Review Detail

This book had me reading a mile a minute. It is so face paced I finished it in one sitting. The action is exciting and well written so it's easy to follow and picture the scenes in your head. I really enjoyed this book, however:

Because it is so face paced it doesn't take enough time to slow down and get personal. The main character, Miranda, whose POV the story it told from, is great. She's smart and brave and truly a kick-ass heroine. Her character is the sole reason this book is so readable. You want to follow her.

...and then there are the other characters. Or, lack of character, characters. Hardly any of the other characters in the book are developed enough to truly care about them. Any feelings I had towards them were because of how they affected Miranda, not because I had any feelings for the characters themselves. They are so paper thin that anything could have happened to any of them and I would not have cared. Slowly, by the end, they start to grow but then the book is over, because it just does not stop moving. You would think that would be a good thing, and don't get me wrong it WAS thrilling to read, but it disappointed as a story I could emotional invest in. It is equivalent to a summer action movie, awesome to watch but doesn't really leave much to think about afterwards.

The story itself has a very cool concept with twists and turns you couldn't see from a mile away. That's another reason it was so enthralling, you couldn't predict what would happen next. When what ever happened happens another twist would just blow it away leaving you with your mouth open and turning to the next page. The author did a great job of making the book constantly readable even though it was so shallow. Same as with the characters, because he doesn't slow down the story suffers from being superficial. The world itself has an outline but never really develops into a picture.

This book is good, but it could have been great. Miranda is a great character that forces you to follow her even though everything else is lacking. Everything about it has the potential to be great if only it were a little more developed. Hopefully the sequel that I have yet to read will change that and turn the story from a popcorn movie into an epic series that you don't want to put down just because it's exciting, but because you actually care and have an emotional investment in the story.

I would give this book only 3 stars each but because it has such potential and I know that there is a sequel I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt.

If you want a quick, fun read with an interesting story then I'd absolutely recommend this book. But if you want something to delve into with all your heart, skip it.

Right now I'm on the border of wanting to start a new series but still emotionally tramatized from Allegiant that I'm not looking for anything too serious at the moment. In that case, I'm going to pick up the sequel and happily chase Miranda even further as she rides on her motorcycle, wherever it ends up going.