Flawed (Flawed, #1)

by Cecelia Ahern

[shannonmiz]

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight
True story about this book: I almost DNFed. Several times. It was, pun absolutely intended, Flawed. I liked the idea a lot from the description, but it doesn't really go into much detail about the whole "Flawed" business. The thing is, being Flawed in this society (which I assume to be some kind of dystopian England?) is basically this: You do something... kind of dumb maybe. Like, not something illegal, or harmful. Just something that this random court doesn't like. I have no freaking clue why they get to decide these things, but they get carried away. Apparently it stems from some kind of bad economic decisions? But what on earth that has to do with some random person lying and- get ready- having their tongue branded forever, I will never know. Sorry, but those things don't equate. It was all weird, mundane stuff- lying, making a bad decision (what even is that? What if you pick like, the McMuffin instead of the Biscuit at McDonald's? That's a bad decision, but is it Flawed? Your guess is as good as mine), or cheating, or.... helping an elderly Flawed man who was basically dying on a bus?

Yes, that is how Celestine gets her Flawed status- she helps an old man sit in a bus seat. It's so damn contradictory that I wanted to stop reading right there. And branding people? The thing is, there wasn't enough backstory/worldbuilding to make this the least bit plausible. Celestine and her sister and boyfriend were riding on the bus to school, everyone's normal and happy... so this doesn't equate in my head to a society that treats people who make these ridiculously arbitrary "offenses" like cattle. 

So you see why I almost DNFed, right? But here's the thing- it actually started to get really good. Like, Celestine was a great character- she started off very unlikable, but then really started to develop as a character. Her boyfriend was annoying, but he faded away. Her family was hugely involved so that was even more awesome. Mom, Dad, siblings, even her grandfather (who was the most awesome of the bunch) had a big role in this story. Oh and diversity? Yes there was!

And then, things got interesting! It turned into this whole shady business political thing, with Celestine's case being one of the ones the media was highly focused on. The side characters got interesting, and I really wanted to know what the outcome would be. So somehow, some way, I ended up really liking this book- after about 30%. So keep that in mind. I can't in good conscience rate it higher than 2.5-3 stars, simply because I was seriously about to DNF it, and I still find the lack of worldbuilding (or perhaps, world explaining?) to be troublesome. But you'd better believe I will be reading the sequel!

*Copy provided by publisher for review