Review: First Half Better than Second Half
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 09 4, 2013
**A free copy of this book was received from the author in exchange for an honest review**I started out liking this book a lot. I thought that the plot was very cool, and I wasn't ever exactly sure what was going on until it was revealed to us at the end. The story was definitely the kind of science fiction that I enjoy. I thought that the book was pretty well written; there were no grammar mistakes that were big enought to jar me out of the story. And the pacing was slower, but not to slow. However, around fifty percent through the book, I didn't like it as much as before.I think this was because of the romance. I love Balik, but I felt that at times the book was too centered on the romance and not enough on the "I am hearing people's thoughts" plot, which in my opinion was the more interesting of the two plots. I thought the romance was nice, but it just became too much of a focus for me.Also, I thought there was some insta-love at the beginning. Cassie is called the Ice Queen by her best friend because she's never liked a guy before; but as soon as she sees Balik, she notices how hot he is, gets a bit tongue tied, and it just escalates from there. I think it would take a little more than good looks to get someone nicknamed the Ice Queen to be interested in a guy, even if the guy is Balik.And some of the explanation we got at the end; I'm not buying it. (SPOILER!!) The collective can only 'bond' or whatever with humans when humans are in love because it mutates our DNA? I think this needs to be explained better, because it just sounds unreal. I like when science fiction books give explanations for plots that sound scientific, because it makes the book seem possible even if there is no way it could ever happen; it adds to believability. But this explanation didn't cut it for me.I did like this book, but I liked it more in the beginning than at the end.