e-ARC, 272 pages
Release Date: March 18, 2014Published by: Penguin/InterMix BooksChaos Theory, #1Source: NetGalley (I was provided a galley of this in return for a just and honest review)For fans of: Dystopia, Sci-fi, Romance, New AdultEvalyn Ibarra never expected to be an accused killer and experimental prison test subject. A year ago, she was a normal college student. Now she’s been sentenced to a month in the compass room—an advanced prison obstacle course designed by the government to execute justice.
If she survives, the world will know she’s innocent.
Locked up with nine notorious and potentially psychotic criminals, Evalyn must fight the prison and dismantle her past to stay alive. But the system prized for accuracy appears to be killing at random.
She doesn’t plan on making friends.
She doesn’t plan on falling in love, either.
*MY THOUGHTS*
“‘Sociopaths and serial killers are the antitheses of good conversationalists.“
4%
When I read the synopsis of this I was definitely intrigued. An NA book with that’s about something else other than a just a romance? I was all for it! It really seemed like something I would like. But the more I read, the more I didn’t like it. But it had nothing to do with the synopsis. That was what kept me reading. It really had everything to do with the way it was written.
“Fifteen years ago, government scientists manufactured an accurate test for morality- an obstacle course where the simulations within proved whether a candidate was good or evil. It was named a Compass Room.“
4%
The writing style in this one wasn’t great to me. I never connected with the character due to her little flashbacks during the chapters. It was like we didn’t get any back story on her until something big had already happened and I just didn’t like that. Evie seemed crazy (in a very sane way) and I wanted to know all about her. But beforehand.
“‘The Compass Room sees who you truly are despite the lies you tell yourself.“
11%
Another thing I didn’t like was how it was all choppy like. It felt like it was all over the place. I’m guessing it was because there was so much repetition. (If they “cleaned Jace’s wound” one more damn time I was going to flip.) This was a classic example of telling and not showing.
“I wanted to die,’ she sputters a cough. ‘For so long. I don’t want to anymore. I finally don’t want to and now it’s inevitable‘.“
20%
Which brings me to the last thing I didn’t like about it. For this to be about a space where all these killers are, there was absolutely no world building. I’m a huge fan of it and when I wasn’t sucked in by the world OR the characters, I just wasn’t impressed. There was really nothing anchoring me to this story.
“‘Not all Christians are Saints.“
28%
I was really shocked that I didn’t like this one. I was hoping to love it because it had such an interesting concept, but it just wasn’t executed right. From the characters to the world building, I just wasn’t happy.
