worth 3.5 stars. It was a great story with characters I cared about. The world built here was detailed and very creative. Seeing men enslaved and women fighting for them for a change was unexpected. I was glad to have read it and would look forward to reading the next in this series. I would be just as excited to see this turned into a movie as I about the Hunger Games.This may be dressed up as young adult, but it is really new adult. I recommend this for an adult audience based upon its sexual content alone. It does have quite a bit of violence as expected in a fight-to-the-death kind of novel but no profanity.Disclaimer: All books reviewed by me have been received via purchase, lending, or given to me by an author or publisher for the purposes of an honest review. No reviews are purchased. They are my own opinion. For more reviews such as this, please visit [...]