Pawn (Blackcoat Rebellion, #1)

by Aimée Carter

"YOU CAN BE SAVED. IF YOU GIVE UP EVERYTHING YOU LOVE…"

In Washington, DC, seventy years after democracy has fallen, the number you’re assigned by the government decrees your fate.

Seventeen-year-old orphan Kitty Doe is stuck as a III, looked down upon by the higher ranks. Until a chance encounter gives her the opportunity to become a VII and join the most powerful family in the country.

If she says yes, Kitty will be transformed into Lila Hart, the Prime Minister’s niece, who died under mysterious circumstances. As a member of the Hart family, she will be famous. Adored. Especially by Lila’s boyfriend, Knox.

But becoming part of society’s inner circle also means seeing its darkest secrets and learning a twisted game Kitty’s only beginning to understand…Praise for Aimee Carter

‘Intelligent and sharp and really stands out from the crowd.’ – Total Teen Fiction

‘I loved it, I could barely put it down. It seemed every other page held a secret that I never saw coming and left me breathless.’ – An Awful Lot of Reading Blog

‘This is an unmissable, stunning dystopian novel with the unique and unpredictable aspects that everyone loves.’ – Pretty Little Memoirs Blog

‘This is a fantastic start to what is bound to be a heart-stopping, spell-binding series.’ – K Books Blog

‘Pawn is the only other book in the Dystopian genre worth reading along with Hunger Games’ – Reality’s a Bore Blog

‘With a touch of The Hunger Games and Divergent, Pawn is not a book to be missed.’ Uncorked Thoughts Blog

‘Love, loss and betrayal, this story will capture you from the very beginning.’ – Once Upon a Moonlight Review Blog

• ISBN13: 9781472054906
• Publish Date: 3 January 2014 (first published 1 January 2013)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: Mira Ink
• Format: eBook (EPUB)
• Pages: 384
• Language: English
• URL: http://harpercollins.co.uk

Reviews

[Rinn]

I received a copy of this book for free from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. Also posted on my blog, Rinn Reads.

Me throughout most of this book?



Yeah. Where to begin? First of all, let’s address the fact that NOWHERE is it explained why Kitty’s society is like this. The people are ‘ranked’ on their seventeenth birthday, given a number from I to VI, with VII only applying to the President and his family. If you’re anything below a III, then it pretty much means you disappear from society in ~mysterious circumstances~. GEE I WONDER WHAT THEY COULD BE? Why does no-one question this?!

The only background information that we get for why this system is in place is because the economy crashed. Sorry, what? Did the people turn feral the moment Wall Street went down? How did everything get built back up? Why are the ranks the best solution? Why can people only have one child? Answers on a postcard, please.

Major issue #2: the ranking system is a big con and NO-ONE REALISES IT. Seriously. If you’re a higher ranking member of society, you’ll be able to access better facilities including healthcare and education. So if you’re raised in a Rank IV environment, you will receive a worse education than those raised in Rank V and VI, meaning you’re more likely to get stuck in that system, then repeat with your children, their children, etc. How has no-one in this society worked this out? That was my immediate thought as soon as I read about the rankings. Kitty is later told this is how it works and is all like ‘Oh yeah that explains it!’… really Kitty, really. No wonder you were marked a Rank III.

And major issue #3, the thing that SERIOUSLY pissed me off and made me want to slap some sense into Kitty?

She would rather become a prostitute to stay near her boyfriend than be given a safe job and be sent to another state.



I just… yeah. That should have set off the alarm bells really. At first I thought their relationship seemed okay, Benjy was someone Kitty had grown up with so it wasn’t insta-love, she wasn’t all despondent about the idea of them being different ranks and it seemed she was thinking more of Benjy’s feelings than their romance. And then she does a complete 180 and makes this ridiculous decision and I just immediately gave up on her as a character.

Oh, there were so many other reasons… Kitty’s virginity is being sold off after she makes her truly awesome decision of becoming a prostitute to keep her teen romance alive, and she is bought by the President. He needs her because she has the same eyes as his niece – who died a week before in a skiing accident. Apparently they can do all this ridiculous surgery to completely transform someone, but the eyes can’t be changed! Contacts? What are they? So yeah, Kitty is ‘bought’, smuggled out of the brothel and wakes up a week later completely transformed. And she really doesn’t seem that freaked out by the fact that these people have abducted her and utterly changed her appearance into that of Lila Hart, the President’s niece, without her consent. Cool.



AND THEN OH GOD THERE’S MORE.

Lila has a fiancee. A fiancee that Kitty now has to marry, as Lila. A fiancee that I can see her eventually falling in love with and then oh no LOVE TRIANGLE. Towards the end of the book she also has to do something really big in order to save her life and those of whom she loves, and she chickens out halfway – where is her sense of self-preservation?! It really frustrates me when people talk big about how they will protect their loved ones, but they can never go through with it. And one final thing – I am expecting the next book or somewhere in the series to reveal that Kitty’s parents were VIs or even VIIs and therefore she is ~special~. But I won’t know, because I won’t be reading book number two, no thank you.

[ladygrey]

This is a nice little book. It throws you right into the action though it feeds you a lot of world building off the top. But the characters are making choices in the midst of all that and things happen so it's not so bad.

The characters are what make it engaging. Kitty is a bit petulant here and there but the other characters call her on it and there's a great deal of hard hitting logic. Which is refreshing. And Kitty doesn't fight it, which is also unexpectedly pleasant.

Here's the thing. An author can tell us until she's blue in the face about the history two characters have and how in love they are. But when one of them is barely in the book - it's hard to believe. And even worse, when there's another character the reader spends the whole story with and he's interesting and a good guy, even when there's not a love triangle it's hard to engage with that historic, life long love. Because the reader doesn't have the context the characters apparently do. So, if you want me to buy into your love story, it's not enough to tell me they've known each other forever, you have to actually put the love story in the book.

[shannonmiz]

This book was fun, different, and totally not what I was expecting, in a good way. Our main character, Kitty (yes, the name irked me, but I got over it, mostly) is not in a good situation. She has spent her life in a group home, and now has done poorly on her all-powerful test, and is basically without options. She doesn't want to leave Benji, her boyfriend behind, but she doesn't want to weigh him down either. Decisions, decisions.

The thing is, Kitty doesn't actually have a ton of choices. She might, but none of them are great. So, she ends up doing this whole transformation into Lila Hart, which she's figuring to be the least of the evils. And that is where the whole story kicks into high gear. We meet the entire Hart clan, and what a clan they are! Basically, Kitty is completely unsure of who or what to trust, and the stakes are incredibly high for her, and for those around her.

There are so many twists and turns happening in this book that I simply did not want to put it down. I kept trying to guess what would happen next, and I was generally wrong (which I love!). Hell, half the time I didn't know who I was supposed to be rooting for, how could Kitty?

I won't go into too much character or plot detail, because it would be nearly impossible to do so without spoiling things- and this is a book that you do not want to read accidental spoilers for! There is drama, and lots of it. It reminded me almost of a soap-opera family in some ways, because you never knew who was going to be betrayed, who was going to come out on top, who was going to come out at all.

My only small gripe is that I would have liked more character and societal backstory, but since there are more books coming, I am just hoping that my questions will all be answered in due time.

This book was pretty fantastic. I might have already pre-ordered Captive. Basically, I definitely recommend reading it, especially if you like a side of intense drama and crazy antics with your dystopia.

4.5 Stars

[Kelly]

4.5 Stars.
http://www.divabooknerd.com/2013/12/pawn-by-aimee-carter.html
I loved Pawn, a true dystopian where society is oppressed by the ruling president and his family. At seventeen, citizens are subjected to testing, which result in being branded a roman numeral on the back of their neck, the more intelligent, the higher your ranking, but Kitty proves how flawed the system is when she ranks below the national average. Kitty is a intelligent girl, strong, sassy and always believed in the ranking system until she is dealt a III.

I'm a big fan of Aimee Carter and really enjoyed the Goddess Test series, but Pawn is simply brilliant and far surpasses her previous work. She's created a world in which Kitty is torn between two sides within the first family, and stripped of her own identity, forced to become Lila Hart, the presidents niece. Throughout the storyline, you can sense a secret, a betrayal or a major twist and it'll keep you on the edge of your seat. It's a gritty young adult dystopian, with a touch of science fiction, romance and suspense. I'm already itching for Captive to be released, book two in The Blackcoat Rebellion series.

[Ashley]

Nose Graze — Young Adult book reviews

The first thing I have to say about Pawn is: WOW it has a lot of twists! Seriously. So many bombs were dropped and twists were made that I didn't see coming. They fit in well with the story and totally worked, but I was not prepared! It was like BAM BAM BAM and my eyes were like O_O   X_X   o_O   ^_^

Moving on!

I loved the world building in Pawn. There's something about this kind of caste/rank system that pulls me in. I like the idea of numbers and tests. It, along with the rebellion aspect, reminded me a lot of The Selection. If you lay them out, the overall ideas are quite similar: a caste/number system, a girl who has a low number who is given the chance to have a high number, a monarchy type government, and a rebellion. Vaguely similar ideas, and I loved them both!

I wasn't 100% sold on the romance, but I think that's fine because it wasn't the center of the story by any means. The romance does have its place, but it's a nice side story. The main focus of Pawn was the plot and the rebellion. So if you love the romance, that's an excellent bonus! If not, it's no big deal because it's just a small part of the book.

The rebellion is what really kept me hooked on this story. It's so deeply intwined in the story and there are so many unexpected twists! I'm REALLY curious to see how everything pans out!

The characters were another interesting part of the story because there are a lot of them, but they each have their own story. There are different motives and agendas, but most of the characters are pretty merciless and cutthroat. It's a bit crazy O_O But that's why it's so interesting!

I think it's great to see Carter pull off a book like this. I personally think that Pawn was quite different from The Goddess Test, but I love both books for different reasons. It just goes to show that Aimée Carter has no problem expanding into other genres and totally rocking them!

[ellieroth]

I've received an ARC of this in exchange of a honest review

Publicado en: El Extraño Gato del Cuento

Hace unos días Aimee dijo en su cuenta de Twitter que había escrito este libro antes de que todo el boom por las distopías estallara. Buena estrategia la de ella, publicó el libro en un muy buen momento.

Me alegra no haber leído la sinopsis antes de empezar mi lectura, le que quita bastante el misterio. Así que si pueden evitarlo, no lean la sinopsis, se mezclaran más con la historia, aunque estarán un poquito confundidos en las primeras páginas, pero créanme, vale la pena.

Pawn me gustó bastante, si bien es una distopia, el tiempo que hay entre ahora y el futuro que nos trae Carter son solo setenta y un años, comparado con otras historias es bastante corto. Meterte con el libro es simple, y leer es sumamente rápido, por lo que puedes estar en la página veinte y sin darte cuenta faltarte solo un capítulo para terminar el libro.

Es bastante interesante leer sobre los rangos, mientras más inteligente eres, tus expectativas de vida no solo son más altas, sino también tienes privilegios que un II o III no tendrán nunca. Ahora, lo que en teoría parece algo justo mientras vas leyendo te darás cuenta lo enrevesado que está. Que la nueva política no es tan equitativa y justa como se pensaba.

Un punto negativo es el inicio de todo esto, Kitty obtiene un III, así que el trabajo que le dan es uno de menor importancia, la cosa es ésta, con un poco de paciencia todo se habría solucionado, pero acá la muchacha hace algo estúpido y toma otra decisión sin base para terminar donde termina, obviamente que si eso no hubiera pasado no tendríamos historia, pero de todas maneras no logré conectar con esa parte de la historia. Además que muchas de las decisiones supuestamente fueron tomados por el amor que ella siente, pero lo único que consigue con ellas es lastimar y lastimar al objeto de su atención.

Tenía ciertas dudas con Pawn, los libros anteriores de Aimee Carter fueron entretenidos pero demasiados lights para mi gusto. Superó considerablemente todas mis expectativas, intrigante, político y sobre todo hasta ahora no hay triángulo amoroso.

Reseña completa (quejas y comentarios):El Extraño Gato del Cuento

[chemicalscream]

You can find this review on my website here:
http://mereadalot.net/2013/10/19/pawn-by-aimee-carter/

Meet Kitty Doe, a 17 year old girl who just took the test that determines what’s going to happen with the rest of her life. Her test results? A III. NOT what she was expecting, neither was the Job Assignment in Denver which will take her away from D.C. and Benjy. But what she needs to realize is that a III is better than a I, which will get you sent to Elsewhere.

Kitty is given the chance to become a VII and she hardly even puts some thought into her decision. The next thing you know, she’s waking up with a brand new face. You see Kitty has been masked, and now she has one of the most powerful faces in the Union.

I really enjoyed this book, it reminded me a lot of the Airhead series by Meg Cabot but with a dystopian twist. It had a lot of backstabbing, betrayal, loyalty and hope. This book had a lot going on it and it kept my attention throughout it. There were some things revealed in the book that were quite shocking and literally had my jaw dropping. In this first book, there wasn’t much of a romance going on, seeing as Kitty’s boyfriend Benjy wasn’t really there for a good chunk of the book. I’ve read some reviews where people are happy that there isn’t a Love Triangle (between Kitty, Benjy and Lila’s fiance Knox), but this is only the first book and I can totally see Kitty and Knox together in the future. I think I might like Knox more than Benjy, though in this book we’ve gotten to know Knox a bit better than Benjy. Maybe I’ll change my mind in book 2. ;) I’m really looking forward to the next book and seeing what Kitty will do with Lila’s face now that’s she gotten past some obstacles in Pawn.