Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Genre: Young Adult-Dystopia
My Rating: 1/5
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.
-SPOILER ALERT-
When I first set my eyes on the blurb, I was taken in by the amazing possibilities and sure promises that this will be a great read. I was looking forward to be reading this and was sure that this will be one of the dystopian books that I love. However, I'm disappointed (as I've been a lot lately, not sure why) when I finished this book. I had a disastrous experience from reading Aimee Carter's previous work, The Goddess Test. I thought I could get The Goddess Test out of my mind so that I can give Pawn the chance it deserves. I thought surely the author has become better in her works and will not make the same error in judgement like she did in The Goddess Test. I was wrong.
The Goddess Test haunts my mind as I'm reading Pawn. I couldn't help but dissect and analyse every bit of the story. I started to see similarities in the flaw of the characters and in the story itself. I really tired to give this book a chance but in the end it fails to entice me and thus gave me another bad experience from this author.
First and foremost, what kind of name is KITTY? Had anyone seen that coming? How absurd it is that a heroine and savior of this glorious universe is named KITTY freakin DOE?? You've heard of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and yeah, Catwoman but Kitty? Look it's a bird, it's a plane, it's.....KITTY! *sigh
It's kind of hard to take someone so seriously when her name is "Kitty". Also, that name sound so kinky!. I thought it suit her well when she wanted to work at the club and become a prostitute.
So this book has the same character flaw as from The Goddess Test. It is one flaw that I absolutely loathe and get sick of! Kitty was constantly feeling bad for herself. She started whining from the very start of the book. I might be able to handle it if she had not continued on for chapters onwards. Better part of the book was spent with reading about how Kitty is feeling sorry for herself and how the people around her keep saying things to make her feel better. I mean, cut it out! Stop whining! I cannot stand it! Did I mentioned she was selfish?
I had tried to steal that orange. Benjy had offered to run with me. We all dodged bullets from the moment we turned seventeen. Sometimes they caught up with us and there is nothing I could do about it. Feeling sorry for myself and Tab wouldn't bring her back and had she known what was happening that i was getting a VII, she would have smacked me upside down the head for risking it all because of her especially when nothing I did would change what happened. People died and were send Elsewhere all the time. It hurt like hell when it happen close to home but what made Tabs any different from the others who were punished for breaking the law? I never cried for them. I never thought twice about the articles Benjy read to me about executions. People were they one day and gone the next and they were the ones who had risked it. It was different when it was my friend but at the same time it wasn't. Life still went on. Daxton still ruled the country and I'm still a nobody. At least I'm a nobody with a VII.
Omg, she is so self-absorbed! I feel like strangling her!! Also, her "suppose" cleverness:
Benjy sighed and reached for me but I sidestepped him. I couldn't take his disappointment too. He slouched. "I don't understand, sixty-eight people who were tested were IV".
"Yeah, well I guess I'm dumber than sixty-eight percent of the population".
I kicked a puddle of the rancid rainwater splashing a few rats that squeaked in protest.
"Eighty-four percent actually, including the V and above", said Benjy and he quickly added, "But you're not. I mean you're smart. You know you are. You outsmarted the Shield out there".
Excuse me, but outsmart what?? All she did was lied, and a bad one at that! The Shield wouldn't even trusted her if it weren't for Benjy!
I know what the author was trying to do. She's trying to make our heroine seems smarter. I appreciate that but in that scene, Kitty didn't really do anything significant to warrant being called a "smart". Kitty was portrayed as being very smart though and her only problem that made her failed the test was her inability to read because she have some form of dyslexia or something. Still, I find it very hard to like Kitty.
It seems like the other characters were formed just so you will have the bad guys. Every story needs a bad guy right? In this case we have the Hart family who were evil for fun. I don't think there were reasons for them being evil. They just conveniently are. If there were reasons, I didn't notice any. It was so predictable and it was so clear to see who's side everyone is on. On this line you've got the good guys and on the other line is the bad ones. I feel like the characters were bland and it's hard for me to connect with any of them.
Also, I find it hard to like the story. It seems like there's a lot of sub plots and it's hard to keep track the things going on. Even the "plot twist" was so glaringly obvious and I could see it coming from miles away.
In all, this book is an utter disappointment. What could have been another great dystopian turns out to be another failure due to the characters and plots that were utter crap at its best.
