Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Book Review: Surrender by Elana Johnson

Book: Surrender by Elana Johnson
Genre: YA dystopian
Rating:★ ★ ★ ☆☆
For: Utah Book Month
From: Bought at a book signing a long while back

My biggest problem getting into this book was remembering the details from the previous book (Possession)! Gah, I hate it when that happens!

But eventually things started to come together and I remembered that the first book was about Vi and how she was all rebellious which led her to Jag who was even more rebellious and then they were rebellious together. Because wow, this is some society they have to deal with!

But this book is more about Gunner and Raine (it switches back and forth between each of their points of view) and how they get together, and how they become part of the above mentioned rebellion and actually help to solve some of the issues that Vi and Jag have after the last book ended.

Did I mention the ruthlessness of this society? It makes many of the other dystopian societies we read about look timid and tame in comparison. And who's running the whole show? None other than Raine's dear old dad.

This makes for a very tricky resistance effort indeed!

So, while I enjoyed the story, for me this is one of those books that focuses more on the plot and the government and the issues and the powers then it does on the connection of the people. I mean, there is that, but I wanted more, so I found myself frustrated at times. But that's really my only complaint.

That, and the fact that because I couldn't remember much of the first book it took me awhile to figure out what was going on!

Bottom line: A pretty great dystopian tale!

Other Reviews:

The beginning was slow-ish, but once you get to page 100 or so, it rushes off, leaving you hanging on for dear life (or hanging on each page). From Dark Faerie Tales

There's a ton of manipulation, mind games, and secrets in this story which muddies the waters, making the plot murky and hard to follow at some points. From The Book Swarm

Surrender was more intricate than its precursor and provided a lot more information on the world and the characters, which prompted more questions (which was good!). From The Musings of ALMYBNENR

SQUEE!!! Surrender is filled with awesome! We are privileged with so much more back history than we had in Possession, and I LOVED IT!! From The Bookish Brunette


2 comments:

  1. I just had the same problem getting into Awaken, the third book in a Meg Cabot trilogy. Not only is their no refresher about what happened in the previous books, the main character keeps making vague references to things I don't remember any more! Kind of frustrating, but it's getting better as I get into the current story :)

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  2. POSSESSION is still mocking me from my shelves. I need to read it!

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