Author: Melissa West
Series: The Taking #1
Genres: YA, Science Fiction
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Source: Kindle Edition
Pages: 400
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SYNOPSIS: In the future, only one rule will matter:
Don’t. Ever. Peek.
Seventeen-year-old Ari Alexander just broke that rule and saw the last person she expected hovering above her bed—arrogant Jackson Locke, the most popular boy in her school. She expects instant execution or some kind of freak alien punishment, but instead, Jackson issues a challenge: help him, or everyone on Earth will die.
Ari knows she should report him, but everything about Jackson makes her question what she’s been taught about his kind. And against her instincts, she’s falling for him. But Ari isn’t just any girl, and Jackson wants more than her attention. She’s a military legacy who’s been trained by her father and exposed to war strategies and societal information no one can know—especially an alien spy, like Jackson.
Giving Jackson the information he needs will betray her father and her country, but keeping silent will start a war...
I got Gravity as an offer. One of those days when Amazon randomly decides to lower book prices and the Kindle edition of this one was literally 1€ so I just had to buy it. I didn't know if I would like it but it sounded cool and gave it a try. Expectations met!
THE WORLD: We are situated on a dystopian world where after World War IV (yeah fourth, I don't know what happened in the third one) Earth was destroyed because of the nuclear weapons. The remaining humans were then invaded by an alien species and in the end they made a pact: the aliens would help rebuild the world as well as providing food while humans would give their antibodies to the aliens (otherwise they wouldn't be able to survive on Earth) as well as water. Also, Earth was then divided in nations such as American, African, Asian, European, and Australian but each nation has a central president and the presidency is passed down by blood... much like a kingdom actually. It's a bit weird. Anyway, the aliens have to take human antibodies so each human is assigned a certain alien when the humans are 10 years old. When they reach this age they have to put a patch over their eyes so that they won't move or see while the alien is performing The Taking. This has to go on for all their lives, everyday at midnight. No exception. Humans wear this patch because they're not allowed to see the alien therefore very few know how the aliens actually look like, some say they're just like a light without a body, other that they look human, etc...
Ah, wait also there are only few "careers" for people. If you're a poor just forget about everything and concentrate on surviving and doing some manual work while if you're rich you can choose between being a Chemist (they provide food pills, medicine, weapons...), Militant (the military obviously whose leader is the Commander), Government (bureaucracy) or if you were born in the President family then you have to be President, no choice there.
Ah, wait also there are only few "careers" for people. If you're a poor just forget about everything and concentrate on surviving and doing some manual work while if you're rich you can choose between being a Chemist (they provide food pills, medicine, weapons...), Militant (the military obviously whose leader is the Commander), Government (bureaucracy) or if you were born in the President family then you have to be President, no choice there.
CHARACTERS: The main character is Ari Alexander, a 17 year old girl daughter of the Commander (her father) and a Chemist (her mom). Since Ari is the daughter of the Commander she has had to train in combat and military tactics all her life because she is supposed to be the next Commander. Ari is introduced as a responsible character, the type who would never break the rules and would never ever disobey orders from her father until one night she loses her patch and guess what? she sees the alien, Jackson Locke. The most popular boy at her school even though he's a peasant. Ari freaks out quite a bit obviously because she would have never thought that Jackson could be an alien. Jackson has a proposal though which is helping him (and his species) or otherwise there would be a war between aliens and humans and aliens would win because they're just better. I can't say much more without giving the book away but let's just say that everything was built in lies.
LOVE: Hmm there is an striking similarity between the character dynamics of this book and the character dynamics of Legend by Marie Lu... if you have read Legend you can probably guess what is going on.
LOVE: Hmm there is an striking similarity between the character dynamics of this book and the character dynamics of Legend by Marie Lu... if you have read Legend you can probably guess what is going on.
PLUS: I really liked the plot because, although is not the most original, it does have a really nice build up of the aliens and their stories, their planet, their everything! I have a theory of what these "aliens" actually are and where they came from and I am pretty sure I am either right or the author failed me completely.
Hint: plant anatomy.
MINUS: Sometimes there were too many descriptions or character thoughts that I found a bit unnecessary... with this kind of plot it is nicer to have a fast paced story and that gets compromised when too much stuff is added between important paragraphs/conversations/chapters.
OVERALL: 4 stars. Overall I really enjoyed it and at the end I was left wanting more! It ends when the most interesting part starts so you can imagine my frustration when I reached the end and all I could think was "whaaaaat?"
Hint: plant anatomy.
MINUS: Sometimes there were too many descriptions or character thoughts that I found a bit unnecessary... with this kind of plot it is nicer to have a fast paced story and that gets compromised when too much stuff is added between important paragraphs/conversations/chapters.
OVERALL: 4 stars. Overall I really enjoyed it and at the end I was left wanting more! It ends when the most interesting part starts so you can imagine my frustration when I reached the end and all I could think was "whaaaaat?"
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What did you guys think about GRAVITY?
