Pawn (Blackcoat Rebellion, #1)

by Aimée Carter

[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!