Review Detail

Gravity is a science fiction novel that is about Ari Alexander, seventeen-year-old fighting prodigy, next in line to be the supreme commander of a future America. The world is supposedly living in harmony with a race of aliens called the Ancients, who had saved them from disaster a few years back, in exchange for antibodies that will allow them to live on Earth alongside humanity. When Ari loses her patch that allows her to transfer her antibodies to her Ancient, she sees what she has been forced not to, a real life Ancient; the most popular boy in her school, Jackson Locke. Ari is launched into a war between those who saved the world, or her own species.

Gravity has a good storyline, with the idea of aliens saving a futuristic Earth, and humanity trying to destroy their saviours, all because of the classic corrupt government. It was smart to have Ari as the daughter of one of the main people that aim to destroy the Ancients. It brought a quality in Ari, one that lets her defy what she knows to save the world, and the ones beyond that. I love the future world that Melissa West has created, but she did leave out details with explaining the world. She expected us to know things that don't even exist in the present day, and sometimes it got confusing when random words was used, and these words seemed to be important. I think that the author should of added and extra sentence or two just to help us along.

I really wanted to like Ari, but I just couldn't, partly because I hardly knew her. The story sorta didn't let us to get to know her, she was restricted from us. She was described as a girl who was really smart and strong. But a lot of time she was clueless, powerless and followed Jackson blindly. She didn't seem like the right sort of heroine for this book (I'm not saying that she wouldn't be good for another type of book). She needed to smart and alert, especially since there was a bit of politics involved in the book. She was just to clueless and needed a different type of strength to the one in her arms.

There was a couple of strange characters, ones that switched personalities and motives right near the end, like Ari's father and Lawrence. Ari's father went from being strict and killing people and Ancients left and right, to sad, depressed and feeling sorry for himself. Lawrence went from the president's son and following all the rules, to be the half brother of an Ancient, and being buddy-buddy with him. It was really strange, and slightly off putting, since normal people don't change that quickly.

Gravity is your pretty average science fiction novel, with average characters, plot and writing style. I was pretty angry to find out the Australian president line was finished since there was no heir, why did you just elect one, or use a cousin, stupid book characters. Gravity has aliens, a future world, a corrupt government and a sweet romance, your basic essentials for a science fiction novel.