Reviewed by clementine on
Ember bothered me so much. First of all, I could not get past her name. Ember, really? Her name was the most interesting thing about her - and a character can't be carried by her unique name. When Ember wasn't being whiny and stupid, she was just plain bland. Nothing about her made me care what happened to her. I also didn't care what happened to Chase - Ember keeps talking about how awesome he is, but nothing he ever did showed that. He is a douche, plain and simple. I really hated Ember's relationship with him, because she spent a very large portion of her time whining about how she could never be with him again because he was so different. I also didn't care about Ember's mother or her friends Beth and Ryan, because they were never developed at all. I cared the most about Sean and Rebecca, who were little more than just plot devices!
The plot was very simple, and that bothered me. Really, Ember just had to get from Point A to Point B. The author threw in a few curveballs here and there, but they seemed pretty random, and didn't connect to the overarching plot in any significant way or add new threads that were tied up at the end. There was also very little explanation about how the United States got to be how it was. There were some mentions of "the War", but I really wish that had been expanded upon.
This is a matter of personal preference, but I really hated the writing style as well. All of those weird metaphors just made my skin crawl.
However, I did find the climax of the book pretty exciting and enjoyable, and I liked the reasonably ambiguous ending. I felt like the premise and world within the book was so interesting, and it certainly held my attention. I just really wish the characters had been developed more, and I wish the plot had been more complicated. The dystopian society described in Article 5 is intriguing; the rest of the book is dull.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 19 February, 2012: Finished reading
- 19 February, 2012: Reviewed