ARC, 411 pages
Release Date: August 18, 2015Published by: Little Brown Books for Young ReadersStand-aloneSource: Borrowed from KatrinaFor fans of: Fantasy, Action, Romance, YA
On the Fives court, everyone is equal.
And everyone is dangerous.
Jessamy’s life is a balance between acting like an upper-class Patron and dreaming of the freedom of the Commoners. But away from her family, she can be whomever she wants when she sneaks out to train for the Fives, an intricate, multilevel athletic competition that offers a chance for glory to the kingdom’s best competitors.
Then Jes meets Kalliarkos, and an improbable friendship between the two Fives competitors—one of mixed race and the other a Patron boy—causes heads to turn. When Kal’s powerful, scheming uncle tears Jes’s family apart, she’ll have to test her new friend’s loyalty and risk the vengeance of a royal clan to save her mother and sisters from certain death.
In this imaginative escape into an enthralling new world, World Fantasy Award finalist Kate Elliott’s first young adult novel weaves an epic story of a girl struggling to do what she loves in a society suffocated by rules of class and privilege.
*MY THOUGHTS*
I have been waiting on this book since before it even had a cover. Back when the synopsis was a small snippet and couldn’t even be released to the pbulic yet. So now that I’ve “read” it, I can truthfully say I’m a little disappointed. I had high hopes for this one, but I’ve come out to be the black sheep.
Jes’ mom was once a Commoner while her dad was a Patron. Both of them have qualities that Jes wants. Trying to figure out what she wants to be is what pulls her to the Fives. The Fives compete to win the title of best competitor. As she becomes more than friends with another Five competitor, things began to change…
The biggest problem I had with this freaking book was the dialogue. It sounded like olden times or something. It really sounded weird. And then the writing style itself seemed really choppy. It just wasn’t somethng that I could get into. There were a lot of time when there were things I just didn’t care about. I hate to say it like that, but it’s true,
Last but not least, I also was really bored through out the first part of the book. I found myself wanting to put down the book at page 25, 55, and I finally did it at 100. I just couldn’t do it anyymore. As the blogger I borrowed this from said, “I didn’t feel like I gave it a fair shot,” but somethings you just HAVE to do.
This book has made me a black sheep, but I really didn’t mind. It’s one that I was really looking forward to but it just missed the mark unfortunately. Who knows, I may skim it later on from the library, but for now, this is it. Another reader may like it, so don’t hesitate to pick it up and read it yourself!
The biggest problem I had with this freaking book was the dialogue. It sounded like olden times or something. It really sounded weird. And then the writing style itself seemed really choppy. It just wasn’t somethng that I could get into. There were a lot of time when there were things I just didn’t care about. I hate to say it like that, but it’s true,
Last but not least, I also was really bored through out the first part of the book. I found myself wanting to put down the book at page 25, 55, and I finally did it at 100. I just couldn’t do it anyymore. As the blogger I borrowed this from said, “I didn’t feel like I gave it a fair shot,” but somethings you just HAVE to do.
This book has made me a black sheep, but I really didn’t mind. It’s one that I was really looking forward to but it just missed the mark unfortunately. Who knows, I may skim it later on from the library, but for now, this is it. Another reader may like it, so don’t hesitate to pick it up and read it yourself!
DNF @ pg. 100
Overall, I give this
