Author: Sophie Jordan
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: January 28, 2014
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Review:
Davy has the perfect life. She attends a private school,
lives in the right neighborhood, has
the perfect boyfriend, and is a music prodigy. When she tests positive for
Homicidal Tendency Syndrome (HTS) she is ‘Uninvited’ from her school, loses all
of her friends, and is forced to attend public school in the wrong
neighborhood. Life gets hard for Davy quick.
In college I majored in criminology. Then I went to law
school and also focused a lot on crime. So, I kind of have a lot of experience
with the subject matter in Uninvited. I think that is what stopped me from
loving this story. Despite trying, I couldn’t suspend my disbelief about HTS;
and the multitude of constitutional violations present throughout Uninvited.
It didn’t help either that the world building in this
dystopian story was almost non-existent. How the HTS test was developed, or how
the United States
first began segregating the infected isn’t discussed. Mexico is mentioned and it seemed that they
weren’t having the problems the United
States was. In fact, Mexico closed their US borders. But a reason is never
given for why the US is
having such problems but Mexico
isn’t experiencing a similar criminal influx.
Davy wasn’t a bad heroine, she was a little naive but that
comes from her sheltered upbringing and lifestyle. At times I did feel like
shaking her because some of her realizations throughout the story were obvious
and she should have figured things out much earlier. She was supposedly a very
smart girl, but her actions were kind of dumb.
I also wasn’t too keen on her relationship with Sean, a
fellow HTS carrier. Sean had that brooding, stay away from me, air. This
quickly shifted to him wanting to protect Davy. Davy was drawn to Sean despite
his outward appearance and HTS carrier status. The romance was never really
believable. I wish more time had been invested on showing why these two were a
good match. Did they have common interests? It felt like the only reason they
liked each other was because of HTS.
Overall, Uninvited wasn’t really my thing. I thought I was
going to love it because of my connection to the subject matter, but the lack
of world building and lackluster romance stopped me from enjoying this
story.
So bummed that you didn't like this one Emily. I enjoyed it. Yes there were some issues that I had but overall, I thought it was a great read.
ReplyDeleteI hope your next read is better for you.
I wrestled for a long time between 2 or 3 stars because you're right, despite all of my problems with the plot the reading experience wasn't a bad one. I was entertained. I just couldn't overcome all my small problems to give Uninvited a higher rating.
ReplyDeleteThe premise sounds good so it's a shame that the world building didn't live up to the idea.
ReplyDeleteI liked this one more than you, but I agree -- it required serious suspension of disbelief. It can be hard to enjoy a story if you are filled with questions!
ReplyDeleteHmmm...lack of world-building and lackluster romance, that doesn't sound good. I still love the premise so I'm still planning on reading it, but my expectations are definitely lowered. By the way, I went to law school too! Sometimes it does make me more critical about stuff like this, so we'll see. Thanks for the honest review! ~Pam
ReplyDeleteThat really sucks you weren't that into this book. I am really looking forward to reading it.
ReplyDeleteGreat review. Have a great week! =)
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