Release Date: January 1, 2013
Series: Altered, #1
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 336
Source: Gifted
Interest: YA Sci-fi/Dystopia; 2013 Debut Author!
Buy the Book: IndieBound | Amazon | B&N
When you can’t trust yourself, who can you believe?
Everything about Anna’s life is a secret. Her father works for the Branch at the helm of its latest project: monitoring and administering treatments to the four genetically altered boys in the lab below their farmhouse. There’s Nick, Cas, Trev . . . and Sam, who’s stolen Anna’s heart. When the Branch decides it’s time to take the boys, Sam stages an escape, killing the agents sent to retrieve them.
Anna is torn between following Sam or staying behind in the safety of her everyday life. But her father pushes her to flee, making Sam promise to keep her away from the Branch, at all costs. There’s just one problem. Sam and the boys don’t remember anything before living in the lab—not even their true identities.
Now on the run, Anna soon discovers that she and Sam are connected in more ways than either of them expected. And if they’re both going to survive, they must piece together the clues of their past before the Branch catches up to them and steals it all away.
Rating: 3.5 / 5 Riceballs
Book Review:
Altered is the type of book that’s definitely fun & exciting to read, although I admit it’s not extremely memorable. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it, and I’m sure many other YA readers will too (:
One of the reasons why I had so much fun with the book was because of the non-stop action! Page after page, you’re faced with exciting fight scenes, strange codes, and mystery. The whole novel’s actually a chase, so if you’re into suspense or action books, Altered might actually be a great fit for you. Personally though, while I definitely enjoyed the breakneck pace, the downside though was that I was expecting more sci-fi or dystopia-esque elements. You’re told from the flap that the boys are genetically modified, and the title is “Altered”, so I guess I expected more creep-ish sciencey stuff. Again, of course this is just personal taste, so I suppose if you’re coming for the action, you won’t be disappointed.
I’d also have to say the cast of characters is just “fun”! Along with Anna, your typical “kick-butt” heroine, you have Sam, who’s the love interest and exceptionally strong, Cas, who’s a bunch of adorable mischievousness, Trev, who is Anna’s sweet and smart best friend, and Nick, who has a hard exterior, but of course had a difficult past. Depending on the type of reader you are, you probably will either fall in love with the characters or write them off as a bit cliché, or nothing memorable. For me, I suppose I was in between: I did end up liking all the characters and smiling from time to time, although I would always love a bit more development. Hopefully I’ll see more growth and development of them in the next book!
The last thing I feel like I should mention is the romance and the general plot. While I liked that the romance wasn’t overpowering, I still felt like it wasn’t as well developed as I’d like it to be. You actually start off the book with Anna telling you that she has a sort-of crush sort-of love with Sam, although they did have history, so I’m not sure if I should write it off as insta-love. In the end though, it was a bit sweet (: As for the plot, in general, though it was fast-paced and entertaining, I felt like it was a tad predictable in some aspects. There are some “twists” that might surprise some readers though. (I’m the type of reader who inspects ALL possibilities and details in order to predict things, so I suppose it wasn’t too surprising for me. But again, that’s just me…)
The bottom line though, was that Altered was an extremely quick and entertaining read. If you’re expecting action, with tads of romance and sweet characters, you’d probably enjoy this book! Fans of action-y type books like Divergent or Blood Red Road might also enjoy this book, too ^__^
One of the reasons why I had so much fun with the book was because of the non-stop action! Page after page, you’re faced with exciting fight scenes, strange codes, and mystery. The whole novel’s actually a chase, so if you’re into suspense or action books, Altered might actually be a great fit for you. Personally though, while I definitely enjoyed the breakneck pace, the downside though was that I was expecting more sci-fi or dystopia-esque elements. You’re told from the flap that the boys are genetically modified, and the title is “Altered”, so I guess I expected more creep-ish sciencey stuff. Again, of course this is just personal taste, so I suppose if you’re coming for the action, you won’t be disappointed.
I’d also have to say the cast of characters is just “fun”! Along with Anna, your typical “kick-butt” heroine, you have Sam, who’s the love interest and exceptionally strong, Cas, who’s a bunch of adorable mischievousness, Trev, who is Anna’s sweet and smart best friend, and Nick, who has a hard exterior, but of course had a difficult past. Depending on the type of reader you are, you probably will either fall in love with the characters or write them off as a bit cliché, or nothing memorable. For me, I suppose I was in between: I did end up liking all the characters and smiling from time to time, although I would always love a bit more development. Hopefully I’ll see more growth and development of them in the next book!
The last thing I feel like I should mention is the romance and the general plot. While I liked that the romance wasn’t overpowering, I still felt like it wasn’t as well developed as I’d like it to be. You actually start off the book with Anna telling you that she has a sort-of crush sort-of love with Sam, although they did have history, so I’m not sure if I should write it off as insta-love. In the end though, it was a bit sweet (: As for the plot, in general, though it was fast-paced and entertaining, I felt like it was a tad predictable in some aspects. There are some “twists” that might surprise some readers though. (I’m the type of reader who inspects ALL possibilities and details in order to predict things, so I suppose it wasn’t too surprising for me. But again, that’s just me…)
The bottom line though, was that Altered was an extremely quick and entertaining read. If you’re expecting action, with tads of romance and sweet characters, you’d probably enjoy this book! Fans of action-y type books like Divergent or Blood Red Road might also enjoy this book, too ^__^
I totally fell in love with this book ~ it was just nonstop! It wasn't what I expected either, but I found that to be a pleasant surprise :) Great review!
ReplyDeleteMy Review if you feel like swingin' by :)
Keely @ Realms of an Open Mind